Chapter Two - That Night

Toby Evans woke with a start later that night and checked his watch. It was two o'clock in the morning. His head throbbed, and his mouth tasted sickly sweet. Evans recalled dinner with the Colonel and the rounds of port nightcaps he had insisted they drink before bed. The memory made him wince with nausea. For an old codger who hobbled about the place, the Colonel seemed to have the constitution of an ox when it came to port!

With a groan, Evans dragged himself from the bed and walked to the dressing table to pour a glass of water from the jug Mrs Stubbs had left out for him. He sipped the water and stared out the window at the Manor House grounds. It was a still, cloudless night and a full moon bathed the gardens in a cold, pale light.

Evans let his bleary eyes settle on the marble sculpture in the South Garden. Moonlight accentuated Eve's feminine curves, and Evans felt an irrational stirring as his gaze drifted down her body. When she thrust her naked buttocks in his direction, he laughed and smiled with pleasure.

Evans' smile froze, and he suddenly felt as cold as the night. He set down his glass, rubbed his eyes, and looked out the window again. He watched Adam embrace Eve, and both figures sway back and forth on the pedestal, like trees in the wind. Only there wasn't any wind, and they weren't trees. They were a moving marble sculpture!

"What the —?" Evans opened the bedroom window for a better view. A hinge creaked and Eve turned to the sound. She looked up at Evans, her eyes wide with fear, and mouthed a silent plea for help. He stared down in horror as Adam wrenched Eve's head away from the window.

Before he knew what he was doing, Evans was dashing downstairs and out the front door. "I'm dreaming," he told himself. But the fresh nighttime air in his lungs and the cobblestones of the Manor driveway bruising his bare feet felt real enough. What would he do when he reached the sculpture? Evans had no idea. His expertise was casing jobs. He wasn't the physical type and left that sort of thing to Jonesy and the boys.

"It's okay," he reminded himself, "it's just a dream. It's just the port!"

Evans burst into the South Garden and saw Adam forcing his lips onto the struggling Eve. Without pausing to think, Evans grabbed a shovel resting against a garden wall and ran at the writhing figures. He raised the shovel high above his head and brought it down hard on top of Adam. The impact jarred Evans to his teeth and filled the Manor grounds with an ear-splitting clang of metal on stone. Evans stumbled backwards and leaned on the shovel for support, gasping for breath, his heart pounding and ears ringing.

As the bell-like echo dulled across the garden, Evans was astounded to see the marble Adam slumped on the ground beside the sculpture. He looked up and saw the female figure, Eve, smiling down at him, her face a beacon of gratitude and beauty. Eve opened her arms, offering an embrace, and in a trance-like state, Evans dropped the shovel and stepped up to join her on the pedestal.

"Thank you," she mouthed silently, gently caressing his face. Evans returned her caress. Eve's face felt soft, not like marble, but like human skin. She leaned into him, and he leaned into her. Their lips touched, and Evans felt a tingling, like an electric shock of joy and love surge through his body.