“Ugh.” Goldie dropped her head into her hands.
Nell leaned forward. “Is Goldie safe when she’s sleepwalking?”
Both sets of doors opened and shut again.
“That’s not reassuring,” Nell muttered.
“Do we need to reboot the building?” Goldie whispered loudly, as though that were a perfectly normal suggestion.
The far-right doors banged open and shut, sharp as a slap.No.
“Okay, simpler questions.” Nell sat up straighter, a gleam in her eye. “Building, do you watch Sig and me having sex?”
Both sets of doors stayed firmly, stubbornly shut.
“Oh my gods.” Nell jabbed a finger at the wall. “Youdo, you voyeuristic pervy bastard.”
The silence deepened, charged and amused, and a faint tremor fluctuated the floorboards like suppressed laughter.
The two women leaned forward on the couch like schoolgirls conspiring, wine glasses balanced precariously on the coffee table.
“Do you know why I’m sleepwalking?” Goldie asked.
The far-left doors opened, shut.Yes.
She sat bolt upright. “Wait—really?”
“Ask a follow-up,” Nell hissed, eyes glittering.
“Will you tell me why if I ask the right questions?”
Yes.
Nell let out a little gasp. “Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.” She whispered it like they were in church.
Goldie swallowed hard. “Does it have something to do with…” she thought for a moment, her mind going back to the non-answer when she’d asked about the murder. Carefully, she asked: “Finding the body?”
Theyes-doors moved again, a slow, deliberate creak.
A shiver trickled down Goldie’s spine. “Gods. Okay. Okay.”
“Do you know who killed Truckenham?” Nell asked eagerly, but theno-doors snapped firmly almost before the words left her mouth. She sighed and collapsed back against the cushions. “Of course not. That would be too easy.”
Goldie stared at the ceiling, thinking hard as she turned over the thought ofbodyandsleepwalking.An idea struck. “Is the fact thatIfound the body in the Grove Core important?”
Yes.
“And that’s why you won’t stop me from sleepwalking?
Yes.
“You want me to go back to the Grove Core? Will I find something out there?”
“Those were two questions,” Nell pointed out.
The left-hand doors opened and shut twice.Yes. Yes.
“About the murder?”
