Page 360 of End Game

“Stone foundation?”

“Yes.”

“Cellar fully below grade?”

Something changes in Ronan’s face.

He’s having fun.

“Mostly.”

“Any exterior access besides the stairs inside?”

Ronan leans back. “There is an old coal chute on the eastern side.”

Shawn smiles. “There we go.”

Alexis looks between them. “What just happened?”

“Shawn found the nerd door,” Cami tells her.

Ronan ignores that. “You don’t know about the coal chute yet.”

Shawn nods immediately. “Right. Can I investigate the exterior?”

“Yes.”

Alexis watches him pick up his dice. “That’s deeply unsettling.”

“We know,” Cami agrees.

Shawn finds the coal chute, and we avoid the main staircase entirely.

Ronan has to rearrange approximately three pages of notes.

I can tell by the way he stacks them.

He isn’t annoyed.

If anything, he looks pleased.

“You’re smiling,” I tell him.

“No, I’m not.”

“You are.”

Shawn glances between us. “Did I break something?”

“No,” Ronan answers quickly. “This is what you’re supposed to do.”

Cami points at Shawn. “Oh, he likes you.”

“Cameron,” Ronan warns.

She smiles sweetly. “Yes?”

He looks back down at his notes.