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“Not Mina,” Heathcliff’s voice dripped with pride as he hugged me into his fluffy robe. “She put it all together. Not so bad for an amateur, is it?”
Charlie seemed to melt under Heathcliff’s glare. “That’s v-v-very impressive, Mina,” he murmured as he backed away. “I take back everything I said earlier about amateur sleuths. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go over there now for…for the safety of my testicles.”
“Damn right,” Heathcliff growled as Charlie pushed his way through the crowd.
“I can’t believe you got that tiny car through the wall!” Christina rubbed my freezing fingers between hers.
“When I was outside, I noticed that Jonathan left his keys in the range rover,” Quoth said modestly. “Not even an ancient castle wall is any match for that beast of a vehicle.”
“First thing when I get back to Argleton, I’m buying one,” said Morrie. “No, make that three!”
“Over my dead body,” Heathcliff muttered.
“It can be arranged,” Morrie shot back.
“That was so brave,” Christina gushed, turning to Quoth with a note of desire in her voice. “It’s so rare to meet a man who is both braveandhandsome. Killian is neither, which is why I’m dumping him as soon as we get out of here. So I’ll be single, just so you know.”
I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at Quoth’s miserable face. I rolled my engagement ring around my finger.
“But how did you know that Mina, Heathcliff, and Morrie were trapped inside the library?” Vivianne interrupted. “None of us could hear a thing through those thick walls.”
“Oh, well, I—”
“And your shirt is on inside out.” Christina reached for Quoth’s buttons. “Let me fix that for you.”
“That’s okay, please—”
“Make room,” Morrie yelled as he staggered into the restaurant, carrying Donna. Heathcliff swept the china off one of the tables and Morrie laid her down, cradling her head and whispering something in her ear that made her bolt upright.
“I’m okay.” She looked all around. “What happened? All I remember was walking toward the bathroom, and something hit me on the back of the head…”
“Jonathan tried to kill you,” I said. “He murdered Hugh, too, because you stole his manuscript and Hugh was going to publish it. He tried to kill me and my fiancés, but Allan managed to stop him by driving a car through the wall of the library.”
“I hope you’ve got a good contractor,” Heathcliff said. “Because there’s a gaping hole in the side of the castle.”
Donna looked utterly flummoxed. “But…”
“And you should probably forget about publishing that manuscript,” Morrie added. “Stealing the words of another writer is an unforgivable crime, unless they’re in the public domain and you turn their villainous characters into dishy romance heroes, then it’s totally fine.”
“But…why are ravens sitting in the windows? And what’s that?” Donna pointed a trembling finger at the stain on the carpet from where Heathcliff and Quoth dragged Jonathan inside. “Is that blood?”
“Yes.”
When Heathcliff didn’t elaborate, Donna clutched her hand to her forehead. She looked like she might faint again. But then, Vivianne stepped forward.
“This has been an appalling weekend. You’ll be hearing from my lawyer,” Vivianne grumbled.
“And mine,” Charlie piped up from the back of the room.
“And I’m only giving this hotel three stars on Tripadvisor,” Killian added.
“Three stars? For a murder?” Vivianne sounded appalled.
Killian shrugged. “The mud wrap wasexcellent.”
“I thought it was all kind of fun,” Christina said brightly, throwing her arms around me. “I mean, not the murder part, but the rest of it. I’m so pleased you’re okay, Mina. Just think, we were part of a real-life murder mystery!”
“Trust me, the novelty wears off,” I grumbled.
