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Everyone from the reunion party filtered out of the room except for Bethany, who was Mirandized and taken to the drawing room in the front of the mansion to wait for a squad car, and Chance, who sat frozen, staring dully at his hands. Sasha and Leo exchanged a look.
“I got this,” Maisy told them. She walked over to Chance and pulled up the chair next to him.
“I’m sure this has been a terrible shock, sugar. You were trying to protect your family. You didn’t have any idea what was going on, did you?” Her voice was soft and gentle.
“No,” Chance moaned before mumbling something indecipherable.
Maisy was undaunted. “Sometimes, it’s good to talk about things. You’ll feel so much better after you speak your truth, say your piece.”
“We don’t need to all stay here while she signs him up as a podcast guest, do we?” Naya said, smothering a yawn.
Duncan looked at John and Hatty. “This place is an active crime scene—it’s going to be noisy here. If it’s all the same to the Carlisles, you lot could go back to that cottage. You’ll probably sleep better.”
“That’s a wonderful idea. You’ll be more comfortable,” Hatty urged.
Sasha was about to protest that she wasn’t up for another snowy trek when a state police SUV glided into the driveway.
“Could we get a lift?” she asked instead.
Officer Duncan nodded. “We’ll make it happen.”
The ten of them squeezed into the large SUV for the short trip down to the stone cottage. The adrenaline and excitement were wearing off fast. It was a mostly silent drive. When they reached the cottage, they thanked the trooper and shuffled, blank-eyed and drained, into the house.
As soon as Leo opened the door to their bedroom, Sasha sagged against the wall.
“That was one hell of a day,” she sighed.
He glanced down at his watch and then looked up at her with a grin. “But it’s over. It’s ten minutes past midnight. December twenty-ninth is history. You know what that means?”
“Please say it means we can go to sleep.”
“It means it’s officially our tenth anniversary.”
Despite her fatigue, a spark of joy lit in her chest. “Happy anniversary,” she whispered.
“Happy anniversary, yourself.” He caged her against the wall, bracing his arms on either side of her.
She lifted her chin, and he covered her mouth with a kiss. A kiss that was full of history and promise. Her knees threatened to buckle, and she pressed herself against his firm body.
“Here’s to ten more,” she breathed.
He scooped her up and carried her to the canopied bed.
CHAPTER32
Saturday, December 30th
entirely too early in the morning
Bang. Bang. Bang.Someone was pounding on the bedroom door. Sasha groaned and pulled a pillow over her head. It was not possible that it was already morning. She’d only slept a minute—maybe two.
Leo sat up and yawned. Then he swung his legs around, dropped his bare feet to the floor, and padded across the room to answer the door and stop the incessant knocking.
“Wakey, wakey, eggs, and bakey,” Maisy sang as Leo yanked the door open.
Sasha pushed herself up onto her elbow and peered through the cracked door at her entirely too chipper friend.
“What time is it?” Leo said groggily.
