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“I do,” he said, uncorking the champagne and filling the flutes.
“There’s a secret passage that starts in the closet of that bedroom. If you follow this creaky old spiral staircase that I guess is built into the walls, you end up here.”
“That’s what happened to you and Maisy! I came back up to look for you, and you’d vanished.”
“This is where we were.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Is this how you knew about the PKU gene?”
She gave him a wicked smile. “Ididtell you I overheard it.”
“You neglected to mention you overheard while hiding behind the walls.”
“We weren’t eavesdropping—at least, not on purpose,” she protested. “We just wanted to see where the hidden staircase led. Then we heard voices as we got close to the parlor.” She gestured up at the vent. “Annette and Tessa were sitting in the room talking about whether they wanted to have kids. Annette mentioned that a rare metabolic disorder runs in her family. And Tessa said, ‘Oh, Rowan has phenylketonuria.’ Something along those lines.”
“That’s when you knew it was Bethany?”
“Well, I knew it was either her or Chance. I realized it wasn’t Chance when he ran toward the police, not away from them. When did you know?”
“I started to suspect her when Joy described how Chance was mesmerized by the poker. If he’d hit Rex, he wouldn’t have hung around to make eyes at the murder weapon. He’d have been out of there. I think he was stunned and couldn’t believe what his wife had done. He had no idea how complicated and involved the situation was, though.”
“No, he certainly didn’t.”
They fell silent. Then Leo changed the subject, marveling, “I can’t believe there’s an actual secret passageway here.”
“Hatty says this place is full of them. So tomorrow afternoon, we’re going to organize a scavenger hunt to see who can find the next secret passage. It’ll give us something to do until the ball drops.”
“So you’ve got tomorrow all planned out. What do you propose we do to pass the time tonight?”
“I have a few ideas.” She made a smoldering, suggestive face.
They clinked glasses and laughed.
Leo said, “It’s been a memorable tenth anniversary.”
“Possibly even too memorable. For our twentieth, we should find a desert island or an uninhabited land mass. Somewhere trouble can’t find us.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Trouble can find us anywhere, love.”
She sighed and sipped her champagne. “It’s starting to seem that way.”
“It’s okay. I have a plan.”
She took another sip. The bubbles tickled her nose and added to her effervescent mood. “Oh really?”
“Since you seem committed to breaking your own weapons ban, I got you one.”
Her metaphorical fizz fell flat. “You got me a weapon?” she repeated in disbelief.
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a long, slim, rectangular black box. “In a manner of speaking. Go ahead. Open it.”
He handed her the box. She reluctantly untied the silver silk ribbon and eased off the lid. She blinked down at a gleaming hair stick. One end was sharpened to a vicious point. The other was wrapped with twisting rows of glittering diamonds and sparkling sapphires.
“Is this akanzashi?It’s gorgeous.”
“It ought to be. I had it custom-made for you.”
She threw her arms around his neck. “I love it. And you.”
