by Cate Martin
Coco sunk her teeth deeper into her lip. "Ivy talked to Thomas and mother, mother told me about the change but said it was a secret I wasn't to tell anyone."
"Was your mother happy about the change?"
"Yes, definitely," Coco said. "She always liked Thomas better. But father was cross."
"Because he liked Edward?" I guessed.
Coco flinched when she bit her lip this time. Clearly, she was giving it too much of a workout. "I think he liked them both the same," she decided. "But he didn't like how Ivy was handling things."
"Okay, let's go over it again," I said. "Ivy and Thomas in the parlor with your mother. They come out and announce the change in plans. Then who goes where?"
"My father dragged Thomas into his study and Ivy went upstairs with my mother to finish getting ready," Coco said. "But Mary and Charlotte showed up before we were even up the stairs. Mary went with Ivy and my mother to Ivy's room, and I was stuck with surly Charlotte."
"And Edward?" I asked.
"He came later," Coco said. "And Tompkins took him right into the study where my father and Thomas were. I wanted to listen in, but Charlotte didn't want to."
"So you don't know when Mary knew about the change in betrothals," I said, and Coco nodded. "When did Charlotte know? Did you tell her?"
"I mean," Coco said, her cheeks coloring. "I told her the same thing I told you. That there was a big secret, but I couldn't tell her."
"So she heard it the same time we did when your father announced it?" I asked.
"Yes, but why does that matter?" Coco asked. "What does Charlotte care?"
"Her sister," I said, and Coco looked back over her shoulder to where Mary and Charlotte were sitting in chairs now but still holding hands. "Mary was clearly attached to Thomas. And Charlotte knew she was."
"Yes, but, Charlotte didn't even like Thomas," Coco said. "Not that she really likes anyone besides Mary, but in particular she didn't like Thomas."
"Why?" I asked.
"I don't know," Coco said, throwing up her hands. "You should probably just ask her."
"Maybe not now," I said. Mary looked in better spirits now that her sister was with her. "Did you see what happened up on the balcony?"
"No," she said and started blinking again. "The light up there is so bright. We don't usually have that chandelier all lit up like that. Just for parties."
"Mary told us that Edward was in the corridor," I said.
"He was," Coco said. "The whole time, actually. Thomas wanted him to come out and show there were no hard feelings, but Edward wouldn't go. Then we were all supposed to go downstairs to join the party, but it got confusing. Everyone seemed to be moving at once, and then someone knocked me back into the wall, and I nearly fell down. Then I heard my mother screaming."
"You didn't see Ivy fall?" I asked.
"No. It was too bright," Coco said.
"So the only people on the balcony were you and Charlotte, your parents, Thomas and Ivy?" I asked. "With Mary and Edward in the corridor? No servants or anyone else?"
"No," Coco said, but slowly.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I don't know. I couldn't see well, and then I got knocked down," she said.
"By who?" I asked.
"That's just it. I don't know," she said. "When I got back up, everyone else was right where they had been. Except for Ivy."
"So you don't know who bumped into you?"
"More like shoved me down," Coco said. "But no, I don't know who it was. They were strong."
"So maybe not Charlotte or Mary then?" I asked.
Coco shrugged. "Edward and Thomas were too far away. I think maybe someone else ran up the stairs or something. I definitely wouldn't have been able to see anyone rushing up the stairs with the chandelier all lit up."
I exchanged a glance with Brianna. She hadn't been there at that moment, but I was certain if anyone had been running up the stairs just then, someone would have seen it from below.
"It seems like the only way to clear this up is to talk to Edward and Thomas," Brianna said.
"Have they been taken to the library yet?" I asked.
"No. The chief said they'd question them last," Coco said. "He wanted all of the other stories first so he could catch them if they tried to lie."
"They," I said.
"Yes, he said they, but everyone there knew he meant Edward," Coco said darkly.
"Do you know where they are now?" I asked.
Coco shrugged. "Not here or in the library."
"We should search the house," I said. "They must both be upstairs somewhere."
"They'll just stop us again if we try to go upstairs," Brianna said.
"I can go," Coco said. "I'll look around and figure out where they are and then come get you."
"Perfect," I said. Coco turned to head back out the doors she had come in from when to her surprise as much as mine Charlotte bolted up out of her chair to run after her.
"I'm not sure they're on the same page in terms of their friendship," I said as Coco reluctantly let Charlotte tag along on her mission.
Then Sophie left Mary's side to come over to us. "What's going on?" she asked. "What was Coco telling you?"
"Nothing really concrete," I said. "But they're definitely trying to pin this on Edward."
"So what's the plan?" Sophie asked.
She sounded ready to argue if I wanted to do anything drastic. Which part of me really wanted to. But she and Brianna were right. We needed to keep a low profile.
"We should find Otto," I said. "Before the police do."
Chapter 10
We went through the ballroom, the parlor, the powder room, and up and down all of the corridors in the back of the house, but there was no sign of Otto.
"Did he sneak upstairs?" Brianna asked, looking down the corridor to the pair of officers standing guard there.
"Hold on," I said, sitting down on a chair that was against the wall in the corridor, opposite a set of double doors I was sure went to Mr. McTavet's study. I could hear the murmur of male voices inside. The chair had a stale cigar smell to it and wasn't particularly comfortable, but I only needed a moment.
I closed my eyes and pushed my awareness out of my body. It wasn't hard to find Otto this way. I knew his pattern of threads well after our last adventure together.
I opened my eyes. "He's in the kitchen," I said.
Sophie nodded and looked around, but there was no sign of a kitchen door in our corridor.
"This way," I said, getting up from the chair and leading the way back to the ballroom.
The food on the buffet table was starting to look a little sad, and I was certain anyone who tried to eat one of the shrimp cocktails now was going to have regrets.
Then a waiter went by holding a tray of empty coffee cups. We three watched as he crossed the room, then pushed against what looked like any other panel in the wood-covered walls. It pivoted on unseen hinges, and he disappeared.
"Mr. McTavet certainly likes a bit of mystery," I said. We crept closer to the door and waited to see if anyone was going to come back out of it, but there was no way to tell. Then another waiter came towards us, this one carrying a bin filled with dirty plates. He gave us a little nod as we stepped aside to let him pass.
We waited a beat then Sophie pushed through the door after him. Brianna and I followed.
Now we were standing in a dark room filled with shelves, a bit large for a butler's pantry but clearly the McTavets liked to throw lavish parties. From the other end of the room, we could hear the clatter of dishes and the splashing of wash water as well as many voices conversing in low tones. The pallor over the party extended to the staff as well. Not surprising. Ivy had seemed well liked by everyone.
We crept closer to the light. Sophie peeked into the kitchen then quickly slipped across the open space in front of the door to the butler's pantry, disappearing behind a wall of empty crates that had once held bottles of champagne. Brianna watched for a moment then fol
lowed. Then it was my turn to watch the servants gathered at the far end of the room, washing dishes and filling pots with coffee and stacking trays high with clean cups. They were talking together, but discreetly, in low voices with their heads bent together. No one was looking my way.
I followed the others.
The space between the back wall and the champagne crates was darkened like the butler's pantry and narrow. I could see Sophie and Brianna at the far end looking down at something, and when I got closer, I realized they were both standing over Otto, who had made himself a seat out of an overturned crate and was drinking the contents of one of the bottles. Several empties were rolling on the ground at his feet.
"Is this helpful?" I asked him in a furious whisper that was still loud enough to make both Brianna and Sophie gesture with their hands for me to quiet down.
"It wasn't a hit," Otto said, over-enunciating each word.
"Well, who thought it was?" I asked, still a shade too loudly.
"Me," Otto said. "But it isn't. So."
"You thought one of your buddies sent someone up there to push Ivy over the side?" I asked. "Why? The only person here who ever expressed any animosity towards her was you, frankly."
"All I ever said was that she wasn't right for Edward," Otto said, pausing to take yet another gulp of champagne. "And I stand by that assessment."
"When was this?" Sophie asked, but I waved the question aside.
"Otto-" I began, but he made a frustrated sound and kept making it until I stopped trying to speak.
"Your argument makes no sense," he said. "Why would I want her dead the very minute it's revealed that she wasn't even going to marry Edward?"
"Because you didn't know until that minute either?" I said. "It doesn't matter. I wasn't actually accusing you."
"No, I suppose you could just look into my eyes and see my heart," he said, still angry.
"Not exactly," I said.
"Coco thinks there might have been someone else up on the balcony beside the family," Brianna said. "Is that true? Is that why you thought there might be a hitman?"
"I did not know that," Otto said and lurched to one side as he attempted to turn his head to look at her.
"Why would a hitman be after Ivy? You didn't explain that,” Sophie said. He lurched again as he turned his attention to her. She bent down and gently took the mostly empty bottle from his hands, setting it on the floor with the others. "Otto, is anyone else in danger?"
"No," he said. "Everyone I spoke to swore they weren't here for business, and I believe them."
"But Ivy-" I began.
"I didn't think she was the target," Otto burst out, prompting Brianna and Sophie to flutter their hands again.
"Someone else then? Thomas or maybe Mr. McTavet?" I asked.
"It doesn't matter," Otto said, lifting his hand then realizing the bottle was gone.
"You do know the police are looking to question you," I said.
"I had nothing to do with it," he said.
"They're looking to pin this on Edward. They're going to grill you about all of the details of his life now and of his childhood and about why you're still a part of his life if he's really living an honest life," I said.
"I've got nothing to hide," he said.
"You're not listening to me," I said, leaning down to stare him right into the eyes. He had a little trouble focusing on me when I was that close, but he gave it an effort. "They aren't looking for the truth. They're not even looking for juicy secrets. They're looking for any reason at all they can pin this on him. And if you try to talk to them the way you are now, you're going to be giving them everything they want and more."
"I told you," he said, raising a wavering finger at me. "I told you they would."
"So why are you drinking then?" I asked.
His eyes filled with tears and I threw up my hands in surrender.
"I can't help him," he said, putting an arm over his eyes so we couldn't see him cry. "I can't do a thing for him."
"Not like this you can't," I said, but Sophie shot me a quelling look.
She might have sympathy for him, but I had none left.
"You're letting him down," I said.
"I know," he wailed.
Sophie nudged me back so she could take my place in front of Otto. She put her hands gently on his shoulders and waited for him to pull himself together and lower his arm.
"Otto," she said softly. "Why would Thomas be a target? Is he mixed up with something dangerous?"
"Not that I know of," Otto said. "But his father is a lawyer. A good one. He's managed to get a few of the worse sorts of gangsters put away despite the corruption in the police department and the courts. Someone might want to teach him a lesson by going after his boy."
"But no one here," I said. "Wait, is Thomas' father here?"
"No," Otto said. "I asked. He's at the governor's do. Pretty much anyone who isn't here is over there. More proper businessmen, though. Fewer gangsters."
"So his parents weren't even here?" Brianna said. "This really was a last-minute engagement, wasn't it? How strange it all is."
A door banged open on the other end of the kitchen and the sounds of dishes being washed promptly stopped.
"Wrong door," one of the waiters said. "The ballroom is down that way, and the powder room just down there."
"We're searching all the rooms," another man said. "We're looking for someone who seems to be hiding from us."
I looked to the others in alarm.
"Just let them take me," Otto said, struggling to his feet. I reached past Sophie to put a hand on his chest and gently shove him back down.
"Not like this," I said.
"You suggest we hide him until he sobers up?" Sophie asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
"I can fix it," Brianna said.
"You can fix it," Sophie said. "How?"
"I know a spell," she said, pulling out her wand.
"You can sober him up with a spell?" I asked.
"Yes," she said, raising her wand. Otto's eyes went wide, and he pressed back against the wall.
"How long have you known this spell?" Sophie asked.
"Since high school," Brianna said, her cheeks reddening. "It comes in handy at parties when someone drinks so much they become an ass."
"Sounds like just the thing," I said, looking down at Otto.
"Quick, then," Sophie said. Brianna whispered a few words then touched the tip of her wand to Otto's nose.
Otto blinked and just like that his eyes were clear and focused.
"Nice trick," Sophie said.
"I might have to have you come around more often," Otto said.
"Why don't you just try not drinking yourself into a stupor?" I asked.
"I didn't mean for me," Otto said.
"Come on, we have to get out of here," Sophie said. "We don't want to be in his company when they catch him, do we?"
"No, you don't," Otto said and bent over to pick up the bottle that still had a measure of champagne sloshing around within it.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Luring them into a false sense of not taking me seriously?" Otto said. "Go on. I'm fine."
There was a chaos of noise from the other side of the crates as the officers searched all of the cupboards and closets and the staff started shouting protests at the disarray.
Sophie then Brianna slipped back into the butler's pantry. I spared one last look back at Otto.
"Good luck," I said.
"Hey," he said just before I darted across. I looked back. "You promise to clear Edward's name if he's falsely accused?"
"Of course," I said.
"And mine?" he asked.
"Of course, Otto," I said.
"Thanks," he said, then waved me away.
The police officers' search had nearly worked its way across the kitchen. If I had waited a moment longer, it would have been too late. And from the look Sophie and Brianna gave me when I joined them in the butler's pantry,
they knew it too.
We didn't look back, just walked across the butler's pantry like it was the more natural place in the world for us to be, back to the light of the party.
Chapter 11
When we slipped back into the ballroom, we found Coco looking around for us. She came over when she saw us, but her face was grim.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I found them," she said. "But I don't know how you're going to be able to talk to them. Edward is upstairs in what used to be one of my brothers' rooms."
"How is he? Did you get to talk to him?" I asked.
"No, I couldn't even see him, but I know he was in there. There are two men guarding his door, and they chased me away, but when I asked if it was Edward or Thomas in there, they said it was Edward."
"And Thomas?" Sophie asked.
"In my parents' room on the second floor," Coco said. "And also with two guards that wouldn't let me in there even when I said I had to fetch something for my mother."
"I thought your mother was in that room?" Brianna asked.
"No, she has a private sitting room that is next to it. That's where she is."
"Connecting?" I asked.
"There's a door from there to her closet and through that to her room," Coco said. "But there are police in the sitting room with her, so we can't get in that way either."
We all mulled this over.
"Is there anything you can do that doesn't involve talking to Edward or Thomas?" Coco asked.
I looked up at Brianna and Sophie. They gave me little nods.
"Yes," I said. "But we'd have to be alone to do it."
Coco's face brightened at once. "You can use my room," she said.
"What would really be helpful," Sophie said, "would be to see the balcony where everything happened."
"The police already searched it for clues," Coco said.
"So they won't be there now," Sophie said.
"We need to be alone there," Brianna said. "Alone and undisturbed."
"All right," Coco said. "I can help you do that."
"I can help, too," Charlotte said, and we all jumped. None of us had seen her approaching.
"What are you helping us with?" Sophie asked, trying to suss out how much Charlotte had overheard.