It’s adoor.
“Be careful,” whispers Cate as Priscilla pulls it open, revealing a narrow passage, just like the ones she saw on the model.
“Well,” she says, “I think we know how they got in.”
Millie’s mind starts to race. “Where does it go?”
“Only one way to find out,” says Priscilla, but no one moves. Millie’s not about to go first, in case there’s something in the tunnel. Also because it would mean turning her back on the people behind her, and there’s a two out of three chance one of them is a murderer.
After a moment, Priscilla sighs and steps forward.
For once, Millie’s grateful for the romance author’s need to take control. Once Priscilla has stepped into the wall, Cate follows, which leaves Millie bringing up the rear. She holds her breath as she steps out of Jaxon’s white room and into the dark.
It’s pitch-black inside the passageway, and Millie puts her hand on Cate’s back for balance as they shuffle forward until something clips her left shoulder. She feels for it and finds a ladder, running up into the dark. She can’t see where it leads, and there’s no time to find out because there’s another door a few steps in front of Priscilla, a thin line of light seeping from the edges.
Priscilla nudges the door open, and they step through.
Into Millie’s room.
She blinks, thrown by the sudden appearance of her own blue walls, her blue bed, the blue duvet and pillows piled in the center, her clothes spilling out of her open suitcase.
And now Priscilla and Cate are looking ather. As if she had any clue the secret passage was here, as if she had anything to do with Jaxon.
“What?” she squeaks. “Ididn’t kill him.”
But judging by the look on Priscilla’s face, she clearly doesn’t believe her.
“Cate?” she pleads with the other girl, but Cate stares back, panicked and a little tearful—a kid caught in the crossfire when Mom and Dad are fighting.
“I was literally the only one who even liked him!” Millie snaps. “Why would I do it?”
“Why would anyone?” counters Priscilla.
“To win the book deal?” ventures Cate. “It’s an awful lot of money.”
Millie scrambles. “But—but—I wouldn’t steal his pages. I already turned mine in.”
“Then what are those?” asks Priscilla, pointing to the typed blue sheets sitting on the desk. Millie’s stomach drops at the sight of her rewritten work.
“I... I...” She would rather die than admit her first-person mistake. “I wasn’t entirely happy with my first draft—I thought I’d give it a bit of a polish, since I had the time. Not that I need to explain myself toyou.”
“Actually, you do,” snaps Priscilla, “since your room is the one with the secret passage into Jaxon’s.”
“There are secret tunnels all over the place!” counters Millie, before realizing that’s not helping her case.
Priscilla arches a brow. “And how would you know that?”
“We saw it on the dollhouse. Right, Cate?”
But Cate shrinks back a little. “I—I didn’t notice...”
Which gives Priscilla the ammunition she needs to press on. “Is that how you found the door in your wall?” she demands, gaze fixed on Millie.
“What? No. I—” but she cuts off as Priscilla lifts a blue page from the desk, frowning as she skims, and a different kind of panic floods Millie’s chest. “Hey! No cheating!”
She strides over and rips the page from the other woman’s hand before grabbing the rest of the blue sheets and clutching them to her chest. She looks around, scrambling, then shoves the paper into her open suitcase and slams it shut, spinning the digits of the combination lock.
“Yeah,” says Priscilla dryly. “Thatwasn’t suspicious.”
