“Do you want a boost?” Felix asks.
He’s standing a lot closer than I expect, so when I turn to give him a rude look, I smack into his chest. “Just tell me,” I grumble, ducking down so he can look through the opening.
Felix leans even closer, pressing his forehead to the wall. “Hmm.”
“What? What do you see?”
“It’s definitely the dining room.”
“And? Will it work?”
He pulls away from the wall, but only takes a half step back, so our faces are close enough together for him to whisper. “The spying part? I think so. Once we get you a booster chair.”
For the record, I am a totally average height. But I’m too excited to argue. “Now we just need to lure her here and get her talking. As soon as we figure out how to set the scene.”
“Set the scene as in—”
“A very special game of Killing Me Softly,” I finish for him. “Except Bernie can’t know that’s what it is, because she would refuse to play, so it’ll look like real life.” In a roundabout way, this is Claude’s last wish, finally coming true.
“You still think Mervyn is our guy?” Felix asks.
“What do you mean?”
“Are you sure he’s ready to take point on this?”
It’s definitely a gamble. He’s a lawyer, not an actor, but Mervyn does love this place—and I can’t feature him saying no to Grandma Lainey.
“We’ll present it to him as an audition. If he wants to join the cast of Killing Me Softly, this is his chance to show them what he’s got.”
“And he gets to ride to the rescue. Much more dramatic than sitting at his desk moving papers around.” Felix frowns. “This is legal, right?”
“Ideally no one will have time to ask themselves questions like that because it will all be happening so fast.” I make a zooming motion with my hand. “Now, who should we talk to first?”
You might think there would be pushback if a couple of high school students announced their plan to catch a possible killer by staging an elaborate undercover sting, but the Castle Claude crew is built different.
It helps that we lead with the fact that it’s our first time running a game of Killing Me Softly, like that’s the main agenda. They don’t come right out and say it, but I can tell they’re overjoyed we’re following in their footsteps. Chip off the old block, et cetera. Our halos are polished to a high shine.
“And you came up with it together?” Mrs. A is all aflutter, sighing and pressing her hands to her heart.
“What do you need?” Grandma Lainey asks, getting down to business while Mrs. A enjoys her one-woman swoonfest.
I look at Felix, who nods. “We need Mervyn,” I tell them.
He arrives within the hour, carrying a potted orchid “for everyone,” which he hands directly to my grandmother.
“Is it one of yours?” she asks, inspecting the dangling purple-and-white blossoms.
Mervyn nods, visibly pleased that she asked. Hopefully he’ll be better at hiding his true feelings when he’s dragging a confession out of Claude’s sister.Ifhe agrees to go through with it.
“Why don’t you bring Mervyn up to speed while I find the perfect spot for this?” Grandma Lainey says, lifting the ceramic pot.
“Indirect sunlight,” Mervyn calls after her.
It feels like she’s abandoning us, until I realize it’s a ploy to let me and Felix take the lead. I dive in before I can second guess myself.
“We want you to play a game of Killing Me Softly.”
“Really?” He glances between us, like he can’t quite believe his ears.
