“Easy, killer.”
I sighed and leaned against the wall. “I just wish we were out of here.”
Roan raked his fingers through his hair. “I wish that we at least had some entertainment.”
“I wish I’d invited Ruth and Alice.” I snapped my fingers at the missed opportunity. “They would be entertaining. If Ruth and Alice were here, they’d be trying to figure out who had done it in ways that would make me laugh.”
Roan grinned. “I can just see Ruth and Alice hiding among all the elves, trying to spy on everybody.”
My eyes flared. “Roan, that’s brilliant. We could do that. There are a million elves and Christmas decorations. We could set something up and watch to see how everyone acts.”
“Like what?” he said skeptically, and rightly so.
“Like…what if we say that we found something incriminating? Or—where’s the will?”
“Still in the room, I think.”
“What if we take it and read out that there’s an addendum to it.”
Roan smirked. “What sort of addendum?”
Think, Blissful. What would Ruth and Alice do?I tried to think of the most illogical, crazy idea that I could, because that’s how Ruth and Alice would think. Or at least Alice.
“What if we say that we found something that says, if Luis and Lemon can’t get along, then everything goes to the elves?”
“The elves?” Roan tapped one of the plastic heads. “As in these elves? Do you really think that’s something Zelda would do?”
I winked. “Does it matter if they believe it and come to check? We can hide, and if Lemon and Traylor come in together and start talking, we might find out if they’re guilty or not.” Roan appeared unconvinced, so I pointed to the decor. “Zelda was eccentric. Eccentric people make strange requests. It’s not too far off the deep end.”
He rubbed the stubble that sprinkled his chin. “Itdoessound like something Alice would do.” Roan exhaled. “The crazy things that I do for love.”
I tugged him down the hall. “Come on. Let’s find the perfect room to set up in. But first—do you think you can sneak in and snatch the will without anyone seeing?”
Roan smiled devilishly. “You bet I can.”
When Roan went backinto the room, it was empty except for Traylor and Lemon. The will itself sat on a desk, undisturbed. He was able to snatch it and bring it to me.
We weren’t planning to touch anything on the paper itself, just keep it out of view.
“What would be the perfect room?” I whispered as we walked through the eerily quiet halls.
“I get the feeling that we’ll know it when we see it.”
The solarium and billiards rooms were both out of the question because they didn’t have enough elves in them. Zelda’s parlor was also not a great idea because it also didn’t have enough hiding places.
“Whatcha doin’?”
From one of the corners, Sable emerged, blonde hair trailing behind her. Her eyes were awfully bright for a ghost, almost disturbingly so.
“Ah, if it isn’t the woman who hid the jewels,” Roan said.
Sable chuckled. “Oh, I hid them all right.”
I wasn’t interested in being distracted by a spirit, not when there were so many other things to do. Unless Sable had a way to get us out of this house, I wasn’t interested in talking to her at all.
“You’re looking for your father,” she said to me.
And that stopped me in my tracks. “So you’ve been listening.”
