I took my lead from Roan, who nodded. “We sit in this room and wait until it can be unlocked; then Roan and I will tell the police about the knife we found. No one will leave this house until the police say so. So everyone needs to settle in. We’re only halfway through this night, and there’s still more of it to go.”
“Come on, Alice,” Ruth said. “Let’s find ourselves a seat.”
Tex rose and stretched. “I don’t know about y’all, but I could use a snack.”
Alice opened her tin. “Cookie?”
Tex smiled. “Don’t mind if I do.”
As I listened to Tex chomping on his cookie, I wondered how we would make it a few more hours before another person wound up dead.
Chapter 17
With the new couches and chairs brought in, there was barely any room to breathe. The air got even hotter, and soon I found it hard to keep my eyes open. I told myself that I’d nap for only a few minutes. It seemed that Lucky’s threat and all thoughts of my father vanished as if I was under a spell.
If only I could shut my eyes for a few minutes. Then I’d wake up refreshed.
The next thing I knew, my eyes snapped open. The room was quiet. The lights were dim and still. Christmas songs wove around the room, coming from the Bluetooth speaker in the corner.
Everyone had their eyes closed, and light sounds of snoring filled every nook and cranny. Roan, Alice, Ruth, Lemon and Tex all slumbered soundly.
Wait. We were missing two people—Luis and Traylor. I pushed a heavy flannel blanket from my legs and rose quietly, trying not to disturb anyone. My socked feet padded over the lush rug soundlessly, and within minutes I was deep in the belly of the manor. Every creak of the house was amplified as I made my way through the halls.
Where could they be? Had Luis and Traylor gone off separately, or was it simply coincidence that they were both absent from the room?
What if…what if one of them was the killer and he’d followed the other in the hopes of murdering again?
My heart rate ticked up. I had to move quickly and find them. If it was possible to stop someone else being hurt, then I had to.
No longer worried about being quiet, I dashed through the house, turning this way and that, trying to root out where Traylor and Luis had gone.
Finally, after what seemed forever and hearing nothing but the rush of blood pounding in my ears, I came to a stop outside of Zelda’s sitting room.
I stood against the doorframe. The door was mostly closed, save for a thin slice that had been left open. A few quick tiptoes and my gaze was locked securely in the wedge.
I gasped.
Traylor and Luis were in the room, all right, but they weren’t trying to kill one another.
They were kissing.
I yanked the door open. The two men broke from each other. Luis slid a hand over his mouth, and Traylor jumped nearly to the other side of the room.
I glared at them both. “So you’ve been lying.”
Luis sniffed. “I don’t know what you think you saw, but believe me, it was nothing.”
“I think I saw the two of you kissing.”
Traylor laughed lightly. It was a fluttery, lithe sound. He smoothed his silky hair and grinned. “It’s late. We’re all tired. I’m sure you think you saw something strange going on in here, but I can assure you that Luis and I were simply talking very close.”
“No, you weren’t, and if you don’t start explaining, I’m going to march into the other room and tell Lemon exactly what I saw. Think she’ll be okay with that?”
From the guilty looks on their faces, it appeared that no, Lemon would not be okay with this little nugget of knowledge.
I folded my arms. “So the two of y’all were in on it together? Is that right? You murdered Zelda and then tried to murder me and Roan?”
Luis’s eyes filled with tears. “No, of course not. Everything that I have ever said or felt about Zelda is true. I loved her so much. She was my mother, my lover, my everything.”
