It turned out that the game Seamus was suggesting was more seek than hide.
“I didn’t want to alarm Ronnie, but I can’t find my brother,” he told them. “Seb’s gone AWOL, and he’s the main speaker. If he doesn’t show, I’ll have to do it, and believe me, nobody wants that to happen.” He grinned. “We may be twins, but he’s got the gift of the gab.”
“You guys are twins?” Missy gulped, like she’d been told they were a circus act. “That’ll make him easy to find.”
He waggled a hand. “Just look for a taller, hunkier version of me—he’s also the better-looking one, the bastard.” He laughed. It was a lovely, melodic sound. “I know you’ve just arrived, and I apologise for dumping this on you, but I don’t want to worry Aunty Ronnie. And I’d ask my girlfriend, but I can’t seem to find her either.”
Several eyes widened at that comment, but Seamus didn’t notice. “I’d keep searching, but I’d better bolt to the library and scribble down a backup speech, just in case.”
“There’s a library in the house?” said Missy, eyes popping again. “And a patio and a guest house. Forget Knives Out, now I feel like we’ve walked into a game of Cluedo! Next thing you’ll tell us there’s a conservatory and a ballroom, not to mention—”
“We’d love to help,” said Queenie. “Where should we start?”
Seamus was still smiling at Missy. “Actually, there’s an observatory, but he’s not in there. I’ve already checked. In fact, he’s nowhere in the house, so don’t bother looking inside. Maybe check around the property.”
“Have you tried calling him?” asked Lynette.
“Or sending him a telepathic signal?” added Missy, guffawing.
“Wouldn’t work, we’re rarely on the same wavelength.” Seamus laughed again. “As for this…” He held up his device, the latest model iPhone in silver. “No response. Although to be fair, the reception here is patchy. I’ll have another crack.” He pressed a few buttons, then waited a beat, frowned and said, “Hey bruz, me again. I’m serious about the speeches. Get back here. Fast!” Then he hung up.
“Okay then, let’s see if we can drag him back,” said Perry. “This place is massive. Can you narrow it down a bit for us?”
Seamus pointed a finger to the southern end of the patio. “The pool deck wraps right around the cliff edge, and there’s a cabana on the other side. He could be round there having a smoke, I suppose.” Then he turned and pointed to the opposite end of the house, back towards the forest. “Also try the guest house you drove past on your way in, although I can’t see why he’d be there, we’re sleeping upstairs tonight. Oh, and try the parking lot.”
“The parking lot?” echoed Claire.
He offered a sheepish grin. “We both have a soft spot for fast cars; he could be out there salivating.”
“Sounds like someone we know,” she said, nodding at Queenie.
“Just stick close. He can’t have gone too far. And I’d hate for you to miss the fireworks entirely.” Then he held his palms together and bowed. “Thank you. I can see why Ronnie adores you guys. If you find him, tell him to come straight to the library. I’ll be in there, stressed to my eyeballs.”
Then he turned and headed into the house.
The book club gave a universal sigh, then abandoned their flutes and split into groups of two. Missy and Lynette had opted to search the enormous patio around the pool and were making their way to the aforementioned cabana when the patio lights suddenly flickered off. A few seconds later, they heard a whistling sound before the sky split into a million colours, banging and crackling as it did so.
“Oh, it’s lovely!” said Missy, stopping and staring upwards. “If this doesn’t bring Sebastian running, nothing will. I mean, what kind of fool doesn’t come out and look at fireworks? Everybody loves fireworks, don’t they?”
“Depends if that fool is having some fireworks of his own,” Lynette countered, staring across to the dimly lit cabana. It was a modernised version of the house with the same arched windows but wide, sliding glass doors and a low, flat roof.
Missy looked at her blankly, and Lynette smiled. “You are so charmingly innocent, my dear.” Then they locked elbows and marched across the stone pavers. “Didn’t you hear Seamus say his girlfriend is also missing?”
“So?”
Lynette stepped up to the tinted glass doors and tried to peer through. “So maybe they’re missing together, nudge nudge, wink wink.”
“No,” gasped Missy. “You think they’re in there canoodling?”
“Canoodling?” Lynette laughed. “Who even says—”
Her words were swallowed up by a fresh burst of fireworks, but this time she was the one gasping as the explosion illuminated more than the night sky. The inside of the cabana also lit up, and for a brief moment, Lynette spotted a couple sitting close together on a couch.
They both glanced up, wide-eyed, like they’d been sprung pre-canoodle, before the room snapped back into darkness.
~
It came as no surprise that Queenie had volunteered to check out the guest car park even though it was on the wrong side of the house, and she would miss the fireworks, which were being launched out towards the ocean.
“Who needs fireworks when you have Porsches and Alfa Romeos?” she said to Claire as she wandered from luxury vehicle to luxury vehicle, the odd Subaru and Mazda bringing the collection down a peg or two.
There were about thirty cars in the vicinity, and as they peered in and around each one, it didn’t take long to deduce there was no one lurking between them, stroking the satin finishes.
“Such a waste of time,” said Claire, listening wistfully as the fireworks exploded unseen.
Queenie’s stiff bob was shaking now. “Not really. I’ve never seen the all-electric Jaguar up close.”
Claire rolled her catlike eyes and let her inspect the fancier vehicles again, then eventually called time out.
“What about the garage?” Queenie pointed back to the house where all six roller doors were sealed shut. “Should we see if we can access it from inside?”
Claire scoffed. “Sebastian is hardly going to be lurking inside a boring garage during a fireworks display.”
Queenie scoffed harder. “I bet there’s nothing boring about that garage, Claire.”
~
Like the guardhouse, the guest house was a miniature version of the main house and, from what Alicia and Perry could see, locked up tight. As the fireworks danced above them, they knocked loudly on the front door, trying to be heard over the din, then peered through the smaller bay windows.
“I wonder if this is where we’re staying,” said Alicia.
“Doubt it,” said Perry, nodding towards a blue cooler box he could see on a coffee table. “There’s an esky in there and some very gaudy wine goblets. Oh, and is that a bottle of Dom? Someone’s been preloading with the good stuff.” He stepped back. “But no signs of life, I’m afraid.”
Alicia strode around the guest house to the other side where the manicured lawn quickly turned into low shrubby forest through which a crushed limestone pathway vanished into the darkness.
“Look,” she said, “this path must lead back down to the tennis court.”
Perry pointed to a small wooden sign near her feet. “What gave it away? The picture of the tennis racquet or the bright yellow arrow?”
She smirked back. “They could be out there, playing a few rounds of love-all.”
“Honestly, Alicia,” he groaned. “For a journalist, you’re really bad at puns. Although you are perceptive, I’ll give you that. It does seem odd that Seamus’s twin and his girlfriend are missing at the same time.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time a man stole his brother’s woman.”
“You mean bruzes,” said Perry, snickering. “Come on, let’s see if Seamus has been superseded. Get it… seeded?”
Alicia was now groaning as they entered the path.
~
Ronnie would have groaned if Biddy wasn’t quite so adorable. They were seated together on “Her Lordship’s royal throne” (her friend Peg’s words as she offered her seat to Biddy, then scuttled off), but no amount of persuading could get the woman to look skyward.
“What time is it now?” Biddy kept asking, and Ronnie gently sighed.
“Time to look up, Biddy. Up! You’re missing the lovely fireworks.”
But all Biddy wanted to do was stare lovingly at Ronnie’s face (well, that, eat chocolate cake and play hide-and-seek, of course). It was something Biddy often did. Whenever Ronnie took her to a movie or a play, she would watch Ronnie instead, as if she were the only show in town. In the end, Ronnie let Biddy be and enjoyed the spectacle herself while also wondering where Peg had got to and why her book club friends had also scurried off at the start of the fireworks. They all seemed suddenly purposeful.
Good thing she wasn’t a suspicious beast, or Ronnie would suspect they were up to something…