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The room was spacious and clean. It had white and golden accents, and the bed was large. Normally I would be thrilled to stay in a room this beautiful, but it reminded me too much of the room that Victor had been in. Even if the layout of this room was reversed. I threw my backpack on the bed and started unpacking my torch and lock pick set. In addition to that I’d also brought small ziplock bags that could function as evidence bags, and though I probably wouldn’t need them, it made me feel like a detective.
Detective Black chuckled on the opposite side of the king-sized bed.
“What? I like to be prepared.”
“Did you also bring a magnifying glass and handcuffs?” He raised his dark eyebrows as he grinned.
I scoffed. Yes. “Don’t be silly.”
“What exactly is your plan?”
“Have a drink downstairs, see what Mr Field is up to. Find Mrs Field and ask some questions. I’d really like to go into Mr Field’s office, so I’ll wait until everyone is asleep and snoop around.”
“What if you get caught? What if he has cameras? What if you can’t get into his office?”
“He doesn’t have cameras outside of his office. I doubt he has them on the inside. If I get caught then I can just say I’m sleepwalking. I’ll be in my pyjamas. Besides, I doubt he will be awake at three AM. And if I can’t get into his office, well, at least I’ll have tried.”
“This would be so much easier if you were actually a detective.”
“Would it? I couldn’t snoop around if I was. I’d be restricted to interviewing people only. And people have their guard up around the police. They’ll be at ease around me.”
There was a knock on the door, and I froze. Eddie had gaming plans with Brian so that left Mr Field. What would he want?
“To murder you?” Detective Black said. “Maybe you should take a leaf out of your aunt’s book and grab a kettle.”
“Ha-ha,” I muttered as I sauntered over to the door. “Who is it?”
“A certain detective,” Alistair said.
I glanced back at Detective Black, but he was already gone. Before opening the door, I checked myself in the mirror.
“Hi.” I smiled innocently.
He narrowed his eyes at me and stepped into the room. His gaze immediately travelled to the torch and lock pick set. “Planning on a relaxing stay?”
“Yes, I wanted to try out their poison and see what the fuss was about.”
His jaw clenched. “Don’t joke about that. What the hell do you think you’ll gain by staying here?”
“I just want to relax here. That’s all. No biggie. How did you know I was here?”
“I overheard Eddie at the pub. And if you’re planning to relax, why did you bring a lock pick set?”
“I always bring that. You never know when you might need it in a cosy English village with a maniacal chicken.”
He folded his arms.
Perhaps I could use my feminine wiles. I started walking towards him, smiling, but my heel caught on the carpet, and I stumbled forwards. Right into his arms.
“Enjoy your trip?”
I chuckled. “Sorry, I guess I need to work on my walking skills.”
“You should also work on your listening skills, but I doubt I can say anything that will make you go home.” He was still holding me.
“No, sorry.” I smiled. “You smell nice.”
His pupils dilated.
Someone knocked on the door. “Did you bring DC Daniels?” I asked.
He laughed. “No, he’s got his knitting club tonight.”
“Really? Hm. Good for him.” I answered the door.
Several women spilled through the door. I stepped back in surprise. It took me a moment to realise it was the Castlefield Book Club. They all wore hats and sunglasses. Nancy wore a fake moustache.
Alistair grunted.
“Hi, Alistair. Here to help our Maggie?” Poppy asked.
If looks could kill.
“Alistair,” Lily purred and sidled up to him. “What a lovely surprise. You know my daughter has recently split up with her husband—” she started.
“What are you doing here?” I asked Nancy.
Eleanor answered. “Eddie told Nancy you were coming here and we want to help with the investigation.”
“Yes, we can be your eyes and ears,” Olivia said. “Besides, there’s nothing on TV, and Stanley is at the pub. We’re bored.”
“Until I get a new order of miniature furniture, I can’t work on my new dollhouse, and it’s driving me crazy. Let us do something,” Phoebe said.
“I just came because I wanted to wear my new hat.” Jessica struck a pose.
Ava lowered her sunglasses. “If we help solve this murder with you, we can make the local newspaper. That will be good for my new business.”
“You’re starting a new business?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m planning on selling mugs with mugshots on it. People can upload their photo and it will generate a mugshot. Then you simply choose a colour, and you have a mug.”
“I’d like one. How much are they?” Poppy asked, and she already took out her coin purse as she counted pennies.
“Twenty pounds.”
She put her purse away. “Never mind.”
“So can we help?” Nancy asked. “It’s me, Nancy. I’m wearing a disguise.”
I kept from laughing. How could I tell them nicely that they were about as useful as a bag of porcupines at a balloon party? They were lovely people, but not exactly subtle. “Why are you wearing disguises?”
“Sherlock Holmes used them all the time,” Lily said as if I’d just asked the most ridiculous question ever. And here I thought we’d bonded during the last book club meeting.
The door was still open and just then Mr Field passed with a trolley of whiskey glasses and a cheese platter. “Oh, hello ladies. Are you having a book club meeting here? Enjoy.” He disappeared out of sight again.
I raised my eyebrows at Lily who cleared her throat and slowly removed her sunglasses.
Still, if I truly wanted them out of the way, I had to give them something to do. Even if it led nowhere. I shut the door. “If I remember correctly, there’s a library on this floor. I want half of you guys to scour it for any books on this property itself. If you find anything, let me know. The other half should stay in the lounge, grab a drink and talk to people who were here Friday. They’ll probably be eager to gossip, so try to get as much info as you can.” It was possible those people had already left, but the point here was to keep them busy.
The women chatted excitedly and started making groups. After several moments of quibbling, everybody was happy, and they left the room, their disguises still on.
Nancy was the last to leave and turned around. “Remember,” she said to Alistair, “she’s very single.” Then she shut the door.
I laughed. “I think I need a drink.”
“Yeah, me too,” Alistair said.
The mini fridge was half-empty about an hour later as we sat against the bed. The women hadn’t returned yet, but I figured they’d be having fun. They weren’t the kind of women who’d do anything against their will. I liked that about them. Growing up around them meant that I had learned something from each and every one of them.
“So you’re telling me,” I said, “that instead of reading or watching TV, or even playing video games, your hobby is to perform magic tricks? Do you wear a cape for this? Do you have a bunch of bunnies because you can’t put them back into the hat?”
“No, they’re just fun tricks that I sometimes use to baffle people.”
“Like what?”
He sat up straighter and put down the small bottle of vodka. From his breast pocket he grabbed one playing card.
I started laughing.
“Hey, keep an open mind, will you?” He handed me the card. “Rip it up.”
“Really? Are you sure?”
He looked particularly sexy when he grinned. “Yes, I’m sure.”
I ripped the card in half and then again.
He took the pieces into his hands and folded them over each other. Then he blew into his hands and opened them again. The pieces were gone.
I looked around on the floor and on my lap, but they weren’t to be seen. “How did you do that?” My head felt fuzzy from the alcohol, as if it was filled with cotton balls.
“Look in your pocket,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.
I checked the pockets of my trousers and in my left pocket found the card, completely whole. “Wow, you are amazing. You should go on TV and become famous. Hey, do you require an assistant?”
“If the assistant is you, then yeah, totally.”
A pause.
I grabbed his tie and pulled him a little closer. “You know what we should do?”
“What?”
––––––––
WE STARED AT THE PULL-out ladder that led to the attic. “And why do we need to go up there?”
“Duh, my magician friend. We need to look for clues.”
“Okay. And they’ll be there?”
“They might be. How do we know unless we look?” I said.
“Good point. Can’t argue with that,” he said.
I wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic, but suspected he was serious. Sober Alistair would have probably shot down this idea and then set fire to it.
“I’ll go up while you are the look-out.” I took the first step.
“But by the time someone sees us, it will already be too late,” he said.
“Shh, don’t think about that. Too much logic will ruin it.”
“Okay.” He took a sip of the small vodka bottle.
“You took that with you?”
“Yeah.” He held it out to me, and I finished the rest of it.
“You’re both idiots,” Detective Black said.
I jumped.
Alistair laughed. “What was that about?”
“I see imaginary people,” I whispered, wide-eyed.
“I thought I could do that once, but it turned out I had a very sporadic roommate nobody had told me about.”
“Yep, idiots,” Detective Black said again.
I turned on the torch and climbed the ladder to the musty attic. There was a small window at the end. The light of my torch trembled as I shone it over the wooden floor and stacks of boxes. The space was clean and organised. This stuff was probably put here around the time of the renovation.
I opened one of the boxes and peered inside. There were candlesticks and pieces of cloth for decoration. They looked antique and images of people in old-fashioned, wide dresses flashed through my mind. The next box held kitchen utensils. They were mostly still in good condition. I picked up a rolling pin, looked at it, then put it back.
“A rolling pin, huh?” Alistair was right beside me.
I gasped. “I thought you were the look-out.”
“Was I?” he asked. “Do you think the rolling pin could be the murder weapon?”
I frowned. “He was poisoned, remember?”
He chuckled. “I know. It was a joke.” Then he turned serious. “Actually, that wasn’t funny. Am I drunk?”
“Yes. Anyway, I don’t think there’s anything useful here.” I stood up with difficulty, so did Alistair. I nearly lost my balance. “What should we do now?”
“Let’s dance.” He grabbed my waist, making me drop my torch, and started spinning me through the attic. It made me even more lightheaded, but I didn’t mind. I liked the feel of his arms around me, the woody scent that clung to him, and the way he was looking into my eyes right now. A floorboard creaked as we stepped on it, and we continued towards the other corner. The fallen torch provided enough light for us to avoid the boxes.
“You—blast, what is wrong with you? Did you not hear that floorboard? It could mean something.” Detective Black’s tone was high, and he sounded exasperated. I’d never managed to get him to do that.
“My detective says we should inspect the creaking floorboard.”
Alistair stopped dancing—or really just whirling me around. “I’m not your detective?”
“Aw, of course you are.” I kissed his nose. “You’re my real detective, he’s my fake detective.”
“Hey, watch who you are calling a phony,” Detective Black said. “Now go.” He pointed to the area of the floorboard, which was hard to spot without the torch.
I picked up the torch and went over to where it had creaked. It took me a few stomps to find it again, but it was definitely loose.
“Hang on,” Alistair said and pried it open.
“Wow.”
There were a few old papers in there that resembled blueprints. “I think those are of this building,” I said as I grabbed them. The cotton balls were slowly disappearing one by one as I studied the pages. “We should take these to the room and spread them out on the bed.”
Alistair put back the floorboard and grabbed my hand, directing me back to the stairs. “I’ll go first,” he said.
He carefully made his way down the steps, then waited for me to come down. I moved slowly, considering my propensity for tripping. Then he took my hand again as we ran down the corridor to make our way back to the room on the first floor. It instantly triggered the memory of that day we spent together.
The way he’d taken my hand as we ran for the bus stop, giggling like naughty school children, which technically we were. And now we were doing something naughty again. Perhaps I was a bad influence. But that day hadn’t been about skipping school, it had been about escaping reality for a day.
Alistair had found me on the roof where I sometimes went during lunchtime on rough days. They were rare, but each time my mother came to visit or wanted custody from my aunt, it made things very stressful. I’d really just sought solitude, yet I didn’t mind when he found me up there. And even though we’d never spoken to each other before, not really, he’d mentioned the fair that was in the next town over, and he’d whisked me away for a day.
A day of sweet memories, and to this day my favourite Valentine’s Day.
We made it to the room unseen. “Do you think the ladies were trying to find us while we were gone?” I asked.
“I’m sure they’ll come back if they were.” The sharpness in his gaze had returned somewhat, and I had the feeling he was sobering up. “I’m just going to splash some cold water on my face, I’m still too—” he said, not bothering to finish the sentence. He disappeared into the bathroom while I unfolded the blueprints and laid them out on the bed. My heart was thumping.
“Why are there so many?” Detective Black said. “And they don’t look complete.”
I studied them. The blueprints showed secret entrances and passageways, if I read them correctly. There were also illegible scribbles at random spots, but they were useless to me.
When Alistair came back out, he grabbed a bottle of water and stood next to me. “The woman who had this built used it to kill people, right?”
“Yes, she was a serial killer, and she hired different contractors so that nobody really knew the layout of the place but her. These must be those plans, and they’ll reveal the rooms that were deathtraps.” I shivered. Though the building was beautiful, to know that it was built to be a murder weapon was very disturbing.
“The hotel was owned by a rich couple after that, and they claimed they had those trap rooms sealed off, but still people disappeared. Only this time they were married men who were known cheaters, which is how the curse came about.”
“And how will this help us?”
“I don’t know. It might not.” I bit my lip. “But it’s worth studying, I think.”
He checked his watch. “Sorry, it’s getting late. I should probably go. I have to go to work tomorrow.”
“I understand. Thanks for hanging out with me. It was fun.” I smiled.
“It was. Though you do have a strange influence on me. You bring out a side of me I didn’t think I still had.” There was a certain sadness in his eyes.
“Do you remember that day we spent?”
“How can I forget?” His eyes dipped to my lips.
“What were you doing on that roof?”
He blushed. “I’m not sure I should tell you.”
“Why not?”
He muttered something incoherent and then made his way to the door. “I’ll see you around. Don’t get into trouble.” Before I could protest, he was gone.
“You really are an idiot. He was obviously looking for you in order to declare his undying love for you.” Detective Black sniggered.
It had been Valentine’s Day, and he did remember what I looked like when I was doing that poetry reading years ago. Would he really have liked me back then? And what about now? Why did he run away when he could confess something that would have likely landed him a kiss?
“Murder isn’t complicated,” Detective Black said. “Love is.”
Unfortunately I would soon find out how true that was.