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“Yep,” he said. “We’re all gonna die.”

Chapter Six

“Not all of us,” Tosh said. “You’llsurvive.”

The others laughed, and Watson, gazing up at them, wagged his tail. Watson was the original party animal.

“That’s right, Final Boy,” Flip said. “You’llbe still be around for the closing credits.”

“I can’t decide if this is meta or justmacabre.” Chelsea made a little face—and Tosh, watching her, made a little face back. Not in agreement. In friendly mockery. Or maybe not-so- friendly mockery. Chelsea looked confused.

Lenny, not hearing whatever Tosh had heard in Chelsea’s comment, responded, “Both!” Which got another round of laughs.

Ellery smiled absently. He was rewinding his conversation with Jack, listening for what Jackhadn’tsaid. When Jack said he and his team were being extra vigilant, Ellery believed him. But that didn’t mean extra vigilance wasn’t required. In his view, a dangerous escaped prisoner—with or without a history of axe murders—would seem to indicate a need for hyper-vigilance.

“I think we’re going to need a bigger bottle.” Tosh held up the half empty wine bottle.

This was met with murmurs of agreement.

“You don’t hear me arguing.” Ellery picked up the colander of steaming potatoes, dumped them back in their pot, and set the pan on the stovetop. “Lenny, you’re up.”

“I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed this,” Flip said toward the end of what had indeed been a great dinner.

As Ellery had hoped, plenty of good food, good wine, and good company had everyone relaxed and in good spirits.

“Right?” Tosh beamed. “This is so nice. I’ve missed you guys.”

“Same,” Ellery said. In fact, he hadn’t realized until they were all together how much he’d missed getting together to reminisce over old times, laugh at shared memories and little inside jokes. He had friends in Pirate’s Cove. Good friends. But there was something different about friends with whom you shared a long history.

“Oh yeah, that,” Flip said. “But I meant Ellery’s cooking!”

This, given how much they’d all had to drink, struck everyone as hilarious, and their laughter woke up Watson, who had finally given up trying to wheedle treats and had fallen asleep on Ellery’s feet.

“Everything was perfect,” Chelsea said, and the others agreed. “The china, the crystal, the silver—”

“Thefood,” Lenny put in, and there was more laughter.

“Anybody save room for dessert?”

This was met by groans and “maybe laters,” and they set about clearing the table and getting the dishes out of the way—which took no time at all with so many helping hands.

“So, what’s it going to be?” Lenny rubbed her hands together as the final long stemmed wine glass slid into the cupboard. “Clue? Charades? Pictionary?”

“We’re going to break Ellery’s heart if we don’t let him destroy us at Scrabble,” Flip said.

Which was true, but Ellery said nobly, “How about after dinner drinks and we go through Tosh’s photos?”

“I’d love that,” Tosh said, and the others agreed, except Chelsea, who said, “Wait. What about our tour of the house?”

“Oh. Whatever you guys want.”

Tosh said quickly, “I’m fine with either. A house tour works for me. There’s no rush on the photos.”

“It’s such a beautiful house,” Chelsea enthused.

“Yes. Absolutely,” Tosh said.

“Well, I’ll give you the grand tour,” Ellery said. “And we can go from there.”