Page 30

“Absolutely. It’s great seeing everyone again.” Ellery smiled at the memory of some of the evening’s funnier moments.

“I like Tosh.”

Ellery grinned. “Everyone likes Tosh.”

“Flip’s entertaining. Lenny’s hard to read. Chelsea...”

“I know,” Ellery agreed. “Something’s up there. I’m not sure what. In fairness, I was probably least close to Chels, and I haven’t seen much of her since college. I was kind of surprised she came this weekend.”

Jack made a thoughtful sound.

“Have she and Tosh always rubbed each other the wrong way?”

“No. Not at all. They were close back in the day. This is something new. I think Tosh might be a little hurt by...”

“By?”

Ellery shrugged. He wasn’t completely sure.

“Circumstances change. People change.”

“Yes.”

Jack regarded him, smiled a little. “You never know. Maybe the weekend will give them enough time and space to reconnect.”

“Maybe?” Remembering those odd smiles of Chelsea’s, Ellery couldn’t help feeling doubtful. It was like Chelsea was enjoying having a secret that the rest of them didn’t know. Which was not a very friendly attitude, frankly.

“In the meantime,” Jack murmured, “let’s you and I reconnect.” He reached up and turned off the bedside lamp.

Ellery laughed.

Chapter Eight

“Oh, no!” Tosh was scrolling through a cell phone text. “Belle’s not coming!”

“Oh, no,” Lenny and Flip chorused.

It was Friday morning and Ellery and his guests were having breakfast in the dining room. Jack had headed back to the village at the crack of dawn. Chelsea had not yet made an appearance.

Ellery’s phone dinged as he, too, got a message from Belle. He scanned the apologetic text. “Damn. Her flight’s been cancelled due to poor visibility. She says the soonest she could get another flight is tomorrow morning, which means she’d basically be arriving in time to leave with you on Sunday.”

“But no,” Lenny said. “We’re five hours behind her. She’d be traveling backin time.”

“Uh...” Flip said.

“No, but that’s right.”

Ellery said, “But the plane trip is about ten hours, so she’d be arriving late tomorrow night.”

“And we leave on Sunday,” Flip pointed out.

“Oh, my God,” Chelsea said from the doorway. “Please don’t tell me we’re doing algebra word problems.”

“Belle can’t make it,” Lenny told her.

Chelsea took a seat at the table and shuddered at the sight of the pan of quiche a few inches from her place setting. “Does anybodyreallythink Belle was going to fly all the way from England for Ellery’s housewarming?”

The others stared at her. Tosh and Ellery exchanged looks. Tosh said, “She certainly was. Why would she lie about it?”