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The softly prismed light of the chandelier revealed the somber faces in the old portraits—and the worried faces of his friends.

Everything seemed reassuringly normal.

Nothing—and no one—was out of place. Well, not counting Chelsea.

There was a collective sigh of relief from Freddie, Oscar, Tosh, Flip, and Lenny.

“If she’snotpulling some stupid practical joke,” Flip said, “What would she be doing down here?”

Ellery and Tosh exchanged startled looks of realization.

“I’m going to check the library,” Ellery said. “If you guys want to take a look at the other rooms...”

“I’ll go with you,” Tosh said.

“Me, too,” said Oscar.

In the end, they all accompanied Ellery down the hall to the library.

The room was dark; the double doors stood wide open.

Ellery strode inside, turned on the lights. The wooden mermaid gazed down upon the empty room. Throw blankets and accent pillows were in disarray. Laptops sat open on the low chests, empty and half-filled glasses beside them. The Scrabble board lay on the center chest. In short, everything was exactly as they’d left it.

There was no sign of Chelsea.

No sign anyone had entered the room after Ellery had gone up to bed.

And yet...

With each passing moment, Ellery’s disquiet ratcheted up, notch by notch.

“She’s not here,” Flip said.

They began to back out again. Ellery stared at the bookcases at the far end of the room. His scalp prickled.

Oh, no. Oh, God.

At the same instant, Tosh, directly behind him, gasped a soft, “Oh,no.”

Once again, the door to the secret passage was ajar.

Watson, huff raised and crouching low to the ground, cautiously approached the opening. That alone was enough to warn Ellery.

He called sharply, “Watson, no.”

Watson scurried back, tail between his legs.

Slowly, dread mounting with each unwilling footstep, Ellery walked to the bookcase. He used his elbow to nudge the door wide.

A weird and alarming odor reached his nostrils–the usual moldering damp combined with something new, something he was unfortunately beginning to recognize.

He braced himself, his gaze following the bright beam of light to—

“No.No... Oh,hell.” Ellery stepped hastily back, leaning against the bookshelf, closing his eyes against that terrible sight.

Tosh half-screamed, “Shecan’tbe!”

Ellery’s eyes snapped open. “Everybody out,” he said thickly.