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“She can hang too,” Scott said, throwing hisarm around my shoulders. “I haven’t seen my little sister in a longtime.”
“Well, you three have fun,” Elizabeth said,taking a drag off her cigarette. “I’ll see you all at dinner.”
She drifted away on a cloud of nicotine andexpensive perfume, leaving Matt and me to face my brother.
Like a coward, I turned to Matt. “Where’sthe bathroom?”
“Do you remember the way to the library?” heasked, and when I nodded, he continued, “That way, second door onthe left.”
“Thanks. And… Stay right here. Don’t let meget lost in this house.” If I could even find my way back.
I followed the path we’d taken the nightbefore and found a half-bath tucked away at the end of the hall.When Matt had said, “second door on the left,” he hadn’t mentionedthat “the left” went a long way before any doors got involved. Ihad to walk past the library and another parlor before I got to mydestination.
When I was finished, I exited to the soundof urgently hushed voices from that parlor. Though the door wasclosed, I could make out enough of the consonants to know what theywere saying.
“The other guests didn’t have any troublewith traffic.”
“Because they were probably already herewhen the accident happened.”
I recognized the first voice as Catherine.The second, I assumed, was her husband.
Until he said, “Does it matter? I beatJackson here, anyway.”
Wasn’t that what Catherine said herhusband’s name was?
Heels clicked on the parquet in a slow walk.I flattened against the wall.
“But we could have had so much more time,”Catherine whined coyly, a little louder. “I had a big, empty bedall night.”
“I’m sure it’s still empty,” the manreplied.
Those heels clicked closer and closer. Icast a fearful glance over my shoulder, trying to work out myretreat. But there was nowhere to hide, and no way to make it backto the bathroom. If Catherine came into the hallway—
The parlor door locked. I let out a silentsigh of relief and tiptoed past, hoping they wouldn’t notice myshadow in the frosted glass panes.
Matt appeared at the end of the hallway. Hemanaged to get out, “I was w—” before I silenced him withfrantically waving hands. I ran as quickly as I could on the ballsof my feet to prevent my shoes from making noise. I felt,inexplicably, like I was running from a murderer.
Looking past me down the corridor, Mattsaid, in a lower voice, “What’s going on? Did you see theghost?”
“No, I—” I blinked. “The excuse me nowwhat?”
A loud moan from down the hall caught hisattention. “Um… Who is down there?”
“Your brother-in-law’s name is Jackson,right?” It was better to have my facts straight before castingaspersions.
“Yeah. Is that…?” Matt made a disgusted faceand pointed toward the parlor.
“It’s not what you think,” I said quickly,though I wasn’t sure the actual explanation was any better. “Yoursister is having sex with someone who isn’t her husband inthere.”
Matt considered a moment, seeming somewhatimpressed. “Well. Good for her. I don’t want to hear it, though, solet’s move along.”
That struck me as an odd reaction. “You’renot upset?”
“Why would I be? It’s not my marriage,” hesaid, taking my hand as we returned to the foyer. “I’m not a hugefan of sexual monogamy. You know that. It would be hypocritical ofme to judge.”
“Yeah, but doesn’t it make your sister a bitof a hypocrite, herself?” I asked. “She’s so uptight andjudgy.”
“True. But her husband cheats on herconstantly. What’s good for the gander, etcetera.”