Page 159 of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies

“All right. Let us return to the library.”

“Can I get my phone back?”

“Officer Garza has them there.”

I’m taken to the bathroom to provide a urine sample, and then I follow Inspector Tucci through the lobby to the library, where everyone is reassembled and clothed, clutching their just-returned phones like missing limbs.

My eyes go to Oliver. He gives me a smile, one I know well. He’s happy to see me, but worried, too.

This is not the smile of a murderer.

It can’t be.

Officer Garza hands me my phone, and I hold it to my chest, glad to have it back. I tuck it in my pocket. I’ll check my messages later. It’s not like there are any emergencies in publishing.191

Inspector Tucci claps his hands to get our attention. “Good morning, everyone. Here we are again. As you can see, I have not issued an arrest warrant. Yet. But that does not mean that this is not a very serious situation. The most serious, in fact. You did not listen to me, and Ms. Dash almost lost her life last night.”

No one says anything.

“It is very important if anyone knows anything of value that they tell me immediately. Do not hold back anything.” He looks at each of us slowly. “If any of you saw something in the hall that night, for example…”

I follow his gaze as he looks at Harper, Oliver, then Allison in turn.

Is it just my imagination, or do they all look discomfited?

But no. That’s just my overactive brain. I may not have a poker face, but that doesn’t mean everyone wears their heart on their sleeve.

Besides, if one of them saw anything, they’d say so, wouldn’t they?192

He looks at Officer Garza. “Has everyone provided a sample?”

“Sì. They are being taken to the lab immediately.”

Inspector Tucci nods as Allison puts up her hand.

“Yes, Ms. Smith?”

“Couldn’t that have been planned all along? Eleanor’s almost-death.”

“What are you saying?”

“It’s not necessarily our fault that this happened… If the plan was always to kill Eleanor, it’s not because we were investigating that it happened.”

“Be that as it may, I have told you before that investigating a murder is dangerous, and you did not listen to me.”

“What are we supposed to do, then?” Guy says. “Just sit around and wait like sitting ducks?”

“I do not understand this expression. Regardless, we will be opening an investigation into how you got a gun into the country.”

“I have all the necessary permits, I assure you.”193

“We shall see. In the meantime, it was your recklessness in hiding the weapon in the first place that gave the killer the opportunity to use it.”

“My personal safety comes first.”

“That is so selfish, Guy,” Emily says.

“Keep your opinions to yourself.”