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The trunk was empty.

Ivy flopped into Harold’s favorite armchair. It was definitely the coziest piece of furniture in the house. “We’ve already searched the house. That means he must have been alive and left through the front door while we were in the kitchen.”

A sharp knock sounded at the door.

Cameron looked through the front window and swore. “It’s Mrs. Hudson.”

“I’m guessing she’s not being neighborly and bringing us cookies for our rehearsal,” said Tempest.

“I’ll just be happy if she’s not here to deliver a subpoena for a civil lawsuit she’s threatened to file,” said Cameron.

“Or that petition to cancel the library,” Ivy added.

More raps sounded on the door, this time more forceful.

Cameron took a deep breath and opened the door.

“I saw the ruckus with the police.” Mrs. Hudson looked accusingly at him. “I told you this is a family neighborhood. We’ve never had the police show up before now.”

“It was all a misunderstanding,” Cameron said. “There’s nothing—”

He broke off as she pushed her way inside.

As Tempest caught Ivy’s eye, she was transported back to the connection they’d shared as kids obsessed with mysteries. They were thinking the same thing: Could Mrs. Hudson be a murderer? It would definitely be a good way to get the library shut down. And if anyone would know a secret way into the house, it would be a neighbor who’d lived across the street for decades.

“Is there something you wanted, Mrs. Hudson?” Cameron asked. “The police are no longer here. There’s no problem.”

“Nobody called the police on us,” Ivy added. “We were the ones who called them.”

“Whatever for?”

The normally bold Ivy shrank behind Cameron at the sight of Mrs. Hudson’s piercing gaze.

“Someone was playing a joke,” Tempest explained. “We were worried that he’d gotten in trouble, but we see now that he just left without telling us.”

“This one?” Mrs. Hudson pointed at Sanjay.

“Me?” Sanjay balked. “What did I do?”

“You,” she said, “were the only one who left the house. I assume you’re the one who made them call the police.”

“Hang on,” said Tempest. “You were spying on us just now?”

“Well,” Mrs. Hudson huffed, “I’ve been across the street watching this charade. Before the police officer arrived, I saw this man sneaking out of the house.” She thrust her finger at Sanjay’s chest.

“Me?” Sanjay shrank away.

“Between the time this ridiculous murder mystery play began and when three people left together a few minutes ago, you and that twelve-year-old police officer were the only people to come into or leave this house.”

“Nobody else left?” Tempest asked. “You’re certain? There aren’t any hidden ways out of here?”

“I’m quite certain.”

“That can’t be right,” said Ivy.

Mrs. Hudson frowned at her. “Are you questioning my competence?”

“Of course not,” Ivy stammered. “I didn’t mean that. I only meant… I mean, you can’t have been watching the house the entire time.”

“I was, and I’ll swear to it in a court of law. But you don’t need to take my word for it. My sister, Jane, has been with me all evening.”

“You roped your own sister into spying on us?” Tempest raised an eyebrow at Mrs. Hudson.

Mrs. Hudson raised her own eyebrow right back at Tempest. “Jane smokes a pipe. I hate the odor of that remnant of her misspent youth and refuse to let her smoke in my house. We were sitting on my front porch with a perfect view of this house.”

That meant Lucas couldn’t have escaped via the back of the house either, so he couldn’t have slipped out a window. The two women would have seen him leave along one of the sides of the house. Directly behind the house, there was nowhere to run. The house butted up against a steep hillside, with a high retaining wall that not even an expert rock climber could scale without equipment. The murder mystery party group’s movements meant he couldn’t have gone out the back door. Mrs. Hudson and her sister would have seen if he went out the front door or a window.

“I think you all need to tell me what has happened tonight,” Mrs. Hudson said. “This isn’t part of your games. What’s really going on here?”

“Nothing you need to be concerned about,” Tempest said hastily, before anyone could show their hand to her number one suspect. “Just an actor who thinks he’s a comedian. Thanks for stopping by, Mrs. Hudson, but we’ve got the situation with our mischievous friend under control.” Tempest gave her the sweetest smile she could muster.

Mrs. Hudson returned the fake smile. “We’ll see what the city council thinks of this unprofessional motley crew running this would-be library.”

Tempest’s smile vanished.

Mrs. Hudson’s smile remained as she turned and left.

After she was out of earshot, Sanjay whispered, “I can’t tell if it was just my imagination, but didn’t it sound like she muttered, Kids these days ?”

Cameron laughed. “Thanks. I needed that. This whole situation is… I don’t even know how to describe it.”

“Impossible?” suggested Ivy.

“Mrs. Hudson was right about being able to see every possible way out of the house,” said Tempest. “Why did Lucas set up this elaborate hoax?”

“I’d suggest he had stage fright and didn’t want to perform in the play,” said Cameron, “except that’s the opposite of Lucas’s personality. If anything, I’d have expected him to poison one of the other actors so they wouldn’t upstage him.”

“I don’t think I like being a pawn in his game,” said Sanjay. “Although it does rather make me feel like I’m a spy.” He tugged at the collar of his cashmere sweater. “Though not in this fluffy monstrosity. My tux is outside in my truck. Back in a sec.”

“Later,” Tempest said. “You can put up with soft natural fibers for a little while longer.”

Sanjay fidgeted but complied. Tempest had thought it was only the specially made bowler hat he was never without that served as a security blanket. Apparently, it was his attire as a whole that gave him confidence.

“Fine,” she said. “But we don’t know what’s going on, so be quick so you can help us figure this out.”

The front door creaked as Sanjay slipped outside.

“Why does someone want to ruin me?” Cameron picked up an Ellery Queen novel and fanned the pages.

“We don’t know what’s happening yet,” said Tempest.

“But we should, shouldn’t we?” He stopped at a page close to the end of the paperback book in his hands and tapped his finger on the page. “The challenge to the reader. This is where Ellery says he and the reader have all the clues. Well, we have all the clues, don’t we? We were all here tonight and saw the gag that Lucas played that’s going to ruin me. How did he vanish? Why can’t we find him? And why is he messing with me and my library?”

“Why are you so sure it’s personal, about you?” Tempest asked.

He shrugged and gave a sad chuckle as he looked at the bookshelves. “This library is supposed to be my life . I’ve already given notice at my job and told my roommates to start looking for someone to rent my room to. It sounds so stupid to say that now. I got ahead of myself, but I was just so excited—”

“This is only a minor setback,” Tempest insisted. “We just need to figure out what Lucas is up to.”

Ivy sat across from Cameron and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees. “The library will be approved. A lot more people are signing the petition in favor of the library than Mrs. Hudson’s petition against it.” She spoke in a comforting tone, and Tempest detected a hint of something else in her voice. Ivy had a crush on Cameron Gray.

“But if the library doesn’t get approved—” Cameron broke off as the door creaked open once more and Sanjay walked inside, but this time, he was dressed in his tux.

“I’m sorry to break up this heated debate about whether or not your library will get to open,” said Sanjay, looking as if he was anything but sorry. “But Lucas is missing . And he didn’t tell me what he had in mind. I don’t even know if he’s really interested in Kira, but don’t you all get the feeling this is about something else entirely?”

“How did you get changed so quickly?” Ivy asked. “You were gone for less than a minute.”

“Magic.” Sanjay gave her a charming grin.

Tempest wondered if Sanjay or Lucas would win out as the one who liked being the center of attention more.

Sanjay flipped his bowler hat onto his head with a flourish, but nobody was smiling. They all knew that something was very wrong at Gray House.

“The question,” said Sanjay, “is what would make an actor who thrives on attention vanish?”

“And when,” Tempest added, “will he reappear?”