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Tempest and Cameron rushed to Ivy’s side. So did Mrs. Hudson, with a stack of clean tissues. Ivy accepted it and wrapped it around her sliced palm.

“What hurt you?” Gideon crouched at the side of the fallen copy of Agatha Christie’s Crooked House but didn’t touch it.

“There’s a razor b-b-blade inside the pages. It got me as soon as I opened the book.” Ivy stared at her bandaged hand. Blood seeped through the handkerchief.

“It’ll be okay,” Cameron said, taking her hands in his.

“ Crooked House… Crooked House…” Ivy repeated. “The poisons in that book are digitalis and a rare one… eserine? Is that right?”

“You’re shaking,” Tempest said. “What are you feeling?”

“Scared to death,” said Ivy, but her voice was calmer now. “It just feels like a cut. I don’t think I feel like I’ve been poisoned. Digitalis in a cut on my hand wouldn’t hurt me, and neither would eserine. I think.”

“You think Lucas is basing his poisons on these books around us?” Kira asked. “I think that’s giving him too much credit. It could be poisoned with anything.”

“Come with me,” Mrs. Hudson demanded of Ivy, yanking her away from Cameron and sitting Ivy down on the desk chair. Mrs. Hudson grabbed the first aid kit they’d seen in her bag and knelt on the floor as she inspected the injury.

“Were you a nurse?” Kira asked as Mrs. Hudson quickly cleaned the wound, applied an antibacterial salve, and wrapped gauze around it.

“Librarian for thirty years. Libraries are filled with kids, and kids are always having minor accidents.” Mrs. Hudson patted Ivy’s hand and stood from where she was kneeling. “You might need a stitch or two. I’m sorry the razor blade got you, but I don’t think you need to worry about having been poisoned.”

“You were a librarian?” Kira asked.

“There are more important things right now,” Mrs. Hudson replied curtly, not looking up from Ivy’s hand.

Kira had the decency to look embarrassed.

“Please tell me you have a better reason for thinking Ivy’s safe than the idea that Harold would look out for her,” Tempest said. She didn’t say the other thought running through her mind. It was the same one Kira had voiced aloud. Mrs. Hudson had been a librarian ? Then why was she so opposed to the library?

“There’s nothing unusual about this cut,” Mrs. Hudson answered. “And there are no signs of anything on the razor aside from blood. But I still don’t like this. We should still try to get out of here quickly.”

“Page 182,” Ivy said.

“Is she hallucinating?” Kira asked.

“I can hear you.” Ivy glared at the actress. “And I’m not hallucinating. I don’t want to forget the page where the razor blade was glued in place, in case it’s a clue that’ll get us out of here. Page 182.”

Tempest looked to the floor where the book had fallen, but it was no longer there. It was already in Gideon’s hands. He’d taken off the thin sweater he was wearing over a T-shirt and was using the fabric to turn the pages, so his skin wouldn’t come in contact with the book. He was taking the threat of poison seriously.

Tempest turned back to Ivy. “You still feeling okay?” She wasn’t happy that Ivy was sweating.

“I think so?” Uncertainty in Ivy’s voice turned the statement into a question. “My heart is thudding, but that could be fear, not poison. Right?”

“I don’t think the razor blade was poisoned either.” Gideon shut the book and set it next to the note. “No markings were on that page. And even if we take the writer of the notes seriously, look at what this note actually says. It reads, ‘ Beware the crooked house. You must get out by 4:50. How will you depart? ’ The window clue said the windows were poisoned, but the crooked house line doesn’t.”

“It’s well past 4:50,” said Kira. “Did he set this up when he thought he’d trap us in here earlier?”

“Oh!” Ivy cried. “ 4:50 from Paddington is a book. ‘ You must get out by 4:50. ’ That’s where we’ll find our next clue.”

Gideon extracted three copies of the novel from the Agatha Christie shelf, each with a different cover, again using his sweater to hold them.

“Don’t forget What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw ,” said Mrs. Hudson. “That’s the original US title of the book.”

They found four copies with the US title.

“You were really a librarian?” Cameron asked Mrs. Hudson while Gideon turned the pages of each of the books with Ivy looking on.

“Starting when I was twenty-three, for just shy of thirty-one years.” As she spoke the words, her voice and demeanor were wistful, but as soon as she remembered her surroundings, her hardened expression was back.

“Why are you fighting against this library?” Cameron asked. “Especially since you clearly love mystery fiction. You knew the different titles of this century-old book.”

Mrs. Hudson didn’t meet his gaze and instead kept her attention directed at the books. “We have more important matters at hand than the indignities of my own life.”

Indignities? Tempest would have pressed further, but Gideon turned a page in one of the books with a UK title that caused Ivy to gasp. A folded note card fluttered to the floor.

“Here we go again,” Kira muttered as Gideon unfolded the note and set it on the table on top of the previous one.

“ Inheritance powder isn’t your key to freedom ,” read Cameron, “ but find monkshood and you’ll be free. ”

Gideon groaned. “Another riddle.”

“Arsenic and aconitine,” said Ivy. “Those are the two poisons in 4:50 from Paddington .”

“The clue says inheritance powder and monkshood ,” Kira pointed out.

“Those poisons are arsenic and aconitine,” Ivy explained. “Arsenic is known as inheritance powder . It was commonly used in earlier times in history to kill an older relative without it being suspected that they were poisoned, since the symptoms were the same as other stomach issues that used to be common.”

“And monkshood is a plant containing aconitine,” Cameron said. “Uncle Harold pointed it out to me growing wild in the area. Ivy, are you all right? Oh God, you’re not feeling worse, are you?”

She shook her head. “I’m trying to remember where I saw a picture of monkshood.”

“The poison garden,” said Tempest. “One of the framed illustrations on the wall is a poison garden. Where did I see it…?”

“Here,” Gideon called from a far wall obscured by the bookcases. “There’s a sticky note on the frame.”

They all rushed over to Gideon.

“Stand back,” he said. “I shouldn’t have called you all over here.” He caught Tempest’s eye. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t touch it, did you?” Tempest felt her heart constrict as she saw the look on his face.

He shook his head and pointed at the note. “I didn’t touch it. But look at the text. ‘ Bye-bye. ’”

“‘ Bye-bye ’?” Mrs. Hudson repeated.

Gideon gave a weak smile. “That can’t be good.”

“Get away from it,” Cameron said. “This is ridiculous. Maybe it’s dangerous and maybe it’s not. But we can’t keep playing these twisted games. We need to get Ivy out of here and to a hospital.”

“That line bye-bye isn’t the title of a classic mystery novel, is it?” Tempest asked hopefully.

Ivy and Mrs. Hudson both shook their heads.

“I don’t believe so,” Mrs. Hudson added. “At least not one that would be in here.”

“If it’s not a clue, then how do we…” Tempest trailed off as she watched Gideon’s expression.

“Did anyone else just hear that?” he asked.

“Is he having an auditory hallucination?” Kira whispered. “Does monkshood poisoning cause that?”

Gideon shook his head as he hurried past them and around the bookcases. “I knew I heard squeaking. The door is open.”

He was right. He wasn’t hallucinating. The door leading out was ajar.

Tempest tentatively peeked outside. “I don’t see anyone.”

“Let’s get Ivy to a doctor.” Cameron grabbed the poker, took Ivy’s uninjured hand in his, and led the way.

“I feel fine,” she insisted. “I don’t think there was any poison on that razor blade.”

“ Bye-bye …” Mrs. Hudson murmured as she scooped up her purse and followed them out of the escape room.

“Were these games meant to be dangerous or not?” Gideon swept his gaze around the room one last time from the doorway.

“It wasn’t meant to be a game at all,” said Tempest. “Whoever locked us in here has something else in mind entirely.”

“It’s like Lucas couldn’t commit,” Kira said. “When he performs a role, he goes all in . But this game wasn’t as dangerous as the clues suggested.”

But Kira couldn’t have been more wrong. When they got downstairs a few moments later, Lucas was waiting for them.

Lucas Cruz once more lay on the floor, unmoving. But this time, his face was bashed in and his clothing rumpled, as if he’d been in a terrible fight. This time, he lay face up, and there was no mistaking the lifeless look in his eyes.

And this time, the bullet hole in his chest was real.