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Cameron motioned with the barrel of the shotgun toward the empty spot on the living room floor where the trunk and Lucas’s body had once lain. “Sit down.”

“Cam?” Ivy whispered. “What are you doing?”

The look of utter bewilderment on Ivy’s face broke Tempest’s heart. Whatever it took, Tempest was going to hold Cameron Gray responsible.

“I was at home in my apartment and got a security alert notification,” Cameron said. “And now I’ve found four burglars at Gray House.”

“We’d better do what he says.” Tempest pulled Ivy down onto the floor next to her. Gideon and Sanjay followed suit. Sanjay glowered at Cameron as he sat curled on his knees, as if ready to pounce. Gideon’s expression was blank, like a stoic philosopher’s, and Tempest had no idea what he was thinking. She didn’t know which of the two men frightened her more at that moment.

But Cameron wasn’t paying any attention to them. He only had eyes for Ivy.

“I’m so sorry, Ivy,” Cameron whispered. “It was an accident. None of this was ever supposed to happen.”

“Your regrets would be a lot more convincing if you weren’t pointing a shotgun at us,” Sanjay growled.

Cameron swung the shotgun his way.

“This isn’t you!” Ivy shouted. “How can you do this, Cam?”

“Would you believe me if I told you I was possessed by Harold’s ghost? No? I didn’t think so.” Cameron winced as he looked at Ivy’s horror. He looked away from her, unable to meet her gaze. His settled on Tempest, and his expression hardened. “Toss your cell phones over to me. All of you. And that hat of yours, Sanjay.”

They did as instructed, though Sanjay hesitated for a moment before letting go of his hat.

“I thought I had adapted to the circumstances so well,” Cameron said. His voice was cold, but it also shook ever so slightly. He wasn’t as calm as he was attempting to project. “I thought of everything . I read mysteries and watch crime television. I know how to cover my tracks. I made sure Lucas’s cell phone never left this house. I didn’t bring anything new into the house when I changed the escape room to get trapped inside with you and give myself an alibi. I’d snapped off a piece of that broken Agatha Christie bust to jam the door. It was the same color as the molding, and if you hadn’t been so flustered, you would have spotted it. I didn’t think it would even hold that long, since it didn’t need to stay in place for long. All I had to do was remove it when you were all behind a bookshelf. I disguised my handwriting. I was so careful that nothing I did was observed. I was so damn careful, and I played on what was happening around me.”

“Harold’s ghost,” Ivy said.

“I half believed Enid when she raised the possibility,” Cameron said. “You have no idea how much I was freaking out inside when the body vanished. I knew I hadn’t moved it, so who could have? And why ? But that doesn’t matter. Enid gave me a perfect opportunity to sow confusion.” He shook his head and laughed. “I thought using Harold’s voice from the radio drama was a nice touch. I had no idea it would be my downfall. Even if I were to erase it from my computer, everything is on a cloud backup server.”

Cameron’s face hardened. He kept the shotgun trained on them with one hand, but lowered his other arm to pull a roll of blue painters’ tape from his pocket. He tossed it at Gideon, then went back to holding the shotgun with both hands. “Bind everyone’s wrists behind their backs with this.”

“What if I don’t?” Gideon asked calmly.

Cameron pointed the shotgun at him.

Gideon shrugged and kept his gaze locked on Cameron’s. “I’ve had a good run. My early demise will make my sculptures much more valuable for my family.”

Cameron’s arms shook. Gideon’s ploy had worked to rattle him.

Gideon’s jaw tensed. Sanjay shifted almost imperceptibly. They were going to charge Cameron. Tempest had never seen a shotgun blast up close, but she knew this wouldn’t end well. Even if they wrestled the gun away from Cameron, if he got off a single shot at this close range, someone was going to be gravely injured.

Cameron must have sensed the subtle movement. He swung the gun away from Gideon—and pointed it directly at Tempest’s chest.

Sanjay and Gideon both froze.

“Do we have an understanding now?” Cameron asked. “Tie Sanjay’s arms first. Do his in front of his body. I don’t trust his hands where I can’t see them. Not just once around! He could rip through the tape. Do at least five times around. No, make it ten.”

“There might not be enough tape for that,” Gideon said.

“Five, then.” Cameron’s voice shook. “Five is fine.”

Duct tape would have worked much better as a way to tie his hostages, but Tempest imagined he was winging it and only had painters’ tape on hand.

“What are you going to do with us?” Ivy asked. “You can’t really plan on killing all of us.”

“Of course not! You think I wanted to do this? Any of this? Lucas gave me no choice. It was an accident. I’m not a killer.”

“This kinda makes you look like one.” Sanjay held up his thickly bound wrists as Gideon moved on to Ivy.

“Tape her wrists behind her back,” Cameron directed.

A squeak escaped Ivy’s lips as her face darkened with anger.

“You just need to stay tied up long enough for me to get away.” Cameron’s gaze darted to the front door. “What was that?”

“Nothing,” said Tempest, hoping it was the police, although she hadn’t heard anything herself. “You’re being paranoid.”

Gideon finished with Ivy and moved on to binding Tempest’s wrists.

“Tighter,” Cameron said. “I don’t want to hurt any of you, but I will if you give me no choice.”

“Why, Cam?” Ivy asked. “You said Lucas’s death was an accident. I’m sure the police will understand—”

“Please stop talking, Ivy.” Cameron couldn’t meet her gaze. He looked everywhere except at her.

“Do you hate me that much?” Ivy shouted. “Everything was a lie?”

Cameron’s hands shook.

“He doesn’t hate you,” Tempest said. “He’s in love with you.”

Cameron’s eyes brimmed with tears. “None of this was supposed to happen! None of it. Why couldn’t Harold have just left a normal will like anyone else? Then we could have been happy together, Ivy.”

“Uh, I think I missed about five steps,” Sanjay said.

Cameron took one hand off the shotgun for a second to wipe his eyes, then trained the gun on Sanjay.

“He’s no threat to you,” Tempest said as calmly as she could. “Cameron, I know you didn’t mean for any of this to happen. You broke into Enid’s house last week looking for a way out, didn’t you? Something in the details of Harold’s trust beyond the parts that applied to you.”

Cameron nodded. “Enid was the executor of his will and the trustee overseeing the trust. She was in his confidence and had all the legal documents about setting up his library legacy. They didn’t even trust me enough to show me everything. I needed to see if there was a way out.”

“A way out of what ?” Ivy asked. “What are you both talking about?”

“The library,” Tempest answered. “ Cameron is the person who didn’t want the library to open.”