Page 102 of The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year

“You see, there was one thing I couldn’t shake.” Maggie paced, unable to stand still. “Why did Eleanor change the lock to her office door?”

“You said yourself she knew someone was after her,” Victoria pointed out.

“Recently, yes. But she changed that lock months ago. Right, James?”

“That is correct, ma’am.”

“So why?” Maggie asked. “She was starting a new novel, but she’s written at least seventy books in that office with the old lock. What was so different about this one?”

“No one’s read it,” Cece reminded the group. “I saw one page months ago and she was furious.”

“Yeah. Well. About that.” Maggie felt her face turn red. “I might have kind of... snuck the notebooks out ofher office and taken a peek.”

“She read the whole thing,” Ethan told them flatly.

Dobson was furious. “I told you to stay out—”

“What was it about?” Sir Jasper asked.

“A woman who suspects someone is trying to kill her, so she fakes her own death and disappears.” Maggie couldn’t help but laugh. “Sounds familiar, right?”

“Well, who did it? You know... in the book?” Kitty put her knitting down.

“See, that’s the problem.” Maggie felt a fresh wave of energy pulsing through her. “The last notebook was missing, and then, sometime yesterday, the other notebooks were stolen out of my room.”

“So who had access to the house and could steal those notebooks?” Ethan asked.

“And sabotage the stairs?” Maggie asked.

“And get close enough to lock Eleanor in the greenhouse?” Ethan said.

“And light it on fire?” Maggie finished.

“And who was free to steal a rifle from the gun room and then lie in wait for Eleanor to take her daily walk in the maze?” Ethan’s voice was darker.

“And, most importantly, who in this house didn’t know that Eleanor wouldn’t be taking a walk that day?” Maggie was moving slowly, looking at them all in turn. “Because Eleanor was already gone?”

“Is the tea not to your liking, sir?” James whispered to Dobson.

“It stinks to high heaven.” Dobson scowled down at the cup.

“Ooh! You forgot about the tea tray!” Cece chimed in helpfully. “Someone had to poison the tea tray.”

But Ethan was shaking his head. “No one poisoned the tea tray, Cece.”

Dobson huffed. “I believe Sir Jasper would disagree—”

“They didn’t have to,” Maggie cut him off. “Because someone had already poisoned thetea.”

Ethan was inching closer to Cece.“What was it you told Eleanor through the door that first night? ‘I found the tea you like’?”

For a moment, Cece’s face went blank. Then she remembered— “A box went missing! We thought we were out, but then I found it and...”

She gasped as the truth sank in.

“It was smart,” Maggie said. “Eleanor was the only one who drank that blend. The killer could add the poison and be long gone by the time it was consumed.” She looked down at the cup in Dobson’s hands. “Until today.”

Cece gasped and Sir Jasper scooted forward, his color coming back and his eyes going sharp as everyone in the room looked at Dobson.