Page 49 of Time After Time

Calypso leans forward to get Mama’s attention. “Maybe you should hire more help.”

Mama is adept at not showing emotion, but shedoesn’t like someone telling her how to run her house. She’s the queen of her kingdom, and everyone else must genuflect.

“Why would she?” Ransom cuts in, obviously to prevent the look in my mother’s eyes from becoming something more. “When she has three strapping kids to help around the house. Come on, Aksel, hurry up.”

“Asshole,” Aksel slaps the back of Ransom’s head. “When we were young, you used to help out.”

“I hate to break this to you, but we’re not young anymore,” Ransom chides.

Once we’re all seated again, Mr. Poirot returns.

He clears his throat theatrically. “Now that we are fed and full of wine…I am afraid someone at this table will not live to see the dessert.”

The lights flicker. Anika gasps. Thomas lets out a delighted shriek.

And somewhere outside, a flurry of snow begins again.

CHAPTER 14

Ransom

Dinner is winding down.

The room is filled with the warm scent of roasted chestnuts.

Anika and Thomas are in bed, and Latika has placed the baby monitor on the dining table so we can hear them.

Giselle stands up. “I just want to say,” she begins, a little wobbly, glass in hand, cheeks flushed. “This has been such a beautiful evening. We are lucky. So lucky to be here, to be together, and to?—”

She suddenly gasps. And then slumps dramatically back into her chair.

There’s a beat of stunned silence.

Then Poirot—who’s actually a guy called Luc, an actor Margot hired from Lyon and who’s leaning so hard into the mustache and Belgian accent it’s almost performance art—stands and claps once.

“Ah!Mesdames et messieurs! We have a murder!”

Groans, laughter, and delighted exclamations ripple through the room.

“Non, non, do not move the body!” Luc says with a flourish, circling the now-‘dead’Giselle. “She has died tragically, mysteriously, and possibly with poison. Or perhaps—a dagger to the ego.” He winks. “You have all received envelopes. Inside, you will find instructions. Allegiances. Secrets. Some of you”—he lifts a brow dramatically—“may not be as innocent as you seem.”

The room erupts into noise. Everyone grabs their envelope.

Calypso reads hers with a frown. “What is this?” she asks, voice pinched. “Do we have to pretend like…pretend-pretend?”

“That’s generally how games work,” Aunt Tanya says mildly.

“Miss Teresa Alan is in a secret affair with someone in this room,” Margot reads from hers gleefully, narrowing her eyes like a cartoon villain. “And it’s not Jean.” She elbows her husband, who raises his wineglass with a grin.

“Call me General, darling,” Jean says lasciviously.

Margot raps his head with her card.

“Team time!” Luc declares. “You will be paired. But the murderer is among you. So, trust no one. Especially not the charming ones.”

Ember and Heidi team up and immediatelydissolve into laughter as Heidi pretends to faint due to the stress oflosingher sister.

Across the room, Aksel is already arguing with Latika about the French translation of a clue.