Chasing Shadows
Reid didn’t talk as we walked to the car. He did open the door for me, but didn’t stick around to close it.
Truthfully, I was glad he didn’t, because it looked like he would have slammed it so hard, it would have broken.
Since the guys were still mingling around the square, Reid put the car in gear and took off in the opposite direction. It wasn’t the way to the mansion, but if I knew him, it was just to go around and not pass by Declan.
Reid was mad.
I was panicking. My chest still felt tight, my hands shaking as I laid them in my lap. The whole situation with Declan left me angry. Upset. Humiliated.
All the things Reid probably meant when he asked ‘why Declan.’ Like he knew better, and was hoping I did too. But I didn’t.
I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, but it wasn’t moving, which made talking difficult. Reid’s hands gripped the wheel so tight, his knuckles were turning white, and he was chewing on the inside of his cheek so much, I worried about it.
Besides that, I had no idea what he was thinking. He always said the quiet part out loud, never shying away from giving me his opinion, even if it was brutally honest. That’s what I liked about him—knowing I didn’t have to hide anything. That I could trust him to tell me exactly what was on his mind.
“Reid?” I whispered a minute later, after he took a left on Harbor Street to head south toward the mansion.
“Are we going to the mansion? I could hang a right on Pine Avenue instead, and go back home.”
“It’s not my home, it’s yours,” I muttered, staring at the chipped polish on my nails. Reid inhaled sharply, but otherwise stayed quiet. “Yeah. To the mansion. Please.”
He nodded once, keeping his eyes glued to the road. I could tell he wanted to explode. If this had been last year, he would be going off on me right now. Rightfully so, too. I should have stayed cautious about Declan from the start. What he did was a jerk move, and ambushing me in public with it was rude. He told his friends on purpose. I just couldn’t figure out what that purpose was.
Whatever Declan and I had was done. I didn’t trust people easily, yet somehow I had gotten caught in his little charming web.
“When we get there, how are we getting to the playroom?” Reid asked as he came to a stop at a light. We were only a minute or two away now.
I hadn’t thought of that. Normally, I wandered and Eleanor found me.
But now, there was no Eleanor. Even though I worked there occasionally, I couldn’t just walk right in and meander for no reason.
“I’ll see if Lily is working. If she’s giving a tour, maybe I can convince her to let us up there.”
Reid nodded sharply again, still not looking in my direction. His mind had to be running a million miles a minute, but he didn’t unleash any of the negativity toward me. I was sort of glad he didn’t.
My excitement over solving the first clue had peaked last night. Knowing Reid and I were going to find the next clue had kept me motivated throughout my shift. I didn’t want the whole Declan thing to overshadow the moment. I didn’t want it to be a bigger deal than this.
Instead of going around the road toward the employee parking, Reid pulled into the visitor lot, where the tourists parked for their tours. We entered through the front doors, and were greeted by a college aged girl whose name I didn’t know sitting at a desk a few feet away.
“Are you here for the tour?” she asked, glancing at a notebook on her desk.
“Sort of,” I replied, giving her my most cheerful smile. “Is Lily Pierce providing tours today?”
The girl looked up at me, her brows knitted and lips pursed. “She is. Do you have a personal tour scheduled?”
“Yes,” I lied, trying to stay quick on my feet. Reid shuffled next to me, looking everywhere except me and the host.
After flipping through a few pages in the notebook, the girl stared at us again. “I don’t have any personal tours on Lily’s schedule. Her next one is in thirty minutes, but it’s a public tour.”
I shrugged, like it wasn’t my fault her list was wrong. “Maybe someone forgot to put it in? This is my friend, Reid. He’s a summer kid and has never been here before. Can you believe that? I mean, us year-rounders come here almost every year for school field trips. It’s crazy to think that he’s never stepped foot inside.”
My lies built up on lies, but I had to get inside and upstairs. Besides, we weren’t really breaking any rules. I walked around the mansion so often, I knew the floor plan as well as my own home.
“Marlowe?” came a voice from the opposite side of the foyer.
“Lily! Just the girl we’re here to see. Thanks so much for your help,” I said to the hostess before grabbing Reid’s hand and pulling him toward Lily.
Her dirty blonde hair was pulled back in a bun at the nape of her neck, and she held an apple slice halfway up to her mouth.
“Me? You’re here to see me? Why?”
Her suspicions were valid. Though I knew her from school and we had worked together on a few projects before, we weren’t really close friends. She was as close to a Gennie as a Crescent kid could get. While she lived on Covington Crescent Boulevard, her mom was a teacher at the elementary school, so she always stayed on the island for her education. Which was great, because she was also super smart and helped me raise a few grades with our projects.
I let go of Reid’s hand and leaned in close to Lily. We were just about the same height, but her eyes were a deep sapphire blue and she had a scattering of freckles over her suntanned nose.
“Listen, I have something to tell you that’s kind of a secret. Can you pretend you’re giving us a private tour so the hostess girl will get off our back?”
Lily frowned, but after staring at me for a minute, she nodded. “Our tour starts here in the foyer. It’s part of the original mansion, which includes…”
Once out of earshot of the hostess, Lily dropped the act and turned to me and Reid. “So what’s up? What’s this big secret?”
I didn’t waste any time explaining the scavenger hunt, without giving all the details away.
“If I’m right, I think the clue is leading toward Charlotte’s playroom,” I finished, pointing up the stairs.
Lily cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. “But Charlotte’s playroom is closed to the public. You can’t go inside.”
I tucked my lips in, my cheeks going slightly pink. I didn’t want to name drop, but I had to. “You know I work here occasionally, right? My Grandmum works in housekeeping? Well, since the day I was born, I’ve come here with her or my parents, to work. Eleanor and I… we sort of became friends. When I was little, she would bring me to the playroom and let me look around or play with some of the dolls.”
Lily’s blue eyes widened. “She let you inside? She never let anyone inside.”
My face had to be as red as a tomato now. Reid stepped forward, putting his hand on my lower back. The touch shocked me at first, but then put me at ease.
“Marlowe was special to Eleanor. They had a sort of relationship she can’t really explain. I know it seems odd, and you have no reason to believe any of this, but we’re asking you to trust us. We promise, no harm will come to the playroom and we’ll be in and out as fast as possible. And we’ll leave a tip and a glowing review with your manager.”
My head turned slowly toward Reid. How he always knew the exact right thing to say at the exact right time was astounding. Here I was, prepared to beg and plead my way upstairs, when he came to the rescue with a few simple words.
Lily sighed and looked at her watch. “Alright. Just for a few minutes, though. Make it quick. And I expect the review to include how many family members you’re going to be recommending.”
“Every one I have,” Reid replied with a smile.
The second we got to the playroom, I froze. “Reid,” I whispered, leaning in close to his ear. “I have no idea where to look.”
He nodded like it was the easiest thing to solve. “You mentioned dolls. Did Eleanor let you play with them?”
Of course. The dolls. I walked swiftly over to the far corner, where a bookshelf held Charlotte Covington’s doll collection. They were over a hundred years old, but kept in perfect condition thanks to the Covington Historical Society.
Reid and I carefully picked each one up, looking behind and under them to see if they were hiding a clue.
“Someone’s coming!” Lily whispered.
I stared at Reid in fear. We still hadn’t found the next clue. He pulled on his right ear, but looked around the room, scanning everything he came across.
“The dollhouse.”
I beelined over there, not even trying to figure out why he said that. Charlotte’s dollhouse was an exact replica of the mansion as it was originally built. Over the years, more wings had been added, so the dollhouse was significantly smaller looking than the house now.
But it stood almost five feet tall and at least four feet across. It took up an entire corner of the room and was meticulously decorated to resemble the interior of the mansion as well. Eleanor said the contractors and workmen who built the mansion gave it to Charlotte as a present.
I didn’t have to think twice about where to look first—the playroom on the top floor. There. A small envelope leaned against the far wall. I snatched it up and ran back to Reid and Lily. I slid out of the doorway and Lily reattached the red velvet rope that blocked off access to the room.
“You get it?” Reid muttered out of the corner of his mouth as another tour started our way. They must have come from Nathaniel and Genevieve’s bedroom, which was the stop right before the playroom.
“And that was Charlotte’s playroom,” Lily said, turning and extending her hand toward the staircase, pretending to continue with our fake tour. She was good, I had to give her that. Believable, jumped right into action, and discreet. “Down the stairs, if you please.”
We followed her directions, but when we reached the bottom, she stopped us. “There was something in the dollhouse, wasn’t there?”
I nodded and held up the envelope. I didn’t dare open it right now, though.
Lily’s brows shot up her forehead, her doe eyes as wide as they could be. It wasn’t quite a look of shock as much as it was wonder, mixed with a little worry. “Whoa.”
I nodded. “Thanks for going along with it. And if you can do me a favor and not tell anyone… that would be great.” I grimaced, remembering how well that worked for me the last time I asked someone to keep it a secret.
She nodded, her bun bouncing behind her. “No worries. But, if you want to get out of here without questions, I’d head through the employee entrance. We haven’t been gone long enough to pretend we did a full tour, and Caterina at the front will question you. And then me.” She cringed, but I laughed.
“Got it.”