Chapter 7 #2
Charles rubbed his chin and furrowed his brow. “That must be close to the time he died. But we don’t know exactly.”
“There’s more still,” Aunt Penny said. A middle-aged housekeeper marched through the stage of smoke a few more times.
She carried on with her normal routine. Lance appeared once more, much calmer, and nodded politely to the housekeeper.
Armond ripped open one of the packages on his desk and pulled out a manual.
He turned the book over in his hands. Then he turned his head sharply and looked toward the staircase, stood, and went in that direction.
“It looks like he heard something upstairs, or maybe someone called his name? Ugh, summoned to his death.” I shuddered. Unfortunately, the magic didn’t show us anything beyond the bottom half of the staircase.
The stage cleared of people, but the smoke remained.
Then, Charles and I appeared on the screen, smiling.
I stood in one place, obviously waiting, glancing around the room, and headed into the office.
Charles walked offstage, followed by a flurry of paramedics and officers.
The smoke in the room dissipated, and I put the pen and watch down.
Aunt Penny turned on the lights, and Charles and I made eye contact.
“Well, that was something.” Charles blinked. “I’m not sure what to make of it.”
“It definitely was. Thanks for helping, Aunt Penny. Do you think Lance may be guilty? I don’t know how to explain to the police, though.” My head hurt, and I rubbed my temples. “It’s not like they admit potions as evidence here—we’re not in Austen Heights.”
Charles crossed the room and opened the blinds. “I can’t think of any reason why Lance would want Armond dead.”
Maybe if I knew them better, I could have made more of a judgement call. So I had to agree with Charles. “I’m not, either. But just in case, we need to be cautious. He may be dangerous.”
“He shouldn’t be a problem in a crowded room. Though it appears he may be the guilty party.” Aunt Penny chewed on her lip and looked to the side. “But looks can be deceiving.”
“True.” Charles flopped down on the sofa and rested his elbows on his knees. “I don’t see him doing that, you know?”
Charles always saw the best in people, even when he shouldn’t. But I didn’t want to point it out, because I’d been guilty of the same thing far more than I liked to admit. I didn’t want to undermine his opinion, even though I disagreed. “You know him better than we do.”
His gaze turned downward. “I don’t feel like Haven Corporation, or I, am doing a great job keeping people safe.”
“Well, no one can predict these thing,” I cleared my throat, not wanting to guilt him. “There were a few other people in the suite. Is that a normal number of people in and out of your suite?”
He continued his vacant stare. “Yes. As you saw, the suite had a couple of bedrooms and plenty of workspaces. Most of my team has a keycard, and we get deliveries and things all day.”
“I wish we could narrow things down,” I sighed.
“Sorry. If only the potion gave us some audio.” Aunt Penny wrung her hands together. “The spell’s helpful, especially for research, but it’s far from perfect.”
“Well, it’s more information than we had before.” Charles turned toward my aunt, and his eyes softened. “At least we can see what people did once they came into the suite. Thank you.”
“We need to look into everyone’s reasons for being in the room.
I mean, why did the hotel manager and his concierge come up?
And what else did the porter deliver? Did the housekeeper do anything aside from cleaning?
Oh, and Catalina, Lance, Ashley, Kyle, and Owen were all there at one point.
Who am I missing? I guess maybe seven people were up here, and any of them could have slipped back in and killed Armond, right?
” My mind whirled with possibilities. “We should talk to everyone and see if what they say lines up with what happened in the room.”
“But how do we do that without being too obvious?” Charles appeared lost in thought until his eyes widened and he sat up straight. “The gala!”
“The what now?” Aunt Penny sputtered.
Charles clapped and rubbed his hands together.
“The gala is tomorrow evening. We can’t cancel it.
There are awards, and Darcy helps as MC.
Oh, Jane, I hate to trouble you with this, but maybe you could come as my plus one?
Normally, I go to these events alone and chat with everyone.
But lots of people bring someone along. So you could come as my girlfriend.
If you want to bring your camera along, you could as well. ”
“I could, but I brought nothing that fancy to wear.” My heartbeat picked up at the thought of going to such a formal event with Charles.
“Right.” Charles frowned, but then his face brightened. “Well, we are in New York City, and there’s no better place to find a ball gown—company expense, of course. If you want.”
“I suppose so. As long as it will help.” I smiled and couldn’t stop butterflies from spinning through my stomach.
I caught Aunt Penny’s grin. Mercifully, she turned her face so Charles wouldn’t see it. She’d certainly be texting my mom within the hour. “Aunt Penny, I’d rather not have my parents catch wind of all this yet.”
She cleared her throat and in an official tone stated, “You mean the murder? Of course not. I’ll keep it quiet.”
Hopefully, she’d keep her word. “Thanks—I mean, for now I want to keep everything quiet. In the meantime, why don’t we try to figure out what everyone else had been doing in the suite?”
“Certainly.” Charles leaned forward, glancing at me.
“Oh, yes. I nearly forgot.” Aunt Penny picked up her oversized bag from the floor and plopped it onto the coffee table.
Then she rummaged through it, pulling out a wig, sunglasses, and a floppy hat.
“You see, I brought a few disguises in case I needed to help with the investigation. I’ve always wanted to play the part of a sleuth, or maybe even go undercover. ”