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When she tried the doorknob and found that it was, indeed, stuck, she returned to the kitchen to grab a step stool. After setting it in front of the door, she climbed on top, then swiped her hand over the doorframe and pulled down an old brass key, stuck it in the knob, and pushed the door open.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I’m behind on preparing the day’s lunch,” she huffed, leaving me and Charles to stare at each other with bemused expressions.

“I didn’t know there was a key,” I told him with a wince before falling into his arms to offer a giant hug.

He stroked my hair to soothe me, even though he was the one whose safety had once again been compromised.“Somebody must have locked me in, but why?”

“That, my dear, is a very good question.”

He was right. Somebody was definitely out to get him, and I needed to discover who before anything else bad transpired.

12

Charles’s stomach growled as we were resting on the bed together.

“I guess assorted snack food doesn’t exactly make the best breakfast, especially since you missed dinner last night,” I told him while Charlene snoozed tucked into his side.

“Yeah, but no one delivers out here, and we can’t exactly leave Charlene.” He paused to run his hand over the kitten a few times before turning his attention back to me. “Madame Blue mentioned making lunch, right? Maybe we should just brave another awkward meal with the others. Once we findCharlene’s mother, we can go into town for a massive nine-course meal.”

“And we could book a new place to stay while we’re there,” I added with a sigh, rolling over onto my side to face him. “But are you sure about waiting to leave?”

“What better option do we have? We can’t leave this baby on her own, and we can’t exactly trust anyone else here with her.”

“We could take her with us to the new hotel,” I suggested, already knowing that wasn’t really an option.

Charles’s green eyes bored into me. “But then we’d have no reason to come back to the property. You and I both know Madame Blue would kick us out in a heartbeat.”

“True.” I picked at the skin on my elbow, a nasty nervous habit. “I’m just worried something else bad will happen.”

He shook his head, also shaking off my concern.“We’ll be fine.”

“I know I will be, but what about you?”

“I’ll be fine too,” he assured me despite loads of evidence to the contrary, but he had a smile on his face again. “Now let’s go eat before my stomach starts making some truly terrifying noises.”

I still felt unsure about joining the others but had to admit we were in a pretty tight spot. Reluctantly, I joined Charles, making sure to swipe the key from the top of the doorframe so nobody else had access to it while we were staying inside. We found Madame Blue, Billy, and the Mackenzie couple eating pastrami sandwiches and what appeared to be potato salad.

“No Blaire today?” I asked casually as Charles and I took our seats.

“She does intermittent fasting. Some trendy Zoomer thing,” Madeline Mackenzie explained with a huge grin pointed my way. She seemed to be in a far better mood now that she had the room she wanted. Good riddance.

Charles pulled the platter of sandwiches across the table and helped himself to two on rye, leaving the sourdough for me.

I spooned big heaps of the salad onto each of our plates while he polished off the first triangle of his first sandwich. Something green mixed into the creamy potatoes caught my eye, causing me to take a closer look at the lump on my plate. Yup, capers.

That was one food I truly despised, and there would be no eating around them. The bitter little balls ruined anything they touched—especially my taste buds.Bleck.

Charles finished his first sandwich and then dug into his potatoes with great enthusiasm. After taking that first bite, he turned to me and I nodded. A second later, he grabbed my plate and transferred all of my salad over to his. Ah, he knew me so well.

“My cooking not to your liking?” Madame Blue shouted from the other end of the table.

“The sandwiches are delicious,” I enthused, pointing toward my plate with one hand and giving a thumbs-up with the other. “I’m just not a fan of capers.”

“No class,” she muttered to herself, though it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Mrs. Mackenzie snickered, but then her husband put his hand on her arm and she fell quiet.

Charles seemed to eat even faster after that, wanting to free us quickly while still satisfying his stomach. By the time I finished my sandwich, crusts and all, he was ready to go.

He placed his napkin on his plate and rose to his feet.“Thank you for a delicious meal.”

I got up too, then scrambled after him as he strode swiftly toward our room, which was now very close to the dining area.

At the door, Charles’s stomach gurgled loudly.

“Didn’t you get enough to eat?” I teased.

He grimaced and placed a hand to his belly.“Just need to make a quick trip to the bathroom. I’ll be back with you soon.” He bent to offer me a kiss, but then quickly changed his mind and took off power-walking in the direction of the communal restroom.