“I couldn’t tell you about it, darling, because I didn’t know it was going to happen until it did,” Elizabeth excused herself.

“So, tell us about Jake’s murder,” Anna said.

“I already told you,” Freddie said with mock outrage.

“Yes, but I want to hear Jake and Gideon’s versions.”

Freddie harrumphed, but she was grinning too much for anyone to take her seriously.

“Freddie was magnificent,” Gideon said. “Even I almost believed she’d stabbed Jake. I only wish I’d known it was a trick knife.”

“Where on earth did you get a knife like that?” Cybil asked.

“It’s a theater prop,” Jake said. “The blade retracts on a spring. I’ve got a bunch of them in different sizes.”

“The blood looked so real, though, I was afraid at first that I’d really stabbed him,” Freddie admitted.

“I had to ruin two shirts with it, too. If I’d known Lizzie was going to turn me into a ghost, I would’ve kept the first shirt instead of throwing it away.”

“Where did the blood come from?” Zelda asked.

“It’s called a cackle bladder,” Freddie explained importantly. “It’s a rubber bladder full of chicken blood, isn’t it?” She glanced at Jake for confirmation.

“Yes. I had it tucked inside my shirt.”

“When I punched Jake with the knife, the blood squirted out and soaked his shirt. I wasn’t pretending when I started crying, either. Seeing that blood really scared me. We didn’t use it when we practiced.”

“Yes, why ruin a perfectly good shirt with practice,” Elizabeth remarked.

“You certainly did a good job of looking like an enraged abandoned woman, Freddie,” Gideon said.

“Thank you,” Freddie said modestly. “You should have seen me in that restaurant when I scared Persephone. I was afraid they were going to throw me bodily out into the street.”

“I’d already warned the waiter,” Jake said. “He wouldn’t have gotten too rough with you.”

“Aren’t you going to tell Freddie how well she did?” Anna chided him.

Jake grinned unrepentantly. “I didn’t think she needed to be any more conceited.”

“Next time use a real knife on him,” Elizabeth advised Freddie, making everyone laugh.

“I still don’t understand the business with the bag of money,” Mrs. Bates said.

Elizabeth looked at Jake, but he indicated she could do the honors. “Well, I wasn’t in the hotel suite, but we know that Waterson intended to switch the bag with the cash in it for another one exactly like it that just had blank paper in it.”

“Boodle,” Gideon said wisely.