Ophelia barely looked in my direction as she waved a hand toward the hall. “Help yourself. It’s down the hall on the left.”

I got up, taking care not to knock over the tea tray in my excitement. I had to admit, whatever Pepper had put in that tea did seem to be mellowing Ophelia. As I started down the hall, I heard Ophelia telling Pepper about the day she and Pete met.

The hallway had three doors. One led to a study, one to the bathroom and the third to the hall closet. I opened the bathroom door and made a lot of noise shutting it, then crept over to the closet and opened it quietly.

I thumbed through the coats one at a time, my stomach sinking as I got closer to the end. Tan trench coat, black rain poncho, white wool jacket, a faux fur—or was it real? I had no idea how to tell. There were also several blazers and a tweed wool coat.

There was nothing in navy blue wool.

I eyed the stairway leading upstairs. A woman didn’t keep all her coats in the hall closet, did she?

I could hear snatches of conversation from the living room. Ophelia was engrossed in her stories of Pete. She sounded almost pleasant. I felt a stab of guilt, but not enough to stop me from tiptoeing down the hall and creeping up the stairs.

Ophelia’s bedroom was at the top of the stairs, and to the right was what looked like a spare bedroom. At my own house, I kept my overflow coats in the closet of the spare bedroom, so I turned right.

Trying to walk lightly so they wouldn’t hear me downstairs, I slowly opened the closet door. I didn’t have to look far…right in front of me was a big old wool cape … in dark navy blue.

***

I had to stop myself from racing down the stairs—I didn’t want Ophelia to hear me and know I’d been up there. I crept down them, keeping close to the sides so as to avoid any give-away squeaks. Then, once in the hall, I rushed down to the bathroom and flushed the toilet.

Back in the living room, Ophelia was still reminiscing about Pete, her back to me. Pepper looked over at me and I gestured wildly with a thumbs up, jerking my head toward the door to indicate we should get going.

Ophelia turned around and I quickly composed myself.

“Oh, Wilhelmina, I was just telling Pepper the funniest story—”

“That’s great, Ophelia, but we really should be going.” I looked at my wrist where a watch would have been if I wore one.

“Oh, so soon?” Ophelia looked crushed and I narrowed my eyes at Pepper. What the heck had she given her?