A bar was set up near a hedge maze in the left quadrant of the front yard, and people waited in line for drinks. Others streamed in and out of the house. The music had transitioned from instrumental to electronic dance music. It pounded through speakers erected in the trees, and vibrated the leaves on the branches.

The main house was three stories of winsome Tudor architecture. Archie could see lights on throughout the house. The exterior walls were either stone, or stucco crossed with decorative half-timbering. The roof was pitched and accounted for two-thirds of the house’s surface. Getting an idea of the interior layout from looking at it was impossible. It looked like someone had taken fifteen storybook cottages and smashed them together.

Archie grabbed a new drink off a server’s passing tray and headed for the front door. The first floor of the house was technically open to guests, except for a few rooms, like Jack’s office, which were locked. Most people who came inside to look around quickly left. Archie didn’t have a reason to be there. There wasn’t a bar or a table of food, so he did what people trying to get away with poking around had done for millennia—he pretended to look for a bathroom.

He was within a yard of the bottom stair when he felt a hand tighten on his shoulder. Archie turned around and found himself face-to-face with another one of Jack Reynolds’s private security detail. This one didn’t have the same military bearing as the others, and his suit was cheaper. He was wearing a black mask like Archie’s, probably given to him by the same person. Archie could see the tiny pricks of razor burn where he’d shaved with a dull blade or rushed the job. You could tell a lot about a man by how he shaved: if he cared about using the right tools; if he lacked patience. “Upstairs is closed,” Razor Burn said.

“I’m looking for a bathroom,” Archie said.

Razor Burn scratched at his sideburn. “Didn’t you just use that bathroom a half hour ago?”

For someone with a bad shave, he was very observant.

“Prostate issues,” Archie said.

Razor Burn lifted his hand off Archie’s shoulder and jabbed a finger down the hallway to the left of the stairs. “Second door down the hallway to your left,” he said. “Same place it was thirty minutes ago.”

“Thanks so much,” Archie said.