“Don’t be like that,” Liza called after her. But it didn’t help. She was gone. Well, going. With the snow it took her a while to get properly gone. And Liza could probably have caught up with her, but that would have just prolonged the argument. So, she did her best to switch off the part of herself that cared. Because that was the pattern—had become the pattern—fighting over nothing, neither of them backing down, and then taking refuge in a kind of reassuring numbness until one of them let their guard down just enough for the other one to hurt them. And then it all began again.

“Are you positive you shouldn’t go after her?” asked Sir Richard. “Seems she’s a tad miffed with you. With both of us really.”

Liza shook her head. “There’s no talking to her when she’s like this. I’ll just … I’ll just give her some time to calm down.”

Once more, Sir Richard’s only reply was a nonchalant shrug. “Suppose you know best. If you need me, I’ll be in my room.”

A thought struck. “Where is your room?”

“East side of the first floor. Just up the corridor from yours, as it happens.”

Liza’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know where our room is?”

“First thing I looked at when I thought there might be a killer. Lady in red is on the south wall along with the manager and a lot of offices. West side is all galleries and things, plus the colonel. North is Belloc and the vicar. East is you lot, me, and the professor. Ackroyds had the tower. Now, perhaps you’d like to test me on how long it would take to walk from one of those rooms to another?”

Part of Liza would have. Part of her also wanted to check for herself. But another perhaps more down-to-earth part thought that talking to her wife sooner rather than later was probably a good idea.

So, she said goodbye to Sir Richard and made her way back. But once she was in the hotel, she couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to check the layout of the rooms on the first floor. She noted where the staircases were (northeast, northwest, southwest, the tower got its own that was accessible from the ground floor only) and where the guns were stored (northeast, a little sealed room just next to the conservatory). And she timed the walk very, very carefully.

Chapter Nine

Emmeline, in the Kitchen, with a Story

Saturday, late afternoon

When Liza finally got back to the room, she found Hanna sitting up in bed with her nose in her eReader. If you could have your nose in an eReader, which you probably couldn’t.

“Hi,” she said from the doorway.

Hanna looked up. “Hi.”