Camille’s laughter stops abruptly. She reaches for the bottle of wine, but Bennett puts his hand on hers and whispers something I can’t hear.
This seems to calm her, because she lets go of the wine and places her hands in her lap.
“This makes no fucking sense,” Connor says.
“That’s because you never got the whole story, Con,” Hayes says. Cordially, I note. “Kiera and I were the only ones who sorta understood what was happening that year. Louise is the only one who knows everything. Unless you count Emily, but I don’t. Because after what she did, no one would believe her.”
“Which was the whole point,” Bennett surmises.
“Correct,” Hayes agrees.
“I’m sorry,” Sofia says in her small, soft voice. “It still makes no sense to me now.”
I sigh, so tired. I feel like I’ve been locked in this mansion for years instead of hours. “Essex is an exclusive club, Sofia. One only the world’s best and brightest can attend.”
“So how did you get there?” Camille asks.
It’s a legitimate question, so I don’t take offense. I don’t even think she was trying to be mean. It’s just… pertinent.
“My mother went there. And my grandmother.”
“Oh, shit,” Connor says, snapping his fingers and looking at me from across the table. “Did you guys know who Kiera’s mother was?”
Hayes sighs. And then he’s holding my hand under the table.
“Who?” Sofia asks.
“She wrote The Seduction of Sadie,” Connor says.
Hayes is staring at me.
“What?” I say. Irritably. “It slipped out this morning.”
“What else does he know?” Hayes asks, letting go of my hand, his cordial demeanor gone now.
“You knew?” Connor says.
“Well, I didn’t know,” Camille says. “But I know that book.”
“And her grandmother—what was her name? Noelle?”
“Nicole,” I say. “Nicole Baret. She wrote an erotic book too. Called The Longing. Also published. In the Fifties or Sixties.” I wave my hand in the air. “I don’t really remember.”
“Erotica,” Bennett guffaws. “You come from a long line of erotica writers?” His laughter echoes in the large room, bouncing off the ceiling in an eerie way. “Please tell me this isn’t really about books. Because that’s just… stupid.”
“Anyway”—I sigh—“that’s how I got in. Apparently, my grandmother filled out a legacy scholarship application for all her female descendants. My mother had nothing to do with it.”
I say this last part specifically to Hayes. He gives me one of those looks that says, Keep telling yourself that.
“So this is about you,” Sofia says, her soft voice hard now. “You did this?”
“She didn’t do anything,” Hayes says. “No more than you or I.”
“I didn’t do shit,” Sofia spits. “I just showed up at school.”
“That’s all Kiera did as well, Sofia. Now stop it. We can’t turn on each other. Not now. Everything depends on how well we can stick together from this point on. They’re counting on us being divided. That’s how it always worked in the past.”
“In the past?” Bennett says.
But Hayes ignores him. “Look, there’s a lot more going on here than you guys realize. But all you really need to know is that all this tracks back to Connor.”
“Me?” Connor asks.
“Yes,” Hayes says. “It makes the most sense. But we really need to get in touch with Louise to make sure. She’s the one who knows things.”
“Or Emily,” I say. “Who is right here in this house and doesn’t refuse to talk to us.”
“Sneaky little bitch,” Camille says. And for a moment I think she’s talking about me. “Emily!” she screams. “Get your fucking ass out here now or I’m gonna hunt you down like Professor Plum and kill you in the dining room with the goddamned candlestick!”
Bennett guffaws again. “God, I love you sometimes, Cammie.”
“Cammie?” Sofia and I say together.
Camille does one of those shrugs that come with a sideways turn of the head and a covert smile. “I like the sound of it.”
Sofia and I roll our eyes simultaneously.
“Speaking of Clue,” Camille says. “Who asked for the games? Up in the tower?” She looks across the table at Sofia. “Remember the games? Trouble. Parcheesi. Checkers. Who the fuck was playing checkers up in the stupid tower?”
I force myself not to look at Hayes.
“We were,” Hayes says. “That’s what Louise asked for in the suggestion box after… that night.”
“She asked for board games?” Connor says. Then he looks at me. “That’s what you guys did up there all year while the rest of us were fulfilling some freaks’ sexual fantasies?”
“Yes,” I say.
But at the same time Hayes says, “No.”
I glare at him.
“Well, which is it?” Sofia asks. “Yes or no?”
“Both,” we say, this time in sync.
There is silence around the table at this point. Everyone but Hayes and me is trying to put those two answers together in a way that makes sense.
“Is anyone still hungry?” Hayes asks. “Because I for one am not. Should we go back upstairs and—”