“Must have slipped her mind.”
Sara was looking at the card. “I wonder who sent this? Who wants us to know about Nadine and her daughter?”
“A tattletale,” Jack said. “He or she is saying, ‘Don’t look too closely at me. Focus on someone else.’”
“So how do we get her here?” Sara asked. “Or do we send Jack after her?”
“If the daughter is like the mother, she won’t release him,” Kate said.
“I’ll go if I must,” Jack said.
The women ignored him.
“Send her a photo of your room and say a weekend is free,” Sara said.
“That doesn’t seem like much,” Jack said.
“Anger like hers needs an outlet,” Sara said. “It’s the cold I-don’t-care kind of anger that doesn’t respond.” Sara used her cell to snap a photo of the beautiful room, tapped in an invitation, then used WhatsApp to send the text to the number on the card.
They stared at the phone in silence but nothing happened.
Sara and Kate sighed. “It was worth a try.”
But then, Sara’s phone dinged.
Eight p.m. The Josephine room.
They clapped raised hands in triumph. “I have to find the Josephine room,” Sara said, “and make sure it doesn’t smell like disinfectant.”
“I’ll cut flowers,” Kate said.
They looked at Jack.
He was backing out of the room. “I’ll go, uh... I think I’ll...”
“You want to find Byon and sing some more,” Kate said.
“Maybe.” Jack disappeared out the door.
Kate and Sara laughed.
“Wonder what our Jack’s future wife’s wedding dress will look like?” Sara said.
“More like the other Kate than the Meghan one,” Kate said.
“I agree completely.”
They ran to do their tasks.
* * *
Just as Sara found the Josephine bedroom, her cell dinged with a text. She thought it was probably from Kate but when she saw the ID, she gasped.
“Everything all right?” the young woman who was cleaning the room asked.
“It’s all perfect.” Sara took off running to find Jack. It was no use texting him. He wouldn’t check his phone even if he was carrying it. As she ran, she texted Kate to meet her at the back of the house.
She found Jack downstairs in the large drawing room. Byon was playing the piano and staring at Jack in adoration as he sang.