Chapter 2

I picked up the luxury gifts Wendy had given me the day before and slipped past the security guards to find her suite.

When she opened the door, I held out the gift bags before she could speak.

"I'm not here to argue. You gave me these, and I don't know what they were supposed to mean. If they were a test, I failed it without knowing the rules. If they were just gifts, then take them back. I don't want anything from you until you tell me what I did."

Wendy glanced at the bags, then let out a cold laugh.

"These things are worth nothing to me."

She stepped aside and pointed toward the door.

"I'll say it one last time. Get out. Otherwise, I'll call the police and have you arrested for trespassing."

She pulled out her phone.

I watched her dial. I left before she finished the call, and I didn't take the gifts with me.

But I hadn't gone far when I heard something hit the ground behind me. Wendy had thrown the gift box out of her suite.

"Trash gifts for a trash person! Take your filthy things and get out!"

I bent down and picked them up. I'd already spent money on flights and travel expenses, not to mention several days away from work without pay. I couldn't afford to waste any more money.

I booked an afternoon flight back to Boston.

Before I left the estate, I stood outside the main house for a moment, going over the morning again.

Wendy had been fine when I arrived. She had waved me over with a smile. Then, between one step and the next, something had changed. It wasn't gradual. It wasn't a fight. It was as if a switch had been flipped.

I replayed the sequence in my head. I had walked in. She had turned around. She had smiled. I had stepped closer. Then her face went cold.

The only thing that had happened in between was the makeup artist moving aside.

No. That wasn't quite right either. The makeup artist had stepped away before Wendy turned around.

I couldn't pin it down. But I knew one thing: whatever set her off had happened in that room, in the few minutes before I walked in.

Not on the flight. Not over the phone. In that suite.

I filed it away and headed for the airport.