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pretend to be an alcoholic. I’ve been chugging these,” she said as she held up her glass of soda, “for the last hour. I don’t think anyone’s noticed.” She looked over and glared at Laura, who eyed them suspiciously. “Well, anyone normal, that is. How did you manage to get away from Laura?”
    “I couldn’t answer one of her questions.”
    “Which one?”
    “She wanted to know how I felt about Ivy stealing my ex-boyfriend and current step-father.”
    Molly looked at her in surprise. “Who?”
    “Some guy named Fortune Hunter. Laura must be going off a different script than the one I have, because I don’t have that character in my bio.”
    “Maybe she made a mistake,” Molly said.
    “I don’t think so.” Grace turned around and started for the back of the room.
    “Where are you going?”
    “To talk to my new step-father.”
    Molly smiled. “How are you going to do that? We don’t have a Fortune Hunter playing.”
    Grace shook her head. “Yes, we do. Turns out he’s sitting on the floor behind the circular staircase.”
    Molly looked at Grace curiously before following her toward the back of the room.
    Grace cleared her throat when they reached the man on the floor. Noticing the two women standing behind him, he jumped up, knocking over one of the stacks of books. He quickly bent down and began placing the books back on the shelves.
    “Oh .” Molly blushed as she gazed down at the man through her lashes.
    Grace hid a smile as she looked from Molly, who was practically salivating toward the man kneeling at their feet. Like Kyle, he was young and obviously fit and trim, but unlike Kyle, he wasn’t what she would have considered classically handsome. Although, she had to admit that he did have a certain kind of appeal with his thick, dark hair, penetrating brown eyes, and sharp cheekbones. She smiled politely as the man rose to his feet and towered over the two women.
    Molly was the first to speak. “Hello,” she said a bit breathlessly, “I’m…um, Daisy.”
    “Oh, yes, Daisy. I’m William. ” He brought his hand up to his forehead and sighed. “No, sorry, I mean, I’m Hunter, Fortune Hunter,” he said with an embarrassed shake of his head, “Ivy’s new husband. Call me Hunter. I don’t think I could get used to answering to Fortune.” He glanced at Grace who introduced herself as Rose Murdock.
    “Where did you come from?” Molly asked.
    He raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
    “I mean, well, you weren’t with our group.” Molly tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear before nervously taking a sip from her glass.
    “And you weren’t here when we arrived, ” Grace added.
    Laura suddenly appeared next to them. “Hey, she’s right.”
    Startled, Molly jumped, accidentally spilling the soda in her glass onto her fingers. She looked down in irritation, checking to make sure that none of the liquid had stained her poodle skirt.
    Laura, meanwhile, glared at their new arrival suspiciously. “You weren’t here when we arrived.” She glanced down at her notes. “I began a search of the house the moment we walked in, and I didn’t see you.”
    Glaring at Laura, Molly shook the soda off her hand. She brought her glass up to her lips and took a drink.
    “In fact, ” Laura said, “I didn’t see you until you suddenly appeared in the library while I was testing the bottles of liquor for poison.”
    Molly choked on her drink.
    “That was at least an hour and a half ago,” Laura continued. “I should have realized you had arrived late when I questioned you then.” She shook her head in irritation. “What did you do, just sneak in so no one would notice? In any case, where did you come from?”
    A sudden wariness coming into his eyes, he quickly said, “Cambridge,” before excusing himself and retreating to the opposite side of the room.
    Undeterred, Laura followed him with her red leather notebook and pen at the ready.
     
    *  *  *
     
    “Where are you going,