woman answered. “I had no time. What do you expect me to do? Tear the room apart?”
Charly stiffened, recognizing the owners of the arguing voices as they came down the stairs. Darcy stormed into the lobby with Dominic at her heels. As soon as his eyes fixed on Charly, he glowered at her.
Apparently Charlize rejecting Dominic meant he had to hate her—there was no in-between with him. Charly wished she had explained what had happened with Dominic to Mollie too, but her friend seemed to get it. She stepped closer to Charly, looking protective. Dominic’s eyes lowered to Charly’s necklace and they widened. “Where’d you get that?” He took a threatening step closer, looking like a mob king in his pinstripe suit. “Did Aaron give that to you?”
Darcy glared through the black netting of her pillbox hat. Of course Charly couldn’t afford the necklace herself. It was part of the Murder Mystery game, but they needn’t be so rude.
“Yes, he gave it to me,” Charly said defensively.
“It all makes sense now,” Dominic’s face turned purple with rage. “You had bigger fish to fry. You seemed so innocent, so sweet; this look is more fitting for you.” His hands swept up as he gestured at her more severe outfit. But no, she wanted to seem untouchable, unbreakable, not like she was trying to catch anyone’s eye. “It seems you have a lot of exceptions to your rules for mingling with guests. I wonder what your boss would say about that.”
Probably nothing, since her cousin had encouraged this whole thing, but Dominic didn’t have to know his threats were meaningless; he already scared her, even more when he was sober.
“What did you promise Aaron for that piece of jewelry, huh?” he asked.
That was it! Charly threw her hands against her hips. “I told him that I’d take out my retainer and let him pick an episode of Murder She Wrote, dork.”
Dominic took a threatening step towards her.
“Hey, whoa now.” Mollie stepped between them. “Back off, dude.”
The mink fur around Darcy’s neck seemed to bristle as she tossed her carefully arranged curls. “And who are you?” she called out imperiously to Mollie.
“Someone who will put a curse on you if you don’t stop breathing on my friend.”
Charly laughed into her hand. Mollie was not making this easy on them with her fake curses. For a moment this all felt too ridiculous to be real, and she was tempted to glance around for cameras, but no, neither Dominic nor Darcy were that amazing at acting, though they were playing their roles to perfection.
A bright dinging from the elevator mocked their heightened tensions, and the elevator doors slid open. “Hello, friends!” Mikey sang into the room. He wore another zoot suit on his hefty frame. The big man was working the ’20s fashion once again. A group of cameramen followed him and he directed them where to set up while the balcony filled up with people. Spectators overflowed into the winding staircase. Some even took their places in the atrium to the side.
Mikey glanced over at Charly and Mollie. A big smile took over his pleasant face. “Well, who is this lovely person?” he asked in his happy British accent. He shook Mollie’s hand, his eyes round with delight. “Are you to be our ghost tour guide?”
“Um no... that girl didn’t show,” Mollie said gruffly. Charly didn’t blame her for not wanting to take Dominic and Darcy around, even though Mikey was a delight. Mollie held up her phone. “I’m more of the paparazzi today.”
“I see. Welcome.” Mikey circled from her to Charly. “And what’s this beautiful replica jewelry you have here?” He studied her ruby necklace with fascination. “You know, that’s a dead ringer for a famous ’20s necklace belonging to a Czech princess. Of course, it was stolen in the ’90s.”
Mollie let out a strangled breath. “How do you know that?”
“I’m what some call a history nerd,” he said. Mollie looked impressed, but Charly smirked. He also knew the origins because he’d given the necklace to her for the game. He touched a ruby. “That’s spot-on to the original. Where did you get that?” Had they started the Murder Mystery already? Charly hardly knew the difference between that and real life, with everyone making such a big deal out of this necklace. “Impressive.” Mikey said.
She tilted her head. It felt like everyone, besides her, had the memo on the necklace. Before she could ask more about it, the elevator opened again and Aaron