that Karolynne’s mother, Mae, doused him in her white wine. Even Karolynne tossed a pillow now and then. All this yelling and atrocious grammar and general nastiness gave me such a headache that I had to turn it off.
The Queen would have been appalled and rightly so. What had I ever seen in that show?
I closed the TV cabinet doors feeling somewhat blue. Without TPN to look forward to when I got home, there was nothing. Just me and Dad and school.
Well, I wouldn’t think of leaving Fairyland now. I would think about that later. The old Scarlett O’Hara approach.
Gathering my Sage file, I stepped out of his suite to find none other than Dash Merrill waiting for the elevator in his Prince Charming getup.
“Dash?”
He did a double take. “Zoe?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Tuck-in service.” He rubbed his fingers together to show it paid well.
Rich folks could afford to do this: arrange for a prince or princess to stop by their suites with milk and cookies to read bedtime stories to their children. While it wasn’t exactly encouraged, parents often tipped heavily.
“How about you?” he asked, punching the button for the elevator again.
“Running an errand for the Queen.” Vague enough.
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Dash waved me in. “After you.”
As soon as the doors closed, he pressed the Stop button and folded his arms. “We have to talk.”
“This with the stopping the elevators again. Your only move?”
“I tend to stick with what I know. Okay, what are we going to do about Marcus? I feel bad.”
So did I. It was beyond unfair that he’d been kicked out for being the victim of mistaken identity. “Look at it this way: He’s back in California and happily surfing again and, as far as Prince Charming goes, Ian’s a huge hit. All’s well that ends well, right?”
He shook his head. “I have to tell Her Majesty the truth.”
A knot in my stomach tightened. “You do that, and you’re out of the running for the Dream and Do grant.”
“I know.”
“There are only ten people left as it is.”
“Really?” He sighed heavily. “And if we’re not out already, we will be.”
I suspected this was what he was getting at. “You’re bringing me down with you?”
“I’m not bringing you down, Zoe. You’re a witness. You were in the FZ that night. You know it wasn’t Marcus you ran into, so you have a responsibility to come forward, too.”
“I’m not wholly responsible,” I said, repeating one of his better puns.
He didn’t laugh, didn’t even crack a smile. “What about the shirt swatch you found? Do you still have it?”
“I’m surprised you know about that.”
“It was my shirt that got ripped, after all. If you show that to the Queen, it’ll clear Marcus, who probably doesn’t even own black flannel, seeing as how he’s from Southern California. That’s evidence right there that he’s innocent.”
The speaker came on. Hotel security telling us their computers indicated a stoppage between floors five and four.
Dash said, “Sorry. We’ll get it back online.” He pressed Resume. The elevator started up, and we descended, my brain reeling. Dash was right. I needed to step up and do the right thing, and I would . . . if it weren’t for Jess.
“But what about the other night I saw you?” I asked. “If I go to the Queen, she’ll want to know what Marcus was doing then, and I’ll have to say he was with my cousin, which will automatically disqualify her from the Dream and Do grant, too.”
“Then there’ll be seven candidates left.” He shrugged. “C’est la vie. At least our consciences will be clear.”
We got to the ground. Dash and I stepped out into a stark white, empty hallway by the service area. He was looking at me expectantly, waiting for my verdict.
“I don’t get it,” I said. “You were all gung ho to steal the Hansel’s complaint so we wouldn’t get caught. Now, all of a sudden, you’re Mr. Honesty, and you’re coming clean to the Queen. What happened?”
He grinned dopily. “Valerie. She and I are, um, pretty close these days, and I’ve told her everything. . . .”
I set my jaw, irked that he seemed to have forgotten his pass at me in the elevator. Was that really just a ruse to throw off the trolls? It certainly didn’t feel like one, going by those kisses.
“. . . and she convinced me that this is the right thing to do. How could I ever live with myself if I