Chapter 21: The Night Before

Elias's POV

The Ashville Grand Hotel kept its ballroom unlocked until midnight before a gala, so the florists could finish.

I went in at half past eleven on Thursday, in my coat, and nobody stopped me.

Four hundred chairs stood in rows under white linen.

The long tables were set with silver and low candles, and the stage at the far end held a podium and a screen.

I had been in this room once before.

I had stood at the terrace door for most of an evening, and then I had been kept on the front steps until midnight while she died forty yards away.

I walked down the middle aisle and stopped where I had stopped then.

The head table was by the stage, the one nearest the door to the terrace.

Her place card read Diana Pellam, in gold.

Next to it, one read Marcy Dolan.

Marcy still had a seat at the head table.

She had put her own name there months ago, and I left it where it was.

Then I crossed the floor to the terrace door and put my hand on the glass.

It was cold.

The terrace beyond it was empty, with iron chairs stacked against the rail and the river dark below.

I looked at my watch.

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