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Christine and I had just gotten back to the room after an early dinner downstairs. The conference was winding down, and a deep sense of failure was building within me. I hadn’t solved the treasure hunt, and time was running out. The conference would end tomorrow, though there was still a chance if we pursued the clue we’d found in the woods. The thing that was really weighing on me though, was that I’d gotten deeply involved with Archie without admitting who I really was to him. And now it felt like it was just too late.
Over dinner I’d suggested to Christine that I could just sneak away when the conference ended. I wouldn’t have my story, and I could deal with that back home. But I also didn’t really have to tell Archie who I was—not if we’d never see each other again. But I knew I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t even really consider it—it was just my fearful brain seeking a way out of the situation I’d created. Either way, I owed Archie a goodbye before I left, and Iwasn’t sure I’d be able to live with myself if I didn’t also tell him the truth.
Christine had asked if we might see each other after I went home, and I wanted the answer to be yes, somehow. But once I’d told him who I really was, how likely would that be?
The thought of not seeing him ever again made me sad. Actually, the feeling was so far beyond sad that I couldn’t seem to find an appropriate word for it. It made me feel bereaved—like someone had been lost to me irrevocably. Because I couldn’t imagine my life now without Archie in it. Or at least without the possibility of him in it. I knew success was a long shot in any relationship, but the feelings I felt between us...I hadn’t felt that with anyone before. Wasn’t that worth exploring?
He deserved the truth if we had any shot at all. Only, I was pretty sure telling him now would effectively eliminate any chance we might have at a future. What a mess.
I’d forgotten my phone in the room during dinner and was only just checking it when a knock came at the door. Christine moved to answer it as I read a couple texts from Archie wondering if I was busy this evening.
“Oh, hello,” Christine said.
“Hi. I was looking for Emily?” It was him. The deep rumble of his voice was immediately recognizable. It would stick with me the rest of my life.
“Hey,” I said, standing and moving to the front door. Christine patted my shoulder and moved away to give us some privacy.
He looked so gorgeous standing there, the lights from the hallway picking up gold in the deep rich mahogany of his hair, which had the familiar messy waves that told me his hands had been in it as he worked through some issue or idea.
“Hey,” he said, the smile ticking up one side of his mouth. “Are you busy?” He looked boyish, hopeful.
I shook my head, realizing I was willing to do just about anything to see that smile, to be the subject of Archie’s attention when his eyes twinkled like they were right then.
“No. What’s up?”
“I wondered if you wanted to help me search room 515? And maybe 525 if that doesn’t work?”
“Ohh, yes!” Guilt and worry faded to the background as excitement over the treasure hunt took over. I’d worried that in the chaos around the arrival of Aubrey’s baby the rest of the hunt might be put on hold—effectively eliminating any shot I had at helping to solve it. The potential for the cover was still there, and I tried to console myself with the prospect. If we solved the hunt, if I got the cover, I could travel. And maybe with enough travel, I’d forget how much I’d wanted what I’d found here in Kasper Ridge. Maybe travel could help me move past whatever reaction Archie might have when I finally tell him who I really am. “Right now?”
“Yeah, if you’re free.” Archie held up a key—not a plastic one like mine, but an old-fashioned metal key—the kind he’d told me the resort used to have for all the rooms.
“Let’s go.” I turned and waved goodbye to Christine, who rolled her eyes at me and mouthed “Tell him” before I slid out the door.
“How was your afternoon?” Archie asked me. There was an air of formality between us now, the easy comfort of our night together sliding away in the face of our time apart.
“Good. Mostly just chatted with Christine and then went to dinner.” We climbed the stairs in the guest wing of the hotel up to floor five and then started across. “You?”
“Got Aubrey and Wiley settled, and then hung out with a friend for a bit before coming up to check on everything here. With Aubrey and Wiley both out for a bit, I wanted to make sure we were on track with everything.”
“And are things okay?” I asked.
He glanced at me, shooting that smile at me again. “Yeah. The staff here is almost too on top of things. They don’t even need me.”
“That’s a good thing, right? You can go do other things if you want to.” I tried to keep my mind from skittering ahead to a world where Archie had forgiven me and he came to visit me in San Diego, or came along on a trip once I’d secured my fancy new life.
“Yeah, I guess,” he said. “I have no idea where I’d go, though.” We arrived at room 515 and stopped. The hallway was quiet and had an air of abandonment about it, which was so odd given how close it was to the hustle and bustle of the rest of the resort. It was a bit like stepping back in time. Archie slid the big key into the ancient lock and turned. We pushed open the door to reveal the somewhat dusty room beyond.
“Oh wow,” I said, stepping into the space. We were looking at the past. The wallpaper, which hung in strips in a few places, was flocked and ornate. The furniture, coated in a thin layer of dust, was much like what was in our room, but hadn’t had the benefit of being reupholstered and shined up, and it wore the patina of long years of neglect. Still, there was something magical about the space, as if those who’d stayed here remained in some small way, imbuing the room with their essence somehow.
“Where should we start?” Archie asked, looking around.
“I guess we’ll begin with what would be obvious and then decide how much demolition we want to do.”
“Good plan,” he said. “In the other rooms, we found things under wallpaper, and even behind the wall in one case.”
“You want to take down all the drywall?” I wasn’t exactly dressed for demolition.
“I’d rather not. And I don’t think we’d need to. In that case, there was a hole that was just papered over.”
