Page 21 of One Last Step

The children flinch and stare at me in shock and guilt.Luc flames bright red—the poor boy will never be able to hide a blush—and Sophie hangs her head in shame.

Neither of them answer, an understandable but decidedly frustrating reaction common to children caught in an act of misbehavior.I address Luc instead.“Luc.What are you doing here?Does your father know you’re here?”

He nods vigorously.“He knows.”

“So if I call him right now, he’ll tell me that you’re allowed to be here?”

It’s a weak bluff.I don’t have his father’s phone number.It works for the children, though.Sophie’s tongue loosens, and she immediately protests, “He will!Grandma asked permission for him to sleep over!”

I blink.“Your grandmother gave him permission to stay the night?”

“She did!I promise!”

“She never told me,” I counter.“I can’t imagine that she wouldn’t tell me if I was expected to watch two children tonight.”

Sophie gasps.“She didn’t tell you?”

I cross my arms.“No, she didn’t.Which is why I’m talking to you.And now I’m wondering if you’re making things up.”

“I’m not making anything up, I swear!”she calls.

She's on the verge of tears, and permitted or not, Lucishere.I’ll have to follow up on whether or not he’s allowed to be here, but he’s here.So, I sigh and tell her, “All right.I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.But I still need you two to tell me what you’re doing down here in the museum after hours.”

The two children look at each other.I give them a moment to decide whether they’re going to be honest with me, then help them along.“Why don’t we go upstairs?It’s late.You two should be in bed.”

Both of them turn to me and exclaim, “No!”Sophie adds.“We’re just exploring.”

“Yeah,” Luc agrees.“Exploring.”

“You did a lot of exploring the other night during the party,” I remind them.

“Yeah, but the adults were down here,” Sophie explains.“We didn’t get to look around down here.”

Her eyes flick to the left when she says that.It’s perhaps the most well-known physiological sign that someone is lying.I give her a stern look.“Sophie, if you can’t be honest with me, then I’ll forbid you to come downstairs without supervision.”

She pales but tries once more.“You can’t tell me what to do!You’re not my mother!”

“Shall we wake your grandmother, then, and ask her if you have permission to be down here?”

“No!”both children cry out once more.

“Fine!”Sophie pouts, “but you have to promise not to tell Grandma.”

“I promise Iwilltell your grandmother if you aren’t honest with me right now.”

She sighs heavily.“Ugh!Fine.We were just going on a treasure hunt.”

I raise an eyebrow.“A treasure hunt?”

“Yeah.Show her, Luc.”

Luc pulls a leatherbound notebook from under his shirt.I raise an eyebrow, impressed.I didn’t suspect him of hiding anything at all.

He hands me the notebook, and the color drains from my face when I open it.The children mistake the reason for my surprise and grin to each other.“I found that in one of the storage closets,” Sophie says.“It has clues to hidden compartments in clocks that contain old letters and trinkets people gave to each other from long ago.Luc and I are going to try to find some and make our own museum.”

Were I not looking at what I’m looking at right now, I would think of a better way to respond, but I’m too shaken.I nod and say, “Well, this is interesting, but the two of you really are up past your bedtime.You can resume your treasure hunt in the morning before the museum opens.”

The children start to whine, but I cut them off.“No arguments.It’s time to sleep.Go off to bed, both of you.”

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