Page 8 of The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
“I have no idea what that means.”Maggie looked around the cabin. She really needed to pick a seat. Put her things away. Die.
“I like long walks on the beach, warm chocolate chip cookies, and finding fun ways to kill a man with a knitting needle.”
Oh. That was too much and, suddenly, Maggie couldn’t stop herself. She whirled on him. “Really? A knitting needle?”
“Yeah.” He actually looked surprised. “What’s wrong with—”
“If you can’t figure out how to kill a man with a knitting needle, you’re in the wrong business.”
“But I—”
“There are actual weapons that are less inherently dangerous than knitting needles.”
“What I meant was—”
“Nobody ever died because they tripped and fell on a nunchaku.”
Had he moved closer to her or had she moved closer to him? Maggie wasn’t sure. She just knew that his smirk was slightly crooked and a strand of light brown hair that had probably been blond when he was a baby had curled over his forehead as he stood there, looming over her, and for a moment Maggie wondered if the jet was already moving. She felt a little unsteady on her feet.
I’m not surprised he left her.
It was like they were already in the air, like the cabin had lost pressure. It was getting hard to breathe when a young man in a smart navy suit appeared at her elbow saying, “Ms. Chase? Mr. Wyatt? My name is Peter and I’ll be taking care of you. If you’d like to take your seats, we’ll be taking off soon. There’s a storm in the forecast, and we’d like to land before it hits.”
Oh. Right. Because they were on an airplane. Together. And they were going on this bizarre trip. Together.
“This yours?” Ethan reached for the tote at her feet. Her laptop was in there. And her favorite notebook. And her backup notebook. And herotherbackup notebook. But he lifted the heavy bag with one finger, sliding it into a tall cabinet as his shirt rode up. Again. This time she saw two abs becausehe couldn’t keep from showing off.
But she didn’t say a word as she settled into a plush leather chair and fastened her seat belt. It was okay. He’d probably go to the back of the plane and they wouldn’t even have to talk until—
Zzzzzzzzzp.
She turned to see him in the chair across the aisle, pressing a button and adjusting the seat. The slide of leather on leather made a humming sound that filled the cabin as he went lower.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzp.And lower.
“Look, I think we need to get something”—zzzzzzzzzzp; his seat started back up again—“straight. You and I have, for whatever reason, been chosen for this... this...”
“Mission?” he offered up.
“No.”
“Endeavor?”Zzzzzzp.He was heading back down.
“No.”
“Quest? Ooh! Can we call it a quest?”Zzzzzzzzzp.
“No!”Zzzzzzzzp.“We have been invited on this trip, and I think we need to—”Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzp.He was fully horizontal and the plane was starting to move. “Will you stop that?” Thezzzzzping stopped, then started again as the seat reversed, rising slowly to the upright position as the plane began to pick up speed. “As I was saying, we have both been invited on this—”
“I still think we should go withquest.” He nodded decisively.
“And I think we should—if possible—put aside our issues with each other—”
“What issues?” His voice sounded different this time.
“—and try to just... get along.” Maggie ground out the words as the plane roared down the runway. For a split second, she felt almost weightless as they started to rise.
“What issues—”
