Read Online Dead Is Not an Option by Marlene Perez - Free Book Online Page A

this house?" I asked. I was only making idle conversation but was surprised by Bianca's answer.
    "She grew up here. This was her parents' home."
    "I just assumed that the mansion had belonged to Mrs. Wilder's husband," I replied. "I mean, it is called the Wilder mansion."
    "It was the Varcol home before that," Bianca said. "Shortly after Mrs. Wilder married, her parents died and she inherited the estate. Eventually, people stopped calling it the Varcol mansion and started calling it the Wilder estate instead."
    That was kind of cool. I was in the house where Lily had grown up. We went down the hallway and then took a different set of stairs up another flight. They were dark and narrow and had probably been used by servants in bygone days.
    "Taking me the back way?" I asked.
    "Yes," Bianca said flatly. "I don't want any of the staff to see you and start asking questions."
    The thick carpet muffled the sound of our steps, and the entire house seemed still and silent. There was no noise from the restaurant in this part of the house. Bianca stopped in front of a door and took out a key and unlocked it. "This is where Circe stayed," she said. She gestured to the adjacent room. "And that was Lily Varcol's bedroom."
    "Really? Can I take a look?" I asked.
    "Lily's room has been locked for years. Mrs. Wilder has the only key and allows no one entrance. She cleans this room with her own two hands twice a year without fail."
    I was disappointed by the news. I would have loved to get a glimpse of where Lily had lived until she'd been banished to the jukebox.
    Bianca opened the door to Circe's room. "I'll be back for you in half an hour," she said. "Not a minute longer."
    Mrs. Wilder had given Circe a sumptuous room decorated in a sunny yellow. A white silk spread embroidered with violets covered the four-poster bed, and plump down pillows lined the headboard.
    There was a delicate writing desk near the fireplace, and I decided that would be a logical place to hide a pen. I didn't find it there or under the bed. I checked in the large armoire, where I found a Cooking with Circe apron, but when I checked the pocket, there was nothing inside besides a couple of bad love poems in Circe's handwriting. I scoured the room but didn't find anything else even remotely interesting.
    I approached the door that led to Lily's room. Bianca had said the room was always locked, but when I touched the doorknob, it opened without effort.
    Lily's room must have been kept just as she'd left it. The room was decorated in a royal blue with a velvet coverlet and matching drapes surrounding the heavy teak bed. There were fresh flowers in a crystal vase on the nightstand, and it struck me that Mrs. Wilder must visit her sister's room considerably more than twice a year.
    There was a long white nightgown crumpled on the floor and a jumble of perfume and makeup on the vanity. There was even a large carved box with a bunch of costume jewelry spilling carelessly out of it. At least, I hoped it was costume jewelry and not the real thing. I removed each piece of jewelry as carefully as possible and tried to remember where everything had been.
    I wandered aimlessly around the room. There were several sets of sheet music organized by song title on the window seat. Lily had liked music, it seemed, even before she'd been trapped in a jukebox.
    Judging from the haphazard state of her room, Lily was somewhat disorganized, except for where her music was concerned. I crossed to the bed and looked under it. It was almost too dark to see anything, but then I caught a gleam of something out of the corner of my eye. My heartbeat accelerated, but it turned out to be a small flute.
    The connecting door had been unlocked, which meant that it was possible Circe had been in the room too. I tried to think like a sorceress for a moment.
    I heard voices in the hallway and jumped to my feet, then quickly slipped back into the other room through the connecting door.
    "Time's up," Bianca