Broken Illusions: A Midnight Dragonfly Novel by Ellie James Read Free Book Online Page B

innocence. With me taking the first two games, his back was against the wall. “Must be rusty luck.”
    His cough was garbled.
    “I’d forgotten how fun this is,” I said, twirling Miss Scarlet’s piece in my hand. “You sure you want to be Colonel Mustard again?”
    He shot me a glance. “I’m always Colonel Mustard.”
    I plucked the last brownie. “Suit yourself.”
    Eyes narrow, he watched me pop it in my mouth.
    “You want me to pick the crime cards?” I offered.
    He fanned out the suspect stack and slipped one from the middle. “Like you did the first two times?” He moved on to the pile of locations. “I’m not sure that was the best idea I ever had.”
    Biting back a smile, I watched him draw a weapon, then place all three in the CONFIDENTIAL envelope.
    He was convinced that by simply touching the cards, my psychic abilities were able to determine what they were.
    Savoring the blast of chocolate, I watched him shuffle and deal the cards, then slide one stack toward me. I picked it up and sorted by category, using my score sheet to prepare my strategy.
    Trapped inside during long Colorado winters, Gran and I had spent hours with a board game between us.
    This time I had five room cards, which meant Chase only had three. That gave me a lot of leverage.
    His parents had gotten home from the grocery store before our second game. Already I could smell the sausage and chicken jambalaya they were fixing for dinner.
    Rolling the die, I chose the Billiard Room as my first destination.
    “I think it happened here,” I bluffed, even though I held that card in my hand, which meant it couldn’t be in the CONFIDENTIAL envelope. “I did it,” I said, referring to Miss Scarlet as I reached for the suspected weapon. “With the revolver.”
    I held that card, too.
    Chase looked up from his cards. “You’re playing me again, aren’t you?” The blue of his eyes practically burned a hole through me. “You’re sitting there all innocent … but I’m betting you have two of those cards in your hand.”
    I kept my expression blank, casually shrugging my shoulders. “Would I do that?”
    He grumbled under his breath—but did not produce any of the cards I’d asked about, which told me Miss Scarlet was the culprit.
    He, however, had no way to deduce that.
    Rolling the die, he veered into the Library, studying his cards before looking up.
    “It happened here.” Deliberately he shifted a weapon into the scene. “With the rope—by your hand.”
    Inside I laughed as I was forced to admit I had none of those cards—which meant he, too, had identified me as the killer.
    The cat-and-mouse game went on from room to room, scenario to scenario. By the time I landed in the Kitchen, I was pretty sure I had it figured out: Miss Scarlet. In the Kitchen. With the—
    My fingers slipped against the knife, and everything flashed.
    “No—stay away—you’ll never get — ”
    Silver glints, sharp, glistening—
    I snatched my hand back.
    “Trinity?”
    The walls of the spacious room pushed in on me as I lifted my eyes—and the game board crashed to the floor.
    “What?” Chase was across the sofa before my heart could beat. “What happened?”
    It all came back, the images from the night before, the scene I’d witnessed play out several times before. “Last night—the dream—the end was different .”
    I’d been so wrapped up in the realization that I’d foreseen Chase’s accident, the variation hadn’t registered.
    “It was like the channel changed, and you weren’t there anymore. It was so dark, and I could hear someone screaming.”
    “Who?”
    “I don’t know—a girl.” The voice had been … familiar.
    “What else?”
    I stared at the game piece on the carpet. “A knife.”
    “Have you ever seen that before?”
    Confused, trying to piece it all together, I tried to go back, to replay it all over again, second by second.
    “Did you see anything last night?” I asked. “Was there anyone else