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“So cringe,” Blaire said with a laugh before returning to her room. She reappeared a few seconds later holding her phone out before her. “I know just the sound to use with this video, too,” she said, leaving no doubt that she was turning my husband’s misfortune into a TikTok meme.

“Charles, are you hurt?” I called, choosing to ignore the other guests and focus on what was really important here. “Should I call 9-1-1?”

“More startled than anything,” he answered with a sharp grunt. “Knocked the wind right out of me, but nothing’s broken.”

“Well, let’s get you out first, then we can see if we need to visit a doctor.” My anxiety had gotten so bad, I wanted to curl into a ball on the floor and start crying—but Charles needed me to be strong, so that’s what I tried to do.

“Shoot, what a mess!” Billy said, arriving on the scene with a worn leather tool belt clinched around his waist. “You’re going to have to pay for this to be fixed, and it won’t be cheap.”

“Can you please just get him out of there?” I begged rather than fighting against his ridiculous claim. Right now, he was our best bet for getting Charles back on solid ground.

“We’re on it,” the tourist man said, appearing at the bottom of the stairs beside Billy. I hadn’t spotted a second staircase, but clearly they’d gotten down there somehow, and now they set straight to work on their mission.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as Bill and his helper worked to free Charles. For a while I was worried that they’d fall into the hole with him, that the whole house would crumble around us, but eventually they managed to pull him free.

As soon as he was out, I ran down the hall until I found the second set of stairs and bolted down them. When I returned to the base of the broken staircase across the house, I hugged Charles tight.“You had me so worried.”

“Angie, I’m fine. Just a couple of Tylenol and a hot bath, and I’ll be right as rain.” He pulled out of my hug to study me with a piteous expression. “We missed the sunrise, though. And breakfast.”

“I’ll order some delivery. Let’s just get you taken care of first.” I slung an arm around his waist in case he needed the extra support while walking. “Come on, there’s a second staircase over this way.”

“Not so fast, honey,” the tourist woman called from above. “I personally don’t feel safe with you two staying on the second floor. What if your oaf of a husband breaks the other stairway? Then we’ll all be stuck up here for who knows how long? And, well, it makes much more sense to move the two of you than to have to move us and that other young woman with the crazy hair. Don’t you think so, Madame Blue?”

“Better safe than sorry, I suppose,” the elderly caretaker shouted back with a scowl, then dropped her voice to grumble to herself. “But either way, the historical society is not going to take kindly to this mishap.”

She turned toward me and Charles with a frown.“We do have a room on the first floor. Billy, will you unlock it and help them move their belongings down?”

The tourist woman stood with arms crossed and an enormous smirk on her face.“Thank you for taking such good care of us. And if it’s not too much trouble, once you’ve had a chance to clean out the grand suite, could Fred and I move in? We were originally supposed to have that room anyway, so it works out great for everyone.”

“Sure, Madeline. Whatever you want,” Madame Blue answered with a sigh before ambling off.

Blaire kept recording the whole scene, but nobody paid her much mind. She did shoot a sympathetic glance my way, though and said,“This really sucks for you.”

Honestly, I couldn’t have said it better myself, even if I’d tried. And right now I just didn’t have the energy.

9

“We could sue them for negligence, seeing as I was injured on their property,” Charles told me once we were by ourselves again. The other guests had all gone back to their rooms while Billy worked on seeing to our change in accommodations, and Madame Blue was off doing who knows what.

“But you said you weren’t hurt,” I reminded him gently. Even if we were in the right, I didn’t want to waste any more time with these people when it would be so much easier to just move on with our lives.

“I’m not planning to open a case, but it’s just the principle of the matter. Especially if they’re going to ask for the cost of repairs. That’s definitely not legal.” Charles pulled out his phone and opened the search window, ready to jump into lawyer mode despite his claims.

I pushed his hand down and shook my head.“They really seem to be in dire financial straits. I wonder what else isn’t to code. Charles, that was really scary. I’m not sure if I feel safe staying here for another night. Let’s focus on that rather than researching legal action you don’t plan to take.”

He nodded and tucked his phone back into his jeans pocket.“I understand, Angie. We can’t leave, though. Not until we find Charlene’s mother.”