Maggie realized he was focused on the other side of the room. She followed his gaze and was just in time to see the fake Cornelia disappear through the arched entrance of a dimly lit hallway.
“Maybe she doesn’t know the ladies’ room is in another wing,” Maggie said.
“She knows where she’s going.” Sam set his unfinished champagne on the console table. “Stay here. I’m going to follow her.”
“I’ll come with you.”
Sam hesitated but evidently concluded he did not want to waste time arguing. The fake Cornelia was already out of sight.
“All right,” he said, “but we don’t want anyone to notice us.”
“Don’t worry, the only person in the room who might pay attention to me is Oxlade, and he left some time ago,” Maggie said.
Oxlade aside, it was clear she and Sam had not drawn the interest of anyone else at the reception. She was proud her cover story had worked. The Guilfoyles had greeted them politely when they’d arrived, but they had spent the rest of the evening mingling with attendees who evidently ranked much higher on the social ladder. The four attractive dream guides were doing the same thing—charming the obviously more affluent guests.
“Let’s go,” Sam said.
They made their way around the edge of the crowd and went into the shadowed hallway the imposter had entered. The main light fixtures were off, but a wall sconce glowed at the far end of the corridor where it intersected with another wing.
Maggie heard the crisp click of fashionable high-heeled evening sandals echoing from the far end of the hall. She saw the shadowy figure of the fake Cornelia turn the corner and vanish into the adjoining wing.
Sam stopped and opened one of the French doors. “We’ll cut across the courtyard. It will be faster.”
Maggie followed him out into the darkened garden. They went quickly along a flagstone path lit by a nearly full moon. A fountain murmured softly in the shadows.
“What if the doors on that side of the courtyard are locked?” she asked.
“I doubt if they are,” Sam said. “Why bother? The courtyard is secured on all four sides. But even if they are locked, it won’t be a problem.”
“Meaning you can pick a lock?”
“You learn things when you arrest bad guys.”
“I’ll bet. You were definitely right about one thing—the imposter seems to know where she is going. If she was looking for the ladies’ room she would have turned back by now.”
The windowed doors that lined the hallway on the far side of the courtyard were, indeed, unlocked. Maggie followed Sam into the gloom of another dimly lit corridor. He drew her to a halt and touched her lips with one finger. She got the message.
The imposter was nowhere to be seen. Maggie was starting to fear they had lost their quarry when a woman’s scream echoed from the far end of the hall. The primal sound raised the hair on the back of Maggie’s neck.
“Sam,” she whispered.
“Stay here,” he ordered.
He started forward just as the door at the end of the corridor slammed open. The imposter flew out, silhouetted by bursts of flashing lights. She was no longer screaming. She appeared to be running for her life. Her long skirts whipped around her ankles.
She did not notice Sam until he loomed in her path. She scrambled to a stop, stricken.
“Please don’t hurt me,” she gasped. “I won’t tell anyone. I swear, I won’t tell anyone.”
“Don’t move,” Sam said.
The imposter froze, automatically obeying the command. He stepped around her and disappeared into the room.
Maggie hurried forward and stopped directly in front of the fake Cornelia. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Her sharp tone of voice broke the momentary spell cast by Sam’s order. The woman took a rasping breath.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I had nothing to do with it.”
