Page 71 of The Debutantes
Piper grins, and it’s in all of us, now. A fire roaring.
“Maids,” she says. “Let’s fucking assemble.”
26VIVIAN
JANUARY 2, 9:55P.M.
It’s not until we’re back on the tiny Pierrot balcony, wearing the ball gowns we never gave back to Milford, that I start to feel like we were a little too hasty with the girlboss detective thing. Here we are, sneaking back into the wolves’ den with barely a game plan, and it’s looking like our first play might have abandoned us.
“She said she’d let us in, didn’t she?” Piper whispers to April, tightening her mask.
“She should be here soon,” April says, anxiously watching her phone. Renee was supposed to meet us five minutes ago. “Just give it a second.”
Right on cue, the window slides open with a harsh scrape, and Renee pokes her head through.
“Hurry up,” she whispers. “If I keep staying in here this long, I’ll have to come up with an IBS diagnosis or something.”
One by one, we climb through, which is still extra hard in the dresses and heels. Piper’s the last one in, and she looks a little green, but I’m not sure if it’s from the fear of heights or this entire day. Either way, I don’t blame her. If I’d been through what she has today, I don’t know if I’d be able to make it out of bed.
April is busy checking her camera, looking relieved when she sees it’s all in one piece. Already, she seems much more confident than she did last time we were here, and I wonder how much of that has to do with the camera—or the fact that she stuck to the Converse this time instead of heels.
“Thank you,” she tells Renee. “Seriously.”
Renee smiles a little, but it fades when she glances toward the door. “Listen, I should warn y’all. Tonight is… different.”
“Different how?” I ask. A chilly breeze cuts through the open window, ruffling my dress. Renee goes to shut it.
“It’s some kind of initiation, right?” Piper asks.
“I don’t know exactly.” The window screeches as Renee locks it again. “There’s a weird energy. They set up a throne out there, and the staff is all gone.”
I feel the chill again, even with the window closed. This plan is seeming more unstable by the second. Margot’s killer is walking free, maybe evenhere,tonight, and I’m scared we might be too late. That maybe we have been from the moment Lily went missing.
But I can’t let myself think that way. I roll my shoulders, remind myself to focus. Lily’s still out there, I feel it, and it’s time for me to put on my team captain face.
“Thanks for the heads-up,” I tell Renee. “Y’all ready?”
I look to Piper and April, who nod.
“You’ll take a few minutes’ head start, right?”
“Yeah,” Renee says, tying her mask back on. “If you don’t hear from me after that, then the coast is clear.” She checks herself in the mirror and then goes to the door, turning back togive us a final look. Her eyes settle on April. “I really hope y’all know what you’re doing.”
Without waiting for a response, she slips out of the bathroom. I rush to lock it again as soon as she’s gone, pressing my ear against the door to listen. It feels like the longest few minutes of my life, but Renee doesn’t come back. The coast is clear.
“Okay,” I say, turning to April and Piper. “Let’s do this.”
We slide into the empty hallway and creep forward, the jazz and low voices getting louder as we go. When I get to the first of the closed hallway doors, I knock. No one answers. I take a deep breath and open the door.
The room is empty. It’s small, maybe the size of the bathroom, and decorated like the rest of the Pierrot: red rug over the wooden floor, barely lit except for a little chandelier that hangs in the center, right above a black chaise lounge.
Next to me, Piper scowls. I get it. It’s not hard to imagine what goes on in here.
“You know what to do?” I whisper to April.
She nods as she steps inside the room, holding her camera close.
“Be safe, okay?” she whispers before shutting the door behind her.
