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Ivy hissed through her teeth as she whirled around the study, feeling like a flower that’d gotten too much sun. He’d gone in here, she knew it, knew it! Where was he? She’d been just a half minute behind him, yet she couldn’t scent him anywhere—none of her houseplants reported seeing him. It was like he’d vanished into thin air!

She heard a rapping on the window. Odd—the curtains were drawn. Ivy went to the thin sliver that was left open and pulled it wide. On the other side of the glass, Vicki Vale was trying to get her attention. Ivy rolled her eyes and pulled the sash up the window frame. Was the reporter trying to get a scoop with her eavesdropping or just being a voyeur? Was there a difference?

“He went in there!” Vicki said, so eager to please she was practically whimpering. She jabbed her forefinger at the grandfather clock in the corner. “In there!”

“Thank you,” Ivy said politely. She felt her pheromones taking Vicki’s will. “Why don’t you go take a bath? I’m sure Harley’s gotten the water nice and warm.”

Vicki grinned at her as she climbed into the room. This was why Ivy worked alone, mostly. Operational security was so hard to maintain once you had some floozies around. Vines were much better. As a last resort, Harley. She was mouthy, but sometimes mouthiness could be useful…

Repressing a shudder, Ivy went to the grandfather clock. It didn’t look like a secret passage—it wouldn’t, of course. She opened up its belly, reached past the pendulum, but the wall there seemed solid. After yanking her hand back out of the way of the pendulum, she tried banging on the clock’s back.

It sounded hollow, almost.