Chapter 178

She meant, yes, it had an entrance hall, for starters. It was that sort of place. Full of stately rooms that didn’t seem to be for anything. At least, nothing that normal people did like watch TV or wander round absentmindedly while chain-eating Pringles. It was all ornate plasterwork and inlaid panels, curlicues and chandeliers. Those really tall vase things that did nothing except proclaim that her house (and wallet) were big enough to accommodate them.

It all left Cole slightly dizzy. Too much light glinting on too many surfaces. And the inescapable truth that the only circumstances in which people like her were expected to visit places like this was with a National Trust membership card.

And Aiden had grown up there. This was his. Shit. She was having a Pemberley moment.

Cole looked around desperately for Ellery. But unless she was wearing a particularly distinctive and Ellery-ish mask, or a name badge, maybe, she had no way of recognizing her among the