“Yes?” Laurel was confused. “What’s the matter?”
“Get off the bed, yawn, smile at me if you can, and then stroll over to the door. Go out on the landing. Leave the door open.”
Her eyes widened.
She got off the bed, yawned, stretched, showed her teeth, and went to the door. Ellery moved a little as she moved, so that he remained between her and the window.
When she had disappeared, he casually followed. Smiling in profile at her, he shut the bedroom door.
And sprang for the staircase.
“Ellery―”
“Stay here!”
He scrambled down the black-tiled stairs, leaving Laurel with her lips parted.
A man had been roosting high in the walnut tree, peering in at them through Leander Hill’s bedroom window from behind a screen of leaves. But the sun had been on the tree, and Ellery could have sworn the fellow was mother-naked.