The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year

by Ally Carter

Maggie started doing Party Math in her head. If she hid for thirty minutes, then waved at three more people on her way to the elevator, maybe no one would notice if she spent the rest of the party hiding in an empty room, reading her Purse Book and eating her Napkin Cheese. It was a genius plan, really. She should have thought of it from the start.

And that was when she saw the scar—long and jagged, starting at his shoulder and then running down the right side of his back. The wound was old and healed but still angry—as if something dangerous lived inside of Ethan and was still trying to claw its way out.

“You know, some women think I’m chivalrous.” “Some women think the earth is flat.” “Oh.” He bit back that million-dollar grin. “You wound me.” Maggie smirked. “Is that an offer?” A thousand scenarios flashed across his face when he said, “Maybe later.”

“The estate is over twenty thousand acres. And it abuts a national park.” “Oh. That’s”—convenient if you need to dispose of a body— “lovely.”

“Besides, we solve murders all the time.” “We also plan murders.” “And we’re so good at it!”

“Best thing about America. The bacon.”

“I know the world hasn’t given you a lot of reasons to believe this, but just so you know, if you were mine, I’d never make you park the car because my shoes are suede. If you were mine, I’d carry you through the storm. If you were mine, I’d fight the sky.”

“You know, if mankind has one universal superpower, it’s gaslighting women into thinking they’re the problem.”