Page 81 of Murder on the Upper East Side

‘Youhaveto tell me who it was.’ A pleading note crept into Theo’s voice. ‘For Elle’s sake.’

Madison didn’t respond. The hard beating of blood in Hannah’s ears was almost deafening. She lay very still, barely breathing.

‘What the fuck?’ Madison’s voice was cold. Then,so was Hannah. The chenille throw was ripped off her and cast to the floor. She pulled her legs to her chest, an automatic gesture. Her gold sneakers must have been sticking out from the end of the blanket.Fuck.

Hesitantly, she peered up. Madison and Theo stood over her. His mouth hung slightly open, snared in surprise, but Madison’s eyes burned.

‘You eavesdropping bitch.’

30Saturday, 13 June 2026

5:58am

‘We need to talk.’

Elle Harrington returned Hannah’s statement with a flat stare. Unperturbed, she raised her mug to her lips and drained the rest of her coffee.

Hannah placed her elbows on the bar beside Elle and leaned in. ‘I’m sorry my article cost you clients. That wasn’t my intent. Butin light of Madison’s murder, can we please put that aside?’

With her fingertip, Elle drew a circle around the rim of her coffee mug. She wasn’t telling Hannah to fuck off, but she wasn’t exactly warming to her either.

Hannah drew in a steadying breath and leaned closer. This had better work. ‘I know about senior year. Madison and Mr Harris.’

Elle gave her a quizzical look, then let out a long sigh. ‘Fine. Wedoneed to talk – but not here.’ She stood and, without waiting to see if Hannah wasbehind her, crossed through the archway and into the dining room in a cloud of rustling chiffon.

For a moment, Hannah hung back, stunned. Five hours ago, Elle had brushed her aside like a pair of knockoff Louboutins. But now, miraculously, something had changed. She shoved away from the bar and hurried to follow Elle’s retreating back.

Elle passed the buffet tables and entered the short hall with the bathrooms. But instead of pushing open the door to the ladies’ room, she turned the crystal knob on the door at the end of the hall, labelledStaff. The knob turned easily and Elle slipped inside and switched on the light. She motioned for Hannah to follow.

Hannah blinked. They were inside a large, walk-in linen closet – tablecloths, cloth napkins, drawers of silverware. With a firm click, Elle shut the door behind them.

‘So I gather you don’t think I’m a killer,’ Hannah said. The closet was large, for a closet, but it was nevertheless a confined space. Presumably Elle felt safe, shut in here with her.

Elle smirked. ‘I know for a fact you didn’t kill Madison – which is the only reason we’re speaking right now.’

‘Okay.’ Hannah crossed her arms over her chest. ‘What changed?’

Elle gathered her gown in her hands and slid down to the floor, leaning her back against a tall cabinet. Metallic chiffon billowed out around her. ‘At first, Idid think it was you. You’djustbeen talking to us, and that seditious little article… But that was before I spoke to the detectives.’

Hannah followed suit, taking a seat on the closet floor and tamping down the urge to snap back about her article. ‘You learned something from the detectives?’

She nodded. ‘We’ll get to that.’

Hannah frowned, unhappy to let Elle steer the conversation, but what choice did she have? She needed information, and Elle wasn’t going to let herself be managed.

‘I only came tonight for Bash’s sake,’ Elle said. ‘After graduation, Madison and I barely spoke for six years, did you know that?’

Hannah shook her head.

‘I’d had enough of her games. I was happy in Boston, happy with Edward. But then I returned to New York, to open Harrington Strategic Insight, and by that time Madison had met Henry. We ran into each other at the Met Gala… it would have been May 2023. I said I’d join her for one catch-up lunch. Soon, we were seeing each other regularly. It was like old times, but without the constant rivalry. She’d grown up – or so I thought.’

‘And then?’ Hannah prompted. She wasn’t sure where Elle was going with this – and she wanted to turn the topic back to Mr Harris – but her gut said to keep her mouth shut and hear Elle out.

‘And then Teddie called me out of the blue. We’d seen each other from time to time over the years, butwe haven’t been close in a long time. He called two or three weeks ago, the day Madison pulled out of her brand partnership with Concord Hospitality. Teddie was, understandably,livid.’

Hannah’s heart rate picked up. Did Elle thinkTheohad killed Madison?

‘He told me he was done with Mads – and that he had something to confess. It had been weighing on his mind for a decade, and he needed me to know the truth.’