A/N: I felt the need for this small additional post since I think I made last chapter's cliffhanger sound like a bigger deal than it really is. See you in three days for chapter 11!

Due to the extreme slowness of the elevator, Frank and Nancy heard the argument before they saw it. "Why are you treating me this way, Uncle Henri?" they heard Lillian say angrily. "Don't you care how I feel? Don't I matter to you anymore?"

"Oh, no," Nancy whispered to Frank. "We're arriving in the middle of a scene!"

Sure enough, they felt every eye in the room on them as the elevator took its time crunching to a halt. Nancy gave a stupid little smile, and she and Frank desperately tried to blend in with the furniture. Their efforts were unsuccessful, however, although they still couldn't very well walk over to the doorway during a scene.

Colonel Dijon paused, looking oddly at the couple in the elevator. He looked at the clock, then cleared his throat. "You matter to me the same way everyone else does: no more, and no less."

"But I don't understand!" Lillian almost whined. "I thought I was special, and you cared for me more than any of the others! More than Frank, or Gertie, or any of the rest!"

"You're right—you thought that," Henri Dijon said coldly. "You were wrong."

"What about when I came to visit you, after my father died?" Lillian pressed. "You were like a father to me then! How can you be like this now?"

"I'm afraid you misunderstood a lot of things, Lillian," the Colonel continued. "I was just trying to help my sister out, that's all."

"I won't hear any more of this! You're lying to me! Someone is behind this, and I'll find out who!" Lillian burst into sobs and fled from the room.

The scene slowly disbursed. "Hard to reconcile that image with what we just read about the Colonel in the newspaper," Nancy said in a low voice to Frank. "This does seem out of character for him. Maybe she's right and he's hiding something for some reason, maybe even to protect her?"

"Could be, but she hasn't been the picture of mental health so far either," Frank reasoned. "Let's, uh…get out of this elevator…"

"What are you young reprobates doing in my elevator?" the Colonel snapped at them. "Do I go to your house and mess with your toys? Don't ever let me catch you in there again!" This speech had the combined effect of making Frank and Nancy decide not to confront him about the optional nature of his wheelchair, and also keeping back the characters who had been heading towards the elevator to investigate it.

"You have to wait till he's out of the room," Frank whispered to Fifi on their way out, giving her a clue in exchange for his pinch a half hour ago. "Hey, Nancy, do you see that? Under the bed?"

"I do now, since my better half noticed it. It looks like another one of Celie's voodoo dolls—"

"Stop snooping!" Colonel Henri barked at them. "Out of my room!"

Frank raised his hands surrender-style, and he and Nancy walked out the bedroom door. "Mr. Get-off-my-lawn," Frank muttered to Nancy. "Way to overcome stereotypes, Uncle."

Once in the hallway, however, they were stopped by Jeeves.

"There are a couple of guests who haven't made themselves available for questioning very much throughout the night," he said gruffly, with his characteristic scowl. "Do you have any guesses about who those may be?"

"Uhhh…" Frank said.

"Close guess. It would be much appreciated if you two could stay with the crowd until the clock chimes once more. Remember, character interaction is a big part of the game."

"But not a big part of the clues," Nancy said under her breath.

"At 10:00 you may resume your previous activities," Jeeves said, in a voice so low only she could hear it.

Nancy felt another shudder move up her spine. Did he mean anything by that? Did he know what they were doing, besides snooping in the attic? She and Frank forced themselves to follow instructions, however, and participated in the conversations going on around them. It seemed like only a few minutes before the clock struck ten.