Crispin didn’t move.

Not because he hadn’t heard, but because he had heard perfectly.

Margery turned her head toward him.

Georgina slowly lowered the phone she’d just raised to record the moment.

Odette looked at the stage, then at Crispin, as though waiting for him to explain a joke no one else seemed to find funny.

Lenore walked toward the front with the same calm stride she’d used a few hours earlier to cross that kitchen in rubber gloves.