“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Getting answers,” I said, trying to close the trunk lid, but he stopped me.
“What did I say about digging, Georgia?” he asked, lifting the trunk lid higher. He took the lid off the container and pulled out one of the baggies holding a glass, the name written on the outside. His lips formed into a fine line as he held up the glass. “Unless someone forgot to tell me we were recovering fingerprints, I don’t understand the glasses.”
“You wouldn’t,” I said, taking the glass from him and putting it back into the container. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for an engagement.”
I rounded the car with Carson following me. Before sliding in, I gestured with a tilt of the head to the porch, where the twin sisters were watching, along with the butler. If one of them was the killer and had any clue what I was doing, I was as good as dead. “If you want to know who killed daddy dearest, get in.”
He rounded the car and slid into the other side. “How?”
“You’ll see.” I grinned and turned on the ignition. I glanced in his direction. “Just don’t expect it to be admissible in court. You’re going to need real evidence.”
20
Phillip and Matthew were smoking in the alley behind the antique store as we walked up. Carson carried the container behind me. I pulled the cigarettes out of their mouths and stomped them into the ground. “You’ll stunt your growth.”
They sighed in annoyance and waited for me to unlock the back door and followed me inside. I stopped both of them in the storage room.
“You know how we’re playing this. Why don’t you inform your half-brother while I set it up.”
“Brother?” they asked.
“Georgia…” Carson growled.
I sighed. “You all share the same DNA, but in a different context. Get over it already and embrace the fact that you have more family now.”
“No way am I related to a cop,” Matthew announced.
“Sure, because that’s such a bad thing. We can call him if someone tries to bust us.”
“Uh, no, you can’t,” Carson answered as I left the room. “You two are probably the thieves stealing the stuff.”
“Borrowing,” I yelled from inside the antique store. “They were borrowing, and they’ve already started returning everything.”
I ignored the rest of their conversation as I slipped on latex gloves, pulled glasses out of the bags, and set them on top of numbers. I’d assigned the numbers on my clipboard with a name, just to make sure Matthew wasn’t pinning the murder on someone he just didn’t like. No one but me now knew which glass belonged to which person, and I planned to keep it that way.
I walked back into the back room to tell them I was ready.
“You knew they were stealing stuff?” Carson growled.
“I told you I spotted the cane. It wasn’t until they tried to break into the antique store that I found out why.”
“They what? Why didn’t you call me?”
“It was the night we fought, and besides, you were already off the clock.” I patted his chest.
“Georgia, that was days ago.”
“Mmm mmm. Long enough for us to form a plan and execute it.”
“You should have called me,” he growled.
“So you could arrest your own brothers? I think not.” I smiled. “they’re good kids. Their follow-through is just flawed.”
“Heyyy.” Matthew pouted as I gestured to the glass labeled number 1 on the table. He would be testing ten, including one that I’d planted just to see how accurate he truly was.
“What exactly is he supposed to tell you?” Carson asked.
“Hopefully he’s going to tell us who the killer is.” I held the clipboard to my chest, and we all watched when Matthew picked up the first glass.
Carson didn’t even shut his eyes before he sighed in annoyance. “Is this a joke?”
I didn’t respond, but Phillip did. “Why do you ask that?”
“No one even used this glass,” Matthew announced and set the glass down. I glanced down at my clipboard before showing Carson that he was right. New out of box was written beside it.
I hugged the clipboard again as he worked his way down the table. “No, no, no…” He smirked and glanced at me. “Yours.”
Rockford was pacing across the room, his spirit restless while we tried to figure this out. I ignored him and just grinned that Matthew had gotten mine right before he moved on to the others.
It wasn’t until he got to the last glass that his entire demeanor changed. The smile and annoyance he’d been wearing like a tag was replaced with anger and heavy breathing. Matthew’s eyes shut tight, and he clenched the glass tighter in his hands. “This person is the killer. A lot of anger and hate. This dude needs some serious help.”
21
“Does dude have a name?” Carson asked, glancing at the clipboard against my chest.
“Care to make a guess?” I asked.
“Georgia.” He grabbed the clipboard from my hands and glanced down the list of numbers and associated names.
“Gentry, the butler?” he asked, glancing up. “Are you sure you used the right names with the numbers?”
“I’m sure,” I said.
“Dude, I’ve watched enough television to know that it’s always about money, women, or revenge,” Phillip said before high-fiving Matthew.
“Didn’t the private investigator say Gentry was banging the missus?” I asked, making Carson’s brows dip further.
“Now all we need is proof and to figure out if the wife was in on it.”
“Maybe he left something in the woods. I can go back and look. I still have the map he gave me,” Matthew suggested.
“You were there?” Carson’s brows dipped.
“I showed up after he was already dead. I ran when another car was coming back.”
“Probably coming back to get the body and clean up.” I smacked Carson’s rock-hard chest with the back of my hand.
“The site was clean when we got there. There is no way blood could have been cleaned out in the woods like that. In a house, sure, with bleach and cleaner, but not in the woods. They’d have to look under every leaf and remove the soil. There was no way that Rockford was killed there.”
“He was dead. I know what I saw. There was blood all over his tent.”
“We tested the tent, and there was nothing.”
Rockford’s pacing stopped, and he flew across the room, making a breeze blow my hair. He was vehemently shaking his head and pointing at Carson.
“Rockford is saying you didn’t test it,” I announced.
He looked at me and then where I was staring. “My forensic team wouldn’t lie.”
Rockford jabbed his finger in the air toward Matthew. “I think he’s trying to tell me that Matthew is right.”
“I am right, and I can prove it. Just drive me home to get the map, and I’ll take you back to where it happened near the lake.”
Carson turned toward Matthew. “His campsite wasn’t near the lake.”
“Uh, yeah, it was,” Matthew argued. “He’d promised we’d go fishing, too, and catch our dinner.”
“Sounds like you have a staged crime scene, Detective.”
“I’ll take you both home, and you can show me the map. I’ll need to coordinate another search.” Carson said, pulling out his phone.
I started packing up the glasses and putting them back into the container. “Call me if you need any help with that. I don’t mind pitching in, but I need to get these glasses back to Auntie B.”
I drove them all back to Rockford’s house where Carson’s SUV was parked. Grabbing the container, I started the walk back up the driveway. Several of the cars were already gone, but Auntie B’s van remained.
I put the glasses in the back and headed through the service entrance to find her. I glanced around the empty kitchen. There was no sign of anyone, much less her workers. I stepped out of the kitchen a
nd into the dining hall and paused. Elaine and Gentry were in a passionate lip lock.
They must have heard my intake of breath because they broke the kiss and quickly parted. Elaine reached for the buttons of her shirt before turning her back to me.
“I’m guessing the mourning period is over?” The words flew from my lips before I could stop them.
“Why, you little….” Gentry said, taking a step in my direction before Elaine caught his arm, stilling him.
“You’ve got a little something right here.” I gestured to my lip in the same place lipstick was smeared on his face.
“It’s not what it looks like,” Elaine said. Her face grew pink, and for a second, I believed her.
“It looks like you’re giving the help a little bonus,” I said.
“I spent a lot of lonely nights being married to Rockford,” Elaine said, grabbing a glass and the bourbon. She poured three glasses and offered Gentry one and then me, but I declined. No way was I about to drink around a killer...or was it killers?
“And Gentry helped you pass the time?” I asked. “Why not just divorce Rockford to be with Gentry?”
“She was going to.” Gentry answered for her. “Until the accident.”
“Right,” I said, nodding my head. “The accident. Which one of you planned that?”
“I would never hurt Rockford. I loved him.” Elaine gawked, but Gentry didn’t answer. I guess I knew who’d been responsible for that little bit.
“Why would she want to kill Rockford? He may have been cheating on her, but it gave us time to be together,” Gentry said.
“Rockford changed after his accident.” Elaine’s cheeks tinted even more. “He confessed to all of the other women and claimed he wanted us to work it out.”
“And judging from what your sister said, I thought you were working things out. You stopped from filing the divorce paperwork.”
I noticed the twitch in Gentry’s eyes. The way he looked ready to kill. “Is that why you killed him?”
“I didn’t kill him,” she said.
“I’m not asking you. I’m asking Gentry. You drove him to the woods. You knew where he was camping. You killed him so that you could have Elaine to yourself.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Gentry raised an angry brow.
“He would never…” Elaine said.
“But he did,” I said, turning my gaze to her. “He couldn’t stand the thought of losing you back to a man that didn’t deserve you. Am I right, Gentry?”
Gentry didn’t answer, so I continued.
“He waited so long to have you to himself. To be the only man that you wanted, and then Rockford screwed all that up, didn’t he?”
“He had his whores. He didn’t deserve Elaine, but you have no proof about any of this.”
“Gentry?” Elaine gasped and backed away from him.
“You never thought the police would find the real campsite, did you? But you knew where it was. You drove him there. You drive all the family, don’t you? You probably even knew about all of his illegitimate children. Those whores, as you called them, they’ll all testify that you knew about the millions of dollars that Rockford was giving away. The kid was right. It’s always about the girl, the money, or revenge, but for you, it was about all three.”
“Gentry, what is she saying?”
“I’m saying he killed to keep you all to himself,” I said, answering for him. “The only thing I haven’t figured out is how he pulled it off considering you were the one who vouched for him taking you out of town to the resort. Were you in on it too?”
“I drove myself,” she said. “He drove my sister hours later.”
The deadly click behind my ear was the only warning I had. “I told you to quit poking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
I slowly turned toward Elaine’s twin sister, Melanie’s voice.
Elaine gasped. “Mel, what are you doing? Put the gun down before you hurt her.”
“You never could take care of yourself,” Mel growled, pushing Elaine toward Gentry. “Gentry, take Elaine out of the room. She doesn’t need to see this.”
My eyes narrowed as the energy flowed beneath my skin and into my palms. I wasn’t dying here, not today, and definitely not at this woman’s hands.
“Which one of you did the deed?” I asked, glancing between both Melanie and Gentry.
Neither one of them spoke. “It’s no matter. I’m sure now they have the actual crime scene at the camp ground. The cops will figure it out.”
“You just couldn’t keep your nose out of things,” Melanie growled.
“She has a bad habit of that,” Carson announced as he stepped into the room. “I heard everything, and backup is on the way. Put the gun down, Melanie.” Carson waved his gun between her and Gentry, who had a tight grip around Elaine’s waist.
“I didn’t need your help,” I said in a singsong voice.
“Yeah, you did,” he replied. “Your sisters called me before I even got down the road. They knew something was wrong. It’s that creepy sister warning, bat-signal thing you guys share.”
22
Melanie took a step back, and I finally let an energy ball form in my hand. I showed it to her. “My reflexes are faster. You won’t win, and besides, your sister already lost her husband. Do you want her to lose her twin?”
“Please, Mel, put the gun down. You’re my sister. I’ll help you fight this in court.”
Mel’s hands shook before she released the grip and let the gun dangle from her finger. She set it on the table and held up her hands in surrender.
“On your knees, hands on your head.” Carson gestured with the gun.
Melanie dropped to her knees and laced her fingers together, but Carson didn’t put her in cuffs. Instead, he turned the gun in Gentry’s direction.
“If you love Elaine, you need to let her go before she gets hurt,” Carson said.
Gentry didn’t move.
“It’s over, Gentry, put the gun down,” I said to the sound of sirens wailing in the distance. “They’ll be here any minute.”
Gentry pulled Elaine against his chest and held the gun to her head while putting his next to hers.
“Don’t make me shoot you, man,” Carson said, his voice hard like steel and steady.
“I can’t go to prison, and no one else can have her.” His declaration was the only warning I needed. He was about to kill them both.
I threw my fireball at his hand, changing the trajectory of the gun barrel to point at the ceiling. Before he could adjust it back, the occupants in the room froze in place as Carson whispered the spell he’d used at my dinner table.
Everything in the room stilled as if someone pressed the pause button. Carson crossed the room and plucked the gun from Gentry’s hand and put him in handcuffs before the room returned to normal.
Cops ran in through the door, followed by Phillip and Matthew, who Carson had left in the SUV. One of the officers put handcuffs on Melanie and was pulling her to her knees. Elaine had tears streaming down her face. “I’ll get you out of this.”
I would never understand why she’d want to save her sister, well, maybe to some extent I understood, she was family after all, but killing one’s husband might be too hard to forgive. I had to remind myself that these weren’t my monkeys and not my problem.
Rockford stood in the distance, staring at all of us. His look was contemplative before he met my gaze. He nodded in acknowledgment before floating up the stairs.
Auntie B and I stood in the driveway, watching as Melanie was shoved into the back of one police car and Gentry into another. The red and blue lights bounced off the white home. I guess it was true what they said. Money couldn’t buy happiness, not even in this swanky neighborhood.
Phillip and Matthew were waiting in the back to Carson’s SUV. He was in for a long night with the new crime scene, filling in the reports on what had happened, and dealing with his half-brothers. In a way, I envied him.
>
“I’m guessing the glasses worked?” Auntie B asked.
“Yep,” I answered. “Thanks for your help. Now things can go back to normal, and I can figure out how to sell the rest of the items in the antique store.”
“You don’t want to do that,” she announced, squeezing my arm.
“Sure I do,” I answered.
“No, you don’t,” she said before walking toward her van.
I followed. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“The antique store is the epicenter of this town, and Mildred had more secrets than you realize.”
“Why would I care about the old relics? I haven’t found anything of Mildred’s to suggest she had hiding spots.”
“The answers aren’t in the relics. They’re beneath the store.”
“There is no basement.”
“You sure about that?” she teased with a wink before heading toward her van.
23
A week later everything was back to normal. Tess, Margo, and Theo had returned, and Rockford’s killer was sitting in jail. They’d found the rest of Rockford’s body down by the creek near his hunting camp just like Matthew had claimed. The mystery of how the head got in the trunk and who moved the remains was as yet unsolved. But it was beginning to look a lot like the butler did do it.
Elaine had kept her promise to help Melanie, who was now out on bail after agreeing to testify against Gentry. Whispers had already started to spread through town about the killings and the implications, but none of that mattered.
I stood on the porch wearing my black silk dress with my hand pressed to my stomach to calm the butterflies.
“I never thought I’d see the day that Georgia was nervous,” Tess teased from the swing where she and King were cuddled like lovebirds. The diamond engagement rock on her finger was a new addition. King had proposed on the island in front of her family and the man who raised her. I’d asked him why he didn’t include us, and he’d merely explained that we already approved. He was right.
“I’m not nervous,” I growled, trying to hide the fact that I was. I’d dated before. The relationships were never long, but still, I’d had them.
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