The snow fell harder. Josie had second thoughts about visiting Devon that day. At least the storm would give them an excuse to leave quickly if things were too awkward.
Amber said, “Then Eden sent me that article about Aunt Nadine being murdered. It was too coincidental. That was when we talked about trying to come up with a file, or something. A list of misdeeds. Something that we could present to the police if things went sideways.”
“You both started working on the real estate listings,” Josie said. “Trying to match up the addresses with your list of parcel ID numbers.”
“Right. I was going to come to you with my list when it was finished. In the meantime, I put the Post-it note on my diary with your name on it because I figured if I died and all that was left were these mysterious numbers, you’d eventually figure them out.”
Josie smiled. “Why me?”
Amber smiled. “Because I’ve seen what you can do with a whole lot of nothing.”
Josie laughed. “Okay, I’ll take that as a compliment. Well, you were right about the danger to Eden and Thatcher’s child. But not from Thatcher. From Vivian.”
“I hadn’t even considered her,” Amber said. “She was just someone who tied things up at the end of my parents’ jobs. I mean obviously, I knew she had only married Thatcher for his money, but she always knew about the baby and she hadn’t tried to have any of us killed before.”
“She knew that Eden had had a baby,” Josie said. “But she thought that Nadine had ‘disposed of’ it.’”
“True,” said Amber.
“The DNA under your Aunt Nadine’s fingernails was a match for your brother. It looks like he killed her. Perhaps when Thatcher came home from ‘making amends’ with Eden and told Vivian that the child was still alive and that he wanted to find her, Vivian decided to get Gabriel involved and target Nadine first.”
“That makes sense,” Amber said. “Aunt Nadine was pretty much in charge of everything. Vivian probably thought she had lied when she said the baby was ‘disposed of’, and so she sent Gabriel to find out the child’s location. He thought I knew it, that’s why he took me.”
“But you said that Eden told Thatcher that you were the only one who knew what happened to the baby,” Josie pointed out.
Amber shrugged. “Yeah, but I think that Vivian meant to kill everyone who knew about the baby regardless of whether or not they knew the child’s present location. I just assumed it was Thatcher who had sent Gabriel to do the dirty work. That he planned to eliminate everyone connected to the secret: Aunt Nadine, Eden, my mother, my father, and me and that poor child, once I had given up the information. Before Gabriel took me from my house, he had come to see me a couple of times. He threatened me. I called Eden in a panic and told her she’d been wrong about Thatcher. I told her he was after the child. She didn’t believe me. She thought that Mom or Dad or Aunt Nadine put Gabriel up to it; that they convinced him to try to find the child so they could use her to blackmail Thatcher now that he had so much more money than before. We disagreed on where the threat was coming from or who was behind it, but we did agree on one thing.”
“Protecting Eden’s daughter,” said Josie.
“Yes,” Amber agreed.
The tires of the car slid on the snow-packed road. Josie struggled with the wheel until it righted itself and gained purchase again, climbing the hill the rest of the way.
“Then Gabriel took you,” she said.
“Yes,” she said softly. “He tried to kill me, you know. Three times. He came into the room and put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger. The first time he did it, I tried to stop him by telling him that Finn would be looking for me and that Finn was a police officer, but he never even let me get the words out. After that he apologized to me. At that point I thought he wasn’t going to kill me because he thought I had information he needed. Then he fired the gun three times inside that little closet. I guess he was proving a point. My ears rang for hours after that.”
Josie felt a chill spread through her body. She thought about the loaded Beretta and its missing bullets. Amber had been lucky none of them ricocheted in that small space, although the ERT had pulled the three rounds from the concrete walls.
They fell silent. Again, Amber’s fingers fluttered over the scar on her palm. With a heavy sigh, she looked out the window again. A moment later, she said, “What’s Thatcher going to do about the child?”
“He claims all he ever wanted to do was what was right. He says he thought about finding the child and establishing a relationship with her, but now he is wondering if he shouldn’t just leave well enough alone. The girl would be what? Ten, now? He’s not sure it’s worth disrupting her life. He says he tried doing what he thought was the right thing and people ended up dead.”
Amber grunted. “That’s because of his murderous wife.”
Finally, Devon Rafferty’s driveway appeared. It hadn’t been plowed, but Devon’s Land Rover had tamped down ruts in the snow. Josie followed them and parked in front of one of the garage bays.
Neither of them moved. Amber took several deep breaths. Josie turned her head to see Devon’s front door open. Lilly grinned and waved.
“Okay,” said Amber. “Let’s get this over with.”
Fifty
The meeting was every bit as awkward as both Josie and Amber had feared. Devon and Amber stood on opposite sides of the foyer, staring at one another. After Josie made the introductions, she watched as each one of them attempted a smile and then thought better of it. No pleasantries were exchanged. The only thing that made the moment even remotely bearable was Lilly prattling on beside Josie with questions about police work and what it was like to be on television.
Finally, Devon turned her head toward Lilly. “I’m sorry, Detective. Bob was supposed to come get her—it’s his week—but he got stuck in Colorado because of the weather. Lilly, please go to your room. You may have an additional hour on your tablet.”
Lilly pouted. “Mo-om, I want to talk to Detective Quinn. I can play on my tablet anytime.”
Devon opened her mouth to speak but Josie held up a hand to stop her. “It’s fine, Devon. I’m happy to chat with Lilly while you and Amber… talk.”
Lilly’s hand slid into Josie’s and she tugged her toward the end of the hall. “I’ll make hot chocolate and we can watch the snow.”
“Lilly,” said Devon in a warning tone.
The girl rolled her eyes. “I won’t spill, Mom. Promise.”
Smiling tightly, Devon turned her attention to Amber and gestured toward her home office. “Why don’t we sit in here? I promise not to take up too much of your time, especially with this storm coming in.”
Silently, Amber nodded and walked toward the office, looking like a woman who was marching to her death.