“So?”
“She was married and divorced ten years ago.”
“Lots of people have been married and divorced.”
“The divorce was instigated by the husband, and there was a child, a little girl. The husband has her. Amanda didn’t even ask for custody or visitation.”
“You’re kidding? That is surprising. I can guarantee you that Sean doesn’t know. He’s such a family guy, and that would really bug him.”
“I’m heading down to New York City now, about to get on a plane.”
“What? Why?”
“I found someone who won’t talk to me on the phone but says that he can tell me something unusual about the case. He was working for her attorney at the time. And I’ve heard from Jeremy. Eddie insisted on picking up the ornament so he could mail it himself. He wanted the timing to be exact, and he didn’t want anyone to know about it. He said that ‘they’ were watching him all the time, and that he was going to protect everything he knew until Christmas. That was all the guy knew. Anyway, I feel like we’re getting close. You need to stick with the family. Sean trusts you. Jeremy is heading back, so he and Rowenna will be there soon if you need them.”
“All right.”
Zach realized that he was going to have to call Sean with the truth, and it was not a call he was looking forward to making.
“What about Cal?” Zach asked. “Anything on him?”
“No, no record. He married Marni five years ago. They met in New York and married there.”
“Lots going on in New York City, huh? Well, stay in touch. I’ll get back to Newport as fast as I can.”
Caer crashed down to the deck, her eyes still open. And then, as she watched, she saw them fall, one by one.
Clara, Tom.
Kat.
Sean.
Oh, God, it had been her job to protect Sean.
Amanda. No, Amanda was still standing.
Kat had been right all along, Caer realized. Amanda was the killer.
Flesh was weak, Caer thought, but though hers had reacted to whatever drug she’d been given, she would recover—and quickly. Meanwhile, she had to think, had to figure out what Amanda had given them—or had it been Amanda? She was still standing.
But so was Marni.
Caer prayed fervently that they had only been drugged, not poisoned, that their names had been the ones that had wavered on Michael’s list, indicating that they were in danger but not necessarily slated to die.
It was up to her. She had to keep their names from solidifying, had to keep herself from becoming only air and the stuff of the dreams—the death ghost, there to take them home.
So she lay there and narrowed her eyes until they were almost closed, then watched and listened.
“Let’s get them below,” Marni said.
“Why didn’t we just do this down there?” Amanda demanded crossly.
“Stop complaining and hurry up,” Marni said. “I’ve already rigged the engine to explode, but we’ve got to get out on the water first, and I don’t want them dead until we’ve found what we need. I know one of them knows where Eddie moved the treasure. Let’s get them down to the cabin, get away from here, then start going through their things. I’d rather find what we need that way than have to wait for them to wake up and question them about where Eddie took that damn treasure.”
“Marni, I’m not sure this was such a great idea,” Amanda said nervously. “Zach and his brothers are still out there somewhere, plus they found Eddie’s body. You said that he’d never turn up.”
“Hey, at least I killed Eddie. You’re the one who screwed up with Sean.”
“Oh, right, like I did that on purpose!” Amanda protested. “How did I know the old fart would survive? You got the mushrooms. You told me he’d die, and it couldn’t be traced. Well, he didn’t die, though at least they didn’t figure out what made him so sick. And what’s the story with Cal? I thought he was supposed to be out here, too? Or did you chicken out?”
“I’ve taken care of Cal,” Marni said curtly. “When I set out to kill someone, that someone ends up dead. I took care of him back at the house, then pretended he got hung up here, in the office.”
“You killed him back at the house?” Amanda said incredulously. “What are you? An idiot?”
“I have it all figured out. It was the faithful servants, who were jealous all the time of the O’Riley money. They killed Cal when he caught on, then killed the rest of these fools and got caught up in their own explosion. Luckily for us, you and I were thrown clear.”
“And instead we’re going to freeze to death out in that water,” Amanda accused her.
Marni grunted. “Give me a hand with Tom. He’s heavy. We’re not going to freeze to death, but you may get a little cold. The boat won’t explode until we’re close to the island. We’ll have on life jackets by then.”
“You’re crazy. That water’s frigid.”
“Hey, I killed Eddie and swam in. No biggie.”