My vision! I do an odd little hop and accidently trip over a root and stumble right into their midst.
“Oh!” I cry as Lucas helps straighten me. “Sorry.” I wince at the two of them. “Cookie, anyone?” I hold out a few crumbled and melted, less than desirable looking sweet treats but neither of them moves an inch.
“I’m sorry, Bowie,” Kiera pants. “But I’ll have to ask you to leave. Lucas and I were having a private conversation.”
“Don’t bother.” Lucas grunts as he shoots Kiera with what amounts to a death ray. “I’m done for tonight.” He takes off in a fury, and the two of us watch as he heads for the exit.
I bow my head a notch in an effort to hook Kiera’s gaze. “Is everything okay?”
“No, everything is not okay.” She sinks her forehead into her hand a moment. “Nothing is ever okay.”
A thought comes to me. “This is about Goober, isn’t it? You were on the verge of financial collapse up until very recently, weren’t you?”
Her eyes round out and her blonde ringlets glow under the supervision of the pale moon.
“How did you know?”
“I do know,” I say. “And I also know that you came into half a million dollars via the Hathaway Foundation. Did that plug the hole? Or are you still bleeding financially?”
“What?” she squawks as if I just sprouted another head. “The Hathaway Foundation never gave me a dime. Let’s just say I found my own way to curb the financial bleeding.” Her eyes flit in the direction Lucas just took off in. “One I very much regret.”
“You mean you don’t have the money? The half a million from Wallace?”
“What are you talking about? How would I get the money?”
“Where did you get the money?” I suck in a quick breath. “Did you steal the serum?” My fingers ride to my lips as I glance in the direction Lucas took off in. “You and Lucas stole the serum? How did you get the key?”
Kiera clams up. Her lips invert a moment, an admittance of guilt if ever there was one.
“Oh my God, I’m right. Did Madeline give you the key?”
She takes a full step back. “Madeline didn’t have the key. She didn’t need the key. She was Parker’s pet project and that wasn’t about to change.”
“Parker said he kept the spare at his place,” I say mostly to myself. “You must have gone to his place and found the spare. You or Lucas.”
She rolls her eyes. “Why would we go to his place?”
“Where did you get the key?”
“Look, we didn’t steal the key.” Her shoulders sag a moment. “I found it. Sophia and I went to Biogen for one of our last treatments and it was sitting there on his desk. I didn’t even know what it was until Sophia pointed it out.”
“So you took it? Right in front of Sophia?” A silent laugh bucks through me. “That took some serious cookies.”
She shakes her head. “We left. I went back for it.” She takes a step my way, her eyes narrowed over mine, seething with hate. “And before you go tattling it to that boyfriend of yours, I’m telling Parker myself. I never should have gone through with it. And not only do I regret it, I plan on paying him back.”
“With what? Your company is on the financial cusp of ruin.”
“Says who?”
“Says Sophia—and Parker.”
Her chest bounces with a laugh. “Why would I share my financial statements with Sophia? It’s just like her to start rumors. If Sophia is good at anything, she’s good at stirring the pot. She couldn’t stand the fact Parker was cheating on her, so she set the world on fire.”
“Why would she care if Parker was cheating on her? She said something about the two of them having an open relationship.”
“She wishes. Sophia would say and do anything to save face. The only one without money around here was Sophia. The rest of us are getting on our feet. She’s the one drowning in debt. And it’s just like her to try to pull the rest of us down with her.”
She takes off in the same direction Lucas took off in.
Kiera and Lucas stole the serum.
The key was right there on Parker’s desk waiting for her—tempting her.
Oh my God, it was a setup.
I look back at the crowd fluttering around the grounds.
And I think I know who set Kiera and Lucas up.
And I just might know who killed Madeline Swanson, too.
Chapter 16
There is something satisfying when a picture you’ve been trying to make out slowly comes into focus, the puzzle you’ve been trying to finish is just about complete. But I’m still missing the final piece, and I have a feeling I know exactly who can sharpen that picture—who might just hold the final piece to this puzzle.
The crescent moon hangs so low it almost looks as if you can sling a rope over the crook and swing on it.
The rose garden at the Hathaway estate is a bit farther from the pond, isolated from the throngs of people here for Madeline Swanson’s farewell party, but you could still hear their revelry, their laughter echoing from a distance. And this is exactly where I find Sophia Hathaway sitting on the back of a stone lion with her red hair glowing like a flame.
“Sophia?” I call out as she stands and turns my way.
Her pale dress looks illuminated from the inside as the thin gold strap of her purse sits across her chest.
“Bowie.” She takes a breath. “I wondered how long it would be before you came around once again.” She frowns my way as she takes a step forward. “Why is it that you’re so inquisitive, anyway?” Her expression hardens and there’s a dead look in her eyes that I don’t recognize from before.
“I guess you know what I’m after.”
Her brows hike a moment. “Money, I suppose? Why should you be different
