Page 44 of One Last Breath

“It’s the truth.” Violet sounds like she’s near tears.

“Maybe it is. But here’s what’s also the truth. Deirdre McCoy was pregnant with Johnathan Hendrickson’s child. Your husband’s child.”

My eyes widen. So George knows about Deirdre’s affair.

“I’ll be honest, Vi. Maybe the police won’t care about the murder. After all, it’ll be damned hard to prove. I’m sure they could dig up the ground where the well used to be and find her bones, but proving that you pushed her will be next to impossible. But I’ll bet you that Elizabeth believes it. I’ll bet she has some feelings about the fact that you killed her half-sister of half-brother. She wasn’t your number one fan growing up, was she?”

Silence from Violet.

“Right. So maybe we don’t give her a real reason to wish Dad had married Deirdre instead of you.”

“Fuck you.”

“Thank you for the offer, but I’ll pass. What I won’t do is let Elizabeth steal my damned money. I told her about that document. It’s mine. You’re going to help me find it.”

“I’m not going to do shit.”

“Then I’ll bury you right next to Lila Benson.”

I cover my mouth to stifle my gasp. So I was right. George is the killer, after all.

“You’re an evil man for what you did to her. She wasn’t going to hurt anyone.”

“She was going to steal the artifacts for herself. Do you think she was going to share one dime with your daughter? No, that was going to be her severance package.”

“That doesn’t mean she deserved to die.”

“But Deirdre McCoy did?”

Violet hesitates. “It was an accident.”

George chuckles. “Sure it was. But you didn’t shed any tears, did you? I’m asking honestly. I wasn’t born when it happened. I’m just wondering if you wept at her funeral, or if you just laughed inside and then went home to be a frigid bitch to Johnathan and Elizabeth for the next fifty-two years to punish them.”

“Stay away from my family.”

“No. You’re going to help me find that fucking document. It’s mine. I’ve earned it.”

“How? How have you earned it?”

“Because…” His face reddens. “Damn it, Lila and Elizabeth wouldn’t know it existed without me! They owe me!”

“We don’t owe you shit,” Violet sneers. “And Lila didn’t either.”

George narrows his eyes. When he speaks again, his voice is low and deadly. I have to strain to hear it. "You know, Lila started talking big, too, and I put her in her place. Do I have to put you in your place too?"

Violet’s momentary bravado fades. In its place is a plaintive fear. “What do you expect me to do? I’m seventy-four years old. I can’t go digging through the gardens looking for a piece of damned paper. Even if I could, they’d ship me off to a nursing home the moment they caught me. Elizabeth only barely tolerates me as it is.”

“You can listen,” George replied. “They’ll find it eventually. James is a stubborn asshole, but he’ll run out of room eventually, and then he’ll tear the whole estate apart to find it.”

“For eighty thousand? You’re delusional. Eighty thousand isn’t even a drop in the bucket.”

“It’s enough to pay for a bankruptcy attorney that will keep him out of jail. He can drink himself to death with cheap vodka instead of toilet wine. More to the point, it’s enough to pay enough of my debt that I can finally pull my head above water.”

“For what? Two more years? You’re in the wrong business, George. You and James are two sides of the same stupid coin.”

Geroge’s hand moves like a blur. Violet falls to the ground, and I flinch toward her to come to her aid.

I stop myself and quickly return behind my tree. Annabelle might feel herself a match for George, but I don’t share her confidence. If I reveal myself now, George will probably kill both of us.

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