Page 84 of Girl Anonymous

Heads nodded. As the platters changed hands, they were quickly emptied and everyone dug in.

Maarja found herself feeling better with every bite—amazing how medicinal food could be to a too-long empty stomach—and when she smeared blackberry jam on her toast, she broke the silence. “This stuff is great!”

Owen beamed. “Connor is a lousy cook, but he makes the pickles and the jam! Oh, and he cans the garden tomatoes!”

Maarja looked at Connor. “I had no idea you had a talent that didn’t include—”

Connor clamped his hand over hers and looked at her appealingly.

She finished, “—yelling at me in public.”

He lifted her fingers and kissed them. “It will never happen again. I’ve been taught better manners.”

Maarja thought he meant today, with Dante’s fists, but Connor turned to Owen and they exchanged a smile.

“I can make jam, too.” Dante used his deep sexy voice. “What kind do you like?”

“I like them all, but…peach. And apricot.” She could see his brain store the information away. Connor and Owen exchanged another smile, and she thought rather uneasily that Dante was… Well, he was courting her. With homemade jam, since he couldn’t yet give her a peaceful life.

Maarja smiled as she ate, and when she had put enough in her belly to allow her brain to kick in, she said, “Someone managed to infiltrate the Arundel home and set the explosives to kill Mrs. Arundel. At the same time, all Mrs. Arundel’s art was highjacked by Serene and her gang, and my sister was badly hurt. That all speaks to a coordinated effort by a person or persons deep in Mrs. Arundel’s confidence.”

“I never believed they could kill her.” Connor sounded prosaic, but his voice broke.

“They tried before,” Dante pointed out.

“Food poisoning. A runaway car. Nothing that could be pinpointed as an assassination. But an explosion in her own house! So public, so powerful, so unquestionably a murder!” Owen stood and started stacking the plates so vigorously one chipped. He swore and kept stacking.

Connor stood and poured more coffee for the men. “Some of the family and the hangers-on aren’t happy about Aunt’s efforts to move the Arundels into legal and less easily profitable methods of earning a living.”

“I told you, Connor, it’s not about money, it’s about power.” Owen spoke with certainty.

“Money is power,” Connor replied.

“Not everybody with money chooses to crush their opponents into the dust. Every person given power becomes like Sauron, determined to rule them all and bind them in darkness.” Owen saw Maarja look longingly at the coffee.

Dante observed the interaction through lowered lids that might have meant he was weary, but Maarja knew also meant he was sifting through the facts. “Someone has been trying to kill Mère for a while, thinking that when that occurred, I’d be malleable and eager to return to the old ways.”

“Because you’re a weakling easily led by others.” Connor couldn’t have sounded more sarcastic.

Dante gazed at him. “I have been careful to give that impression.”

Connor looked dumbfounded. “You…you actually think anyone will believe that?”

“Not completely, because since the explosion no one has come forth to offer their advice and support.” Dante managed to remain still, not a flicker of the eyelash, yet radiated danger.

Or perhaps Maarja knew him too well.

“Maybe because they know you’re totally pissed off about your mother’s death and would look suspiciously on the first person who offered advice.” Connor stood and started cleaning up the dishes. “They might think you can be manipulated, but you’re still deadly.”

“The person who offers the deal is the traitor,” Maarja recited.

CHAPTER 40

The men looked at her like,Huh?

“The Godfather.The movie,” Maarja explained. “That’s what Don Corleone says to his son. The person who offers the deal is the traitor. It could apply here.”

Dante beamed as if his golden retriever had achieved his graduate degree. “You’re right. I’ll remember.”

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