Page 86 of Girl Anonymous

Shrugs all around.

“Sure, your mother, Raine Arundel.” Maarja wanted to put a cap on the evil. “But she didn’t have a choice. She had to take control!”

Nods.

Still not a genuine response. “At least not Béatrice!”

“Youoffered her as a suspect.” Owen pointed his pencil at his notes.

“Because she’s annoying and I don’t like her. All that melodramatic shrieking.” Maarja admitted, “I wanted to contribute something to the conversation.”

“You don’t have to do that, sweetheart,” Connor said. “You sit there and look pretty.”

She punched him hard enough that he rubbed his shoulder and told Dante, “She’s mean!”

“Remember who she is. She can fight.” Dante handed her a fresh ice bag for her knee. “Although maybe not right now. Fedelma has worked for my mother and me for as long as I can remember, so she’s on the list of prime suspects.”

Connor looked down at the table.

“That’s Connor’s mother,” Owen told her.

Maarja leaned back in astonishment. “Fedelma is Connor’s mother? But she said—”

“What did she say?” Connor asked.

Maarja looked at Dante. She’d already told him this.

Dante nodded, giving her the push to release the information.

Maarja swallowed. “She said,Between you and me, he can be dangerous. Avoid him when possible.”

“We have a conflicted relationship. I can’t remember a time when she didn’t push me to be Dante’s best friend, then whisper in my ear that I could replace him.” Connor seemed to be dealing with the mother issue very calmly. “She lusts for power, and I’m a sad disappointment to her.”

“Especially since I came along,” Owen added.

Connor patted his hand. “Yes, dear, that goes without saying. She wanted a manly man, and she got me. Good ol’ loyal accountant and company man me.” He glared at Dante and slapped one of the ice bags on his swollen nose.

The conversation went a long way to enlighten Maarja about Connor’s pass at her, then his attack at Mrs. Arundel’s funeral. He had a lot to live up to and a lot to prove, and he never could.

“What about Nate?” Maarja wavered on where to place a new ice bag. “Dante, your bodyguard has been in the thick of the action. Last night he delivered you to my house and took away our doppelgängers.”

Dante was still unconvinced. “What’s the motivation?”

“Money and power.” Connor touched his nose and winced.

“Possible. He is my father’s son.” Dante took the ice bag Maarja handed him and put it on his fat lip.

“My God, how many of us are there?” Connor couldn’t have been more dismayed.

Surprised, Maarja looked at Owen.

Owen looked at her.

Silently they consented to leave that subject for another day.

“Who’shismother?” Connor asked.

“I don’t know.”

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