Page 116 of Sunburned

“Then why did you kill him?” she demanded.

“I didn’t!”

“Then who did?”

I stared at her. Did she really think I’d killed him? No, she had to be bluffing, trying to convince me she hadn’t done it herself. “Look, I know you did it,” I said, eying the gun still clutched in her hands. “But I want to help you find a way out.”

“I did not! He was going to give me what I wanted. I’m losing millions now that he’s dead.”

“Then why did you plant that DNA test in my luggage?”

“Because if they found out he was being blackmailed, I wanted them to think it was you, not me,” she said with an exasperated groan. “And I can hardly dive, you think I could have killed him underwater? He was twice my size.”

“But you have a dive compass,” I pointed out. “They don’t even teach you how to use a dive compass until advanced open water training.”

She rolled her eyes. “That was a gift from Cody. I had no idea how to use it, I just wore it to make him happy.”

I thought back to the dive, remembering how genuinely terrified Jennifer had seemed. We stared at each other, both of us wary but quickly realizing we’d each been wrong about the other.

She lowered the gun, placing it on the island between us, a peace offering. “It’s not even loaded.”

I stared at the deadly weapon resting casually on the counter like a discarded cup. By power of elimination, the killer had to be Cody.

But why now, after all these years? The timing with the foot was too coincidental to be chance.

“Does Cody know who you really are?” I asked.

She shook her head. “And he can’t find out.”

“I saw him leave Tyson’s room yesterday before the dive, looking like he wanted to kill him,” I said. “I didn’t think anything of it at the time because people often looked like they wanted to kill Tyson—but I think Cody actually did.”

“No,” Jennifer protested, fearful. “No, that can’t be right.” But her face told me she felt otherwise.

A flicker of movement near the stairwell drew my eye, and a shudder went through me as a hulking figure stepped out of the shadows, his eyes black as night.

Chapter 45

Jennifer and I both jumped back at the sight of Cody at the top of the stairs. I threw up two fingers in a gesture I hoped looked like some kind of greeting or warning to him, but would read as the signal to call for help to Laurent.

“How long have you been listening?” Jennifer asked, trembling.

“Long enough.” He paced toward her, his eyes dark. “You used me to get to my brother.”

She shook her head vehemently. “It started out that way, but I love you, I really do.”

He watched warily as she slunk toward him like a chastised dog, her eyes pleading. When she’d nearly reached him, his hand shot out without warning. She didn’t have a chance to react before he’d slapped her so hard across the face that she flew backward.

“Cody!” I cried as she hit the floor. He stood there, stunned, staring at his hand as though it had betrayed him while Jennifer curled into a ball and I cowered behind the island, afraid to rush to her for fear of what he might do to me.

Had he changed his mind after he shoved me overboard? Or had hestaged the whole thing, knowing it would look as if the killer had pushed me, making him appear less suspicious by saving me?

He choked back tears, taking a gun from the back of his waistband, his eyes fixed on Jennifer. “I loved you.” He said it like a defense, like of course he had to slap her after what she’d done to him.

I could see blood dripping from her nose onto the floor as she pushed herself up on her elbows and lifted her face toward him. “Don’t do this, Cody.”

“He took everything from me. Everything! Including you,” Cody bellowed, kicking the leg of a nearby table so hard that it toppled over.

“I’m here,” Jennifer whimpered, wiping her bloody nose on the back of her hand. “I’m not going anywhere.”

---