Page 46 of Tempt Me
“It was McFarlane,” Rue states. “Did the police get him?”
“They found his body on Sunday,” Jez pipes up.
“Luca, you knew McFarlane way back. Did he have a connection with Wayne Rutledge?”
“Rue,” I growl a warning to her, but she shrugs.
“Rutledge?” Luca snarls. “What does he have to do with any of this?”
“We don’t know. But he was in the mountains as well, and Isaac seems to think there is a connection.”
“And where is he now?”
“Dead.”
Luca looks between Rue and me. “Which one of you did it?”
“Isaac, but I made sure,” Rue replies.
“You think he was in the mountains to help McFarlane?” Luca asks with a frown. “Boy, they didn’t bet on you two being there, did they?”
“That’s the thing. Wayne knew I was up there. Isaac thinks someone told him where we were headed, and he followed us.”
I give up growling. She is telling them everything, and nothing will stop her from talking. I suppose it’s better than her staring silently out of the window.
“So who do you think told him?” Luca asks.
“I think it was you,” I say, turning to face him briefly and giving him a death stare.
“Hey, whoa, where did that come from, big man? I loathe that piece of shit with every bone in my body.”
“Then who?”
“Someone at the villa,” Jez says solemnly.
“Oh, well, if it isn’t Captain Obvious,” I snarl. “Question is who? You?”
“Me?” he says, aghast. “No, no way, you’re not pinning this on me.”
“Well, give me someone else to pin it on then.”
In unison, all three of them say, “The Gardener.”
Checking the mirror before I veer off the road and slam on the brakes as a car zooms past, blaring its horn at me, I turn around to face them. “That was extremely succinct.”
“It has to be. He’s new,” Luca says.
“So?”
“So, he’s a bit of an idiot,” Rue says. “But it’s a bittoosuspicious.”
“And you didn’t think to tell your parents?”
“And say what? The new guy is acting a bit weird and ogling me while I’m in the pool. I mean, come on, look at me.”
Pressing my lips together, I try not to smile. Her arrogance is perfection.
“Henry is my guess,” Luca says, “Now that we’re talking in terms of whodunnit.”
