Page 50 of Richmond’s Legacy

“Of course I did, darling. I know everything. Your grandfather knew too and didn’t care. He didn’t care about Blair anymore or what she did or whom. He only cared about Anna then. And after that, when he heard Blair had had a little girl, he threw himself into finding you. He wanted to lure you back to Richmond House. Too bad you waited so long to want to come back. He had no use for you as an adult.

“Yeah, too bad,” I echoed robotically, shocked at her words and angry that my grandfather had managed to violate me after all through the sharing of his sick thoughts. “Too bad I didn’t come back here and get molested by my pedophile grandfather.”

“That was one aspect of Sterling, yes,” she said. “But is it worse than spending your whole life feeling like you didn’t belong? Cut off and estranged from your family with no support? What’s worse, darling? And when it comes to Sterling’s money, he made me a promise. A promise that I intend to keep for him, even if he couldn’t be bothered to keep it during life.”

“He promised to marry you?”

“He promised Richmond House would be mine. But it’s not mine, is it? It’s yours. Anna’s at best. And until it becomes mine, I’m not spending one red cent on it, except for the rooms we occupied, of course.”

“We?” I asked. “You and Linus?”

Eugenia slowly shook her head, her lips pressed together gleefully. Maniacally.

“Linus was a fool. I asked him to do one simple thing, and he changed his mind at the last minute. In the end, he knew too much.”

I froze, concentrating on my breathing.

“What did you ask him to do?” I managed to ask.

“Oh, darling. I asked him to murder you, of course. While you were together in Ilwaco. But he couldn’t do it in the end because he was weak. I suspect he had a crush on you.”

“And Danny? Detective Amato?”

“He had the nerve—the nerve—to confront me about Sterling’s arrest over the phone. Can you believe that, darling? As if it was any of his business. My parents called the police looking for me fifty-two years ago, leveled that awful charge at Sterling, and that detective was going to bring it all up again. He threatened me on the phone, threatened to reopen the case, and I couldn’t have that, could I? I asked him to meet me on the bridge.”

Oh, Danny. Why would you agree to meet with her there?

At the thought, my skin chilled to the bone. Hadn’t I agreed to meet Eugenia here in this cold, dark place? Why was she telling me all of this?

Because she’s going to try to kill you too, you stupid, stupid girl.

“So, you stabbed Linus in the woods and Danny on the bridge. And now you’re going to stab me.”

“You own Richmond House,” Eugenia said, pulling a short knife from the back pocket of her jeans. “You went through my things, my letters. And now you know of my crimes. I’m sorry, darling, I really am. But you never should have come back here. Not with a serial killer on the loose. Everyone will be so upset to learn you were his final victim.”

We were outside. I had plenty of space to maneuver. But Eugenia made her move faster than I expected. She ran at me with the knife. I scrambled, backing into a large headstone, and barely had time to move my head away before the blade struck the granite.

She wasn’t going for a simple chest or stomach stab. She’d been aiming for my eye. There was rage, passion behind this attack. Eugenia was tall but reedy in her old age, and I was strong. I should have been able to evade her easily, but she’d had the element of surprise. Now I was playing catch-up.

“Jace!” I screamed.

I pushed her as hard as I could, rolling my body off the headstone to the left, and took off running, only to trip over a concrete grave curb I hadn’t seen in the darkness. I came down hard on my forearms on the other side of the curb, the wind knocked out of me. My arms hurt so badly, I was sure I’d broken them.

Move!

But it was too late. Eugenia straddled me from behind, and I was too stunned, too winded to move. I braced for the stab to my back. Maybe she’d go for my kidneys. I was going to bleed out in this graveyard.

“Eugenia!”

Jace’s voice came from behind us in the darkness. I couldn’t see him, but I recognized his fury. Eugenia twisted her body to peer into the night.

“Is that you, Jace, darling? What a surprise! Or maybe not. You always seem to be inserting yourself in places you don’t belong.”

“What the fuck are you doing, Eugenia? Where’s Greer? I heard her scream.”

He couldn’t see me lying underneath her. That meant he wasn’t close yet, wasn’t even in the cemetery, maybe. He was just now picking up Eugenia—and hopefully the knife—in the faint floodlight. I didn’t move an inch, didn’t speak in case Eugenia decided to stab me quickly while she still had the chance. But it seemed she’d found bigger prey.

“Greer is…here…somewhere. We were having a meeting. A meeting I doubt she told you about. It’s not the first time she’s made plans behind your back, is it? Maybe the third? I’ve lost count.”

---