Chapter 45
“You think it was Octavius?” Fola asked, looking perplexed.
Evie nodded. “Yes. In fact, I’m certain it was,” she said, making eye contact with the musician, who was staring at her in a vulnerable way that confirmed her suspicions. He’d been looking at her like that all day. She’d never seen anyone look as guilty as Octavius did.
It was kind of making her uncomfortable, even. She looked away from him, staring now at the others in the room. Everyone looked alert now that there had been a murder accusation thrown out there. Even the boy who seemed to be having some sort of breakdown before on the sofa was staring wide-eyed.
“Sorry, Miss …,” one of the guests started, stepping forward. Evie couldn’t tell by just looking at them whether they were one of the teenage prodigies or not. Despite their youngish appearance, their clothes seemed to be straight out of an old man’s closet.
“Gray,” Evie replied.
“Right, Miss Gray,” the person continued with a frown. “Do you think it is appropriate to be throwing around words like that right now? I’m sure we all have our theories, and we are all desperate to go home, but you can’t make such uncertain libelous declarations—”
“And I wouldn’t be making them if I wasn’t certain,” Evie replied frostily. She wasn’t sure she liked this person.
“What makes you so certain?” Perdita asked suddenly, her eyes narrowed. She was defensive. Evie couldn’t blame her; she understood more than anyone what it felt like to be protective over your brother.
“Well, I told you I had access to the cloud earlier—to the police logs. I reviewed all of your alibis, and while Octavius’s is not the only one with inconsistencies as to his whereabouts, his is the only one that failed its fact-checking measures with flying colors.
” Evie did not need her notes to recite her findings.
She had been waiting for this moment for a long time—the moment she’d be able to take down the Buttons.
“At 11:39 P.M., mere minutes before Mr. Button’s murder, Octavius sent a text message and it pinged near to a cell tower where the yacht had been docked at that point in the night, proving that he did not leave the boat at the time he claimed he did.”
“You went through his messages?” A voice came from behind her as Bilal entered the room with the Button secretary, Henry. Bilal’s tone was accusatory, his expression severe as he hobbled forward.
“No, I didn’t need to access Octavius’s message.
All I’m telling you is what was in the police notes,” Evie replied, and then faced Octavius once again.
“The police already know you lied in your alibi, Octavius. I think they’ve been trying to figure out why all day, and see if you had an accomplice.
They just didn’t want to reveal their cards too early by arresting their main suspect, especially as that suspect is Mr. Button’s son—the same Mr. Button who was a longtime friend of one Chief Waxler.
It would not only be a bad look for them to arrest the victim’s son without being really sure, but also he probably just didn’t want the killer to be someone he felt tasked with protecting.
They probably kept us all back here while they were trying to find evidence it wasn’t you.
It must be nice, this privileged life of yours where you get to be above the law … above even murder.”
There was silence then. Octavius looked like he was moments from collapse.
Evie continued. “And even if we were to believe Octavius’s lie about leaving the boat to get his violin bow fixed, there is no such thing as an emergency luthier.
I assumed that because you have connections in high places, there was probably a specialist who might open for you after hours.
Only, I called every luthier within a feasible distance from the boat.
None of them open past nine P.M., and none of them had received a bow to fix.
And if that wasn’t enough, I also found what I’m assuming to be your broken bow in the trash in the second-floor bathroom.
Considering Mr. Button was killed with a blunt instrument, I’d bet good money that your bow was the murder weapon, and in that case, I must tell you for future reference that you really shouldn’t throw away murder weapons so haphazardly like that. It really does raise suspicion.”
Evie felt a renewed confidence. It was all slotting into place. Justice was so close she could feel it. She just needed to drive this home now.
“Of course, I thoroughly considered the rest of you Buttons and your alibis—or awful excuses for alibis, that is. It probably helped that there was that error in the system that logged every guest’s departure time as 00:00—midnight.
This meant the police were reliant on unreliable estimates from suspects.
You could get away with anything in that unrecorded time, convince anyone of any story, even when the dots weren’t connecting.
” She turned to face the fencer, now standing in the middle of them all.
“I mean, speaking of the dots not connecting, there was Bilal and his suspicious outfit change.”
“I obviously had to change. I’d fallen into the ocean, something the police already know,” Bilal replied tersely. He shifted, wincing in pain as he did.
“Not that outfit change,” Evie said sternly, her eyes meeting those of the other guests in the room, all of whom looked as disturbed as she’d hoped they would.
“There was another one, wasn’t there? While everyone was distracted by the fireworks display, you made sure you were swift with your exit, ducking down, making sure no cameras saw you.
But I saw you—after the time you said you’d gotten off the yacht.
You were wearing an old crew shirt … It definitely looked a little snug, like it belonged to someone else. ”
Bilal said nothing to that, and Evie continued merrily, turning to Fola now. “And you, Fola. I honestly have to say how disappointed I was that you had such a flimsy alibi. I expected a lot more from you.”
“What on earth are you talking about?” Fola asked. She folded her arms, her face squished into an expression of immense irritation.
“You said you’d left around the same time as Octavius and gone to visit your laboratory in the city.
I checked the traffic patterns and even with perfect traffic conditions, it would have been impossible to make it to the lab by the time it registered that you had swiped in.
Not only that, but last night, given there were two significant accidents on the only two available routes, the traffic to the city was also particularly miserable.
It would have taken you at least another extra half an hour to get there …
meaning you must have gotten someone else to swipe in for you. ”
At this, Fola had nothing to say.
“And Perdita, the prodigal daughter.” Evie looked at the girl with a raised eyebrow.
She could kind of see the resemblance the girl had to her father—it was always the eyes.
“Statistics would suggest it was you who killed your father. But I’m inclined to believe your alibi about watching the drone show.
I spoke to your friend here and he is adamant that you guys were together at that point.
” Evie nodded at Thorin, who was standing next to Perdita now, his arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders.
“What I’m saying is, it could have been any one of you.
But I’m 95 percent sure it was Octavius.
His behavior gives him away. I’ve never seen someone look and act as guilty as he has today.
And the cherry on the cake? Earlier this evening, I overheard him in the garden practically confessing to doing it.
He was drunk out of his mind, lying on the grass, and muttering I killed him over and over again.
I guess even alcohol can’t soothe a guilty mind. ”
Bilal openly grimaced at this new information.
“What about me?” a voice suddenly spoke out.
Evie turned to find Romeo looking at her, his gaze narrowed and determined.
“What about you?” she asked.
“I might not be as important to you or anyone else, but I am a Button,” Romeo said, his voice unwavering. “If you’re going to pick on my siblings, then you’d better pick on me too.”
Evie watched him, steadfast in his convictions, and felt a strange pang as she took him in.
Romeo Button, the boy she’d grown up with, who she’d spent hours and hours watching detective shows with, who, despite never giving her any reason to dislike him, was still unfortunately a Button, and therefore had to pay, like his siblings, for what their father had done.
He was collateral in this game of justice, in the same way both Adelina and Adam were collateral.
More than any of his siblings, and probably because of how close they’d been as children, Evie did not want to pick on Romeo. That was why she’d avoided confronting him, not because he wasn’t important.
“Romeo,” she began, but was cut off by the inquisitive voice of Anwar Shah.
“You said you suspected that the murder weapon was the bow. I thought the police said the murder weapon was thick and curved?” Anwar asked. The boy was now standing next to Bilal, Henry no longer where he had been before.
“I suppose that will be something for the police to figure out when the time comes,” Evie said with a shrug, her eyes still dancing over to where Romeo was standing.
“But anyway, unless any of you have proof that it was not Octavius, I feel inclined to inform the authorities about my findi—” Evie was cut off by the rising sound of voices from beyond the drawing room.
She turned to find Henry being surrounded by a swarm of police officers in the foyer.
Too caught up in her pronouncements, she hadn’t noticed what was happening behind her.
Chief Waxler was handcuffing Henry.
“What’s going on?” Bilal asked, walking quickly to where the police were standing with a sullen-faced Henry in the foyer. Evie followed Bilal out of the drawing room, feeling the other Button heirs and remaining five guests edging behind her as she moved.
“I confessed,” Henry said simply.
“Confessed to what, Henry?” Perdita asked.
Henry looked down at his shoes, shaking his head. “I’m so sorry, children.”
“Confessed to what, Henry?” Fola repeated, stepping forward now.
Henry looked back up, his eyes wet in the corners. “It was me. I was the one who killed your father. I am so sorry,” he said in a low, gravelly voice, remorse clawing at his throat as he spoke.
Evie’s eyebrows shot up.
That can’t be right, she thought. “What? Why would you—” she said before she could stop herself.
Henry’s gaze fixed on her now. “The truth is … Mr. Button was going to fire me today. He told me so last night during the party. He was going to end my contract.”
“Why would he do that?” Romeo asked, his face so pale it seemed green.
“He … he said he could no longer trust me. He caught me trying to access some funds from the estate and … well, he told me he’d be terminating my contract this morning.
I pleaded, begged him to let me keep this job.
I am much too old to find employment elsewhere, especially with a bad reference.
But he said no. So I snapped and I … I stabbed him and left him there in his office on the ship. ”
“Why didn’t you confess earlier?” Evie demanded, feeling all of her theories crumbling beneath her, replaced by a nonsensical reality.
“I’m a coward,” Henry replied, looking at them all. “And what cowards do is they wait in corners, observing. They bear witness. They don’t intervene until it’s much too late.” His voice trembled. “I am so, so terribly sorry, children. I am so sorry for everything.”
“But the murder weapon … You said you stabbed him?” Evie said.
“Yes, Mr. Button, he was a very … cultured man. He kept all sorts of artifacts that he’d brought back with him from countries he’d visited.
In that office he kept a weapon known as a Jambiya knife, a Yemeni weapon fashioned in part from rhinoceros horns.
I used that and then threw it into the ocean. ”
Evie knew of the Jambiya knife. A thick, blunt curved weapon.
It was all so convenient …
Before Evie could interrogate Henry any further, Chief Waxler was now speaking.
“We should head back to the station,” he said in a weary voice.
One of the officers nodded. “Henry Xu, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided …”
Evie watched soundlessly as the secretary was removed, led through the boarded-up front doors. He looked back at them briefly and Evie saw his features twist into an unexpected expression.
Relief …
She’d thought she would be relieved when she finally knew the truth about what happened to Mr. Button last night, but she wasn’t. Instead, she felt a little unwell.
Henry, though, seemed almost … assured, as though he was comforted by his own arrest.
It made no sense; Henry couldn’t have been the one to have killed Mr. Button because Evie had been talking to Henry way past the time Mr. Button had been murdered.
She’d been trying to speak with Mr. Button all night, confront him about what had happened in Italy with Adelina.
Henry had been her last solace. He’d told her that he was sure Mr. Button would make an appearance soon, and then he went back to watching the display in the sky above as he had been doing before.
Henry couldn’t have been the one to kill Mr. Button, she was certain of it.
Just as she was certain that one of Mr. Button’s heirs had killed him. She was so, so certain it had to be one of them …
Her thoughts trailed off then as she glanced sideways at the siblings now, all wearing similarly devastated expressions.
Or perhaps … , she thought.
It was not just one.