Chapter 79
SOPHIE
Nicholas looked like he wanted to punch Karina for throwing her shoe at me, which would’ve been romantic if she weren’t a middle-aged woman. When I laid my hand on his arm, he contented himself with glaring at her.
Lily-Ann said, “We found CJ.”
And just like that, my anger melted away.
I’d hated how Karina spoke to Mrs. B, but the wash of relief left me lightheaded.
Thank god. Thank god. Mrs. B muttered a few words in Yiddish and clung to Ocean’s arm.
They’d found CJ. That meant she was safe, the Marigold Cottages were safe, we were all safe.
“She’s alive?” Pax said. “Thank god.”
“Wait,” Nicholas said. “You thought she was dead?”
“Where was she?” Helene asked.
“In Frank’s music studio.” Lily-Ann brushed dirt from her hands. “She’s in bad shape. Unconscious. Drugged, Anthony said. He found pill bottles.”
Ocean’s breath caught. “Where is she now?”
“She was here?” Karina’s cheeks flushed furiously. “Hiding on my property?”
“She must’ve tried to commit suicide,” Pax said.
“I wish she’d succeeded,” Karina said.
“Guilty conscience.” Pax turned somberly to Lily-Ann. “Was there a note?”
“You think she killed Frank?” I asked him.
“I know she killed him.” Karina pointed her remaining shoe at me. “I saw her!”
“Where is she now?” Ocean demanded, more loudly.
Lily-Ann pointed across the property with her chin. “The music studio.”
“Do we need to call an ambulance?”
“I already did,” Lily-Ann told her. “And Anthony’s with her.”
“I’ll help,” Ocean said.
Mrs. B didn’t release her arm. “She’s unconscious—stay with me.”
“I don’t know if—”
“We’ll go,” Helene interrupted, starting down the stairs. “George was an EMT in college.”
“We’re going to miss the big reveal,” George complained, but he followed Helene away.
“I haven’t the slightest clue what’s going on,” Mrs. B announced. “But I knew we’d figure this all out once we put our heads together.”
Karina looked ready to start yelling again, so I said, “What have we figured out?”
“Well, I mean…” Mrs. B tilted her head at me. “What haven’t we figured out?”
“We don’t know anything about Sunny’s murder,” Ocean told her. “There’s no way that wasn’t revenge for a botched blood-infusion procedure.”
“Right?” I said. “And what about the ice cubes?”
Karina took a step forward, like she wanted to slap me. “Shut up about the ice cubes.”
“You’re the one who withdrew the funding from Frank’s charities! People are going to die because of you. How can you have so much and give so little?”
“It’s my money.”
“Because of Frank,” Nicholas told her. “It’s not like you earned it.”
Karina scowled. “Get off my property before I call the police.”
“They’ll arrive with the ambulance anyway,” Lily-Ann told her, picking a eucalyptus leaf from her sleeve. “Frank loved you, Karina. That is at the heart of this case. He loved you. He would’ve done anything to keep from hurting you.”
Karina seemed to deflate. She made a noise like a whimper and sat heavily on the cushioned bench. “Yes. Yes, he would’ve.”
“And you didn’t want him gone,” Lily-Ann continued. “Maybe you’re greedy, maybe you’re jealous, but you wanted to enjoy his final years together.”
She gave a watery smile. “More than anything.”
“Karina didn’t hurt Frank,” Lily-Ann told the rest of us. “And of course CJ didn’t stab Sunny Wheeler.”
“Unless there’s something we don’t know,” Pax murmured, before raising his voice when we looked at him. “Maybe CJ was getting revenge for something he’d done to her, or to someone she loved.”
Lily-Ann inclined her head as if she accepted his judgment. “And she arranged to meet Sunny at VivX, his defunct company…”
“How did she sneak into the back seat of his car?” I asked.
“That’s an excellent question,” Lily-Ann said, though she didn’t answer. “The murder of Sunny Wheeler certainly looked like a message, with all that blood. There’s a good reason for that. It was one.”
I noticed Ocean give a shudder as Nicholas said, “The message being that he was killed in revenge for illegal transfusions?”
“That was indeed the message,” Lily-Ann said.
“Loud and clear,” Pax said.
“And untrue,” Lily-Ann said. “That was a distraction. His murder had nothing to do with VivX.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
Lily-Ann’s gaze shifted past me to Karina. “Frank was done with living. He was finished, he was ready to die. CJ told us that. His friends said the same. Everyone admits that except you, Karina. Frank wanted to die, but—”
“That’s a lie,” Karina said, though she sounded more weary than convinced.
“—but he didn’t want to break your heart. He loved you. He didn’t want you to know that he preferred dying to living with you.”
I almost gasped. Damn, Lily-Ann, that was cold. So cold that Karina simply gaped as Lily-Ann kept talking.
“That meant he couldn’t resort to legal-assisted suicide. You would realize that he’d rather rest in peace than live with you in luxury. So he quietly contacted a specialist he’d heard whispers about. Someone who’d helped other wealthy people in the same situation.”
My breath caught and my mind raced. Okay, so Frank had wanted to die? We knew that. He’d wanted to die without Karina knowing? That made sense. So he’d hired someone to kill him? Well, that explained the cash … but what about Sunny?
“I’m not sure I get it,” I admitted.
“It’s entirely clear!” Mrs. B turned to Lily-Ann. “Why don’t you explain it, dear?”
“Imagine you’re rich,” Ocean told her. “You want to die painlessly, on your own schedule. So you hire someone. That’s what rich people do.”
“And yes, Pax,” Lily-Ann said, answering a question I’d forgotten he’d asked, “there is a suicide note.”
Mrs. B whimpered, pressing a palm to her chest. “Oh, that poor thing. So wait, Frank hired CJ? She killed him at his own request? If that’s the case…” When she turned to Karina, the grooves in her face seemed to deepen. “You really did see her push him. I’m so sorry, you were right all along.”
Her kindness seemed to loosen the anger in Karina, who began to cry. Sometimes you could face anything except gentleness.
“So the other clues are just the messiness of ordinary life?” Nicholas asked. “The World of Goods award, the, um, ice cubes. The bag of cash and … oh, the cash was CJ’s payment, huh?”
“No,” Lily-Ann said. “Because CJ wasn’t the killer.”