The cousin who stood to inherit the whole shebang.
And Jake, bless his soul, had lived frugally, but he had owned a lot, thanks to a couple of inventions he’d patented and then sold as a young engineer. He’d donated playground equipment, club buildings, and the cabin in the woods, sponsored nature camps for kids and contributed to a gazillion of good causes, and most of this anonymously. I only knew through my aunt who’d assisted him with decisions.
Apart from Jimmy, she probably spent more time with him than anyone else. I couldn’t be sure of Jake’s net worth, but I’d be surprised if it was less than a cool million. That were a lot of reasons to get rid of him.
"Let me see if I can connect the dots," I said to Cosmo.
The cousin could have easily crept through from the lake to this place, dug up the plants... and then I faltered.
"Or," Cosmo picked up my train of thought, "after she did the deed, she came through here, got the plants, took them to the woods, and ditched them somewhere to plant a false trail."
"Yes!" I declared. "That’s it! Except... what if she really is on holiday? Or was?"
He gave me a pitying look. "Why don't you check it out?"
"But how?" I asked.
"What do humans do all the time whenever there's anything at all going on in their lives or when they want some kind of affirmation?"
Was he being sarcastic? Maybe. "Explain, oh wise one," I said.
"Well, you are one of the very few people I have met who isn't constantly posting about their breakfast, or their new shoes, or which movie they saw, or which movie they didn't see, or—"
"Gotcha," I said. "Except I don't know her name. I know the first name, but that's not enough."
"Then how about you ask your friends?"
He didn’t need to spell outDo I have to spell out everything?—but it was inferred in his voice.
"I’ll do that," I said. "And I can also try to get an expert to look at these branches to see how long they've been dead already." I’d put them in the fridge to keep them fresh for now, in addition to the pictures.
"Now we're talking," he said.
Chapter twenty-one
Iwas picking up my phone to check out the photos I'd taken when it rang.
"Oh, my goodness," I said when I spotted the caller ID.
My ex-husband.
Something bad had to have happened for Rick to contact me.
I couldn't bring myself to pick up. The phone stopped ringing without him leaving me a message. Instead, three little dots started to dance. He was typing.
How are you?
I stared at the screen. I wasn't going to answer.
I heard from Alex.
Heard what?
I typed before I could even think about what I was doing.
Is she OK?
Why wouldn't she have contacted me? Why her dad? Shouldn't I have been her first point of contact? A pang of jealousy shot through me.
