She tucked her chin, and her eyes crinkled.“What do you mean?”There was something about the shape of them, the way they dipped at the corners...something I hadn’t noticed before.I couldn’t put my finger on it, though.In the end, I’m not sure it mattered.
“You arranged the trip to get Sebastian and Callie on the cruise, didn’t you?”
The question startled her.“Whatever do you mean?”
“What are you talking about, Nora?”Helena asked.“Why would Augusta do that?”She frowned then looked at the older woman.“Are you and Carl the investors?”
Augusta shook her head.“It wasn’t...”She clenched her eyes shut them opened them.“This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“I am completely lost,” Jasper said.“Someone explain it to me.”
“Augusta is Billy Grant’s biological mother.”
Carl let out an angry grunt.“How dare?—”
Augusta held a hand up to silence his denials.“I gave birth to Billy Grant,” she admitted.
Rebecca Hansen showed up.“What’s going on?I got a call there was a commotion in the ballroom.A passenger passed out or something.”
“It was me,” I told her.“I’m fine now.”
She narrowed her gaze at Augusta then Helena.“Is there something going on I should know about?”
“Sebastian’s death wasn’t an accident or natural causes.”I stared at her, daring her to tell me to stay out of it one more time.“And I don’t care what the cruise line wants you to do to avoid a scandal or a full-scale investigation.”
Ezra backed me up.“Caldwell didn’t get in that pool by himself.He was dragged there on a lounge chair and pushed into the water.”
“I’m the authority on this boat,” Hansen said.Her expression was determined.“I don’t have to discuss the investigation or its conclusions with you.And I’ve about had enough of your interference.”
Helena reached into her handbag and pulled out her identification.“I think we’ll take over from here,” she informed Hansen.“Lynn Maigret, FBI.”
Jasper took his wallet out and opened it, flashing his badge.“Paul Maigret, FBI.”
“I did it,” Augusta confessed.“I killed Sebastian Caldwell.I killed Callie, too.”
“Augusta,” Carl said sharply.“No!”
She put her hand on his cheek.“This is the right thing to do.”
He kissed her palm, and she closed her eyes for a moment, tears leaking from her eyes.“I don’t want anyone innocent getting blamed for something I made happen.”
Hansen looked surprised.“Well, uhm, this changes things.”She shook her head.“Sorry, Nora, I really thought...”
Augusta turned to me, and unexpectedly, she hugged me, as a stream of moments from her past flooded quickly through my mind.It was as if her life were flashing before my eyes.From giving birth, to meeting Carl, to passing the bar exam, and it went on.None of them lasted long enough for me to grab onto one thing, and when Augusta let me go, they were gone.
In the years since my gift manifested, I’d never experienced anything like it.I looked at Augusta.She smiled at me.“It was so nice meeting you, Nora.”
Hansen was practically vibrating as she nodded to the FBI couple.“You can use my office if you want.”
Lynn, formerly known as Helena, said, “We’d be grateful for the space.Do you have handcuffs?”
Hansen took her cuffs out and handed them over.Paul, formerly known as Jasper, took them and placed them on Augusta’s wrists and read her the Miranda rights.”
“Augusta,” I called out, certain now she was covering for someone.“Don’t talk without a lawyer.”
Augusta might’ve thought she was doing something noble—something to pay back her son for giving him up all those years ago—but losing the life she’d built with Carl for crimes she didn’t commit would be more punishment than either of them deserved.
“I am a lawyer,” she replied as Lynn, Paul, and Hansen escorted her to the elevator.
