“Maybe,” Ollie says. “But Val got a bad vibe from Leah, and I trust her judgment implicitly. Even though she’s making a big mistake sticking around with me after last night.”
Val gives his shoulder a gentle squeeze, and he pulls her hand up to his mouth to kiss it.
“Really?” I try to think back to what could have given her a bad vibe about Leah, but come up short.
“Yeah. Something was off about her for sure,” Val confirms. “I am still thinking that there has to be some connection with Nash, though.”
Ollie stiffens as Cameron snaps his head up from sorting his hand of new cards. “You know about Nash?”
Ollie’s already mottled red cheeks deepen with new spots. “She came across some stuff about him when she googled the house and your family before she came. I should have kept my mouth shut, but I was pretty wasted. You know how that goes.”
Cameron nods and surprises me by engaging in the conversation. “What specifically makes you feel worried about Nash? I had someone check to make sure that he was still in his cell, if that eases any of your concerns.”
“I don’t think that it was Nash himself who did it,” Val says calmly. “But from what it seems like he was tied up in, I wouldn’t be surprised if he used an accomplice to try and get you back.”
“By hurting Delaney?” Cameron asks. “There are about a thousand people that he could have targeted instead if he really wanted to get back at me.”
“Maybe the killer was after you, and he got her by accident,” Ollie offers.
“I doubt that a person, even someone who has never met me, would mistake me for five-foot-three, blonde-haired Delaney,” Cameron argues.
“It was dark outside, and it was in the middle of a storm,” Val points out.
“Even then, it’s not a slight height difference. I have a whole foot on her, and I am a man, so . . .” Cameron retorts with a chuckle. “I stand by the fact that if he wanted to get back at me, there were much easier ways than to sneak into Ravenwood. I live out in the open. He could have gotten me at the gym, or to and from work, or even my apartment, because I am sure thatmy address can be found through public records by someone who is that motivated.”
I nod in agreement with Cameron because it doesn’t make sense for someone to try to get back at him through Delaney, and the retreat wasn’t cheap, either.
“Did you hear that Nash apparently got married last month?” Ollie asks.
Cameron’s eyes widen in disbelief. “I hadn’t heard that.”
“Why would someone marry a convicted felon?” I ask, horrified.
Val frowns deeply. “You’d be surprised.” We all turn to look at her, so she quickly clarifies. “I just mean that it’s probably more common than you think. Imagine if someone you loved and thought was your soulmate got caught up with the wrong crowd. Would you just dump them and move on?”
“I can safely say that I’ve never once imagined myself in that scenario,” I say. “But I guess if we’re talkingsoulmates. . .” I tilt my head sideways at Cameron to see what he makes of Val’s oddly defensive stance. He looks back at me with an emotion that I cannot place, but I have to turn away under the intensity of it.
“I still don’t like the fact that he’s so close by,” Ollie says. “Why wasn’t he tried and jailed in New York, since that’s where he was living at the time?”
“He played for Brooklyn Football Club, but maintained his residence here in the off-season,” Cameron says. “Which is where his criminal enterprise mostly took place. That’s why he was tried here.”
It’s quiet as we stew over the information, and I decide now is as good a time as ever to ask Val if she was fingerprinted.
“Yes, last night, actually,” she answers. “I asked that they take it right then and there, because I wasn’t planning on staying, andI live in a remote area, so I wanted it to be done and over with. So much for that.”
It hits me then that, if they do have a print to compare, they now have Judith, Leah, and Val’s to cross-reference, which means that I am officially the only one they are missing, and they will probably be coming for me to demand that I provide it.
I try to be fully present as we chat a bit more about the case and get through another round of Uno, but just as Ollie gets up to survey the game selection for what to pick next, and Cameron cracks open a Dr Pepper for me from the fridge, a keycard beeps behind us. The hotel room door swings open to expose our secret meet-up to none other than Jalen, who, for the first time, is completely unable to mask his emotions, and goes from looking regretful to furious in two seconds flat.
Chapter forty-seven
HERE WE GO
Ollielooksoverhisshoulder. “Oh, hey, Jalen. Come play a game with us.” He turns back to the stack, completely oblivious that the rest of us are frozen waiting for the Jalen bomb to detonate.
“Hello, Ollie. Valentina,” Jalen says through clenched teeth.
Ollie abandons his task to turn around fully.
