“Ahh, that. Funny, Auntie Val thought it was a ghost. Which worked in our favor because she decided to leave on her own accord. That saved me trying to pressure her into going. The lights were due to product being moved from the underground bunkers to the river to transport it out. The bunkers aren’t that far from Aunt Val and Abe’s houses so the lights and noises from the screech owls could sometimes be seen and heard.”
“Screech owls?” she asked. “That noise was from screech owls?”
“Yeah. They sound freaky, huh? There are so many of them in the trees. I told Liam to cut down the trees, but then I realized that meant people would be able to see the bunkers. And there’re too many to shoot. In the end, though, the screech owls did me a favor since Auntie Val thought the noise was ghosts and decided to leave.”
Dear Lord. She was such a bitch.
“Abe was never an issue. He sleeps without his hearing aids. Plus, his nephew’s wife does my hair. I’ve been planting ideas about a nursing home in her head for ages.”
Holy heck.
“After you left and Abe decided to sell, I realized that my plan was finally working. I was going to present a good offer for both of their houses. More than they could resist and then no one would come near this property and work out what we were doing on it.”
“Don’t you think the town council would have had something to say about that?” Arabella asked.
“Screw them,” Ravina spat out as she stared down at her dress in disgust. “I would have figured it out. I have some interesting blackmail material on the head of the council. He’s not as good a person as everyone thinks.”
Okay, that was off-topic but still kind of interesting.
“But then I paid a visit to Abe late yesterday and he told me that you’re buying his place. When I told Liam that and how you’d been asking about a Lee Newsome, he got all stressed and angry. Told me that you used to know him.”
“He was my fiancée,” she told her.
Ravina flinched, looking shocked.
“No, he wasn’t!” Ravina screeched. “Take that back.”
“I can’t take it back. You don’t have to believe me but it’s the truth.” So Ravina hadn’t known about their engagement. Did she know that he’d been an advisor to her father?
“He wouldn’t . . . when? When was this?”
“Um, I think it was around six months ago.”
“We’ve been together for over a year!” Ravina cried. “There’s no way he would do this to me, you lying slut!”
Shit.
She was getting red in the face.
Maybe Arabella should defuse the situation.
“I’m the slut when he was the one cheating?”
Hmm. Seems she’d chosen not to defuse.
Ravina ran toward her with a scream but Arabella dodged her, pushing her to one side.
“Face it, you don’t know him,” Arabella told her. “He was probably using you because he needed your aunt’s property. Wait. What product was being moved?”
“Drugs, you dumb bitch. Liam is a genius, he’s developed a new drug and it’s being made right here on my aunt’s property. Nobody ever suspected a thing until you came along.”
Jesus.
Really?
“And then you go complaining to the sheriff and making his deputies do drive bys of your place. Do you realize what you did?”
“Stopped you guys from creating drugs? Wow. I feel so bad.”
