My phone had no answers for me, naturally.
“All right, I’m putting that aside for right now and focusing on where things stand,” I said. “There were ten people who left the party and went upstairs during the time window. I’m going to exclude Pixie, Chic Ghost, and Button Nose. They lived their whole lives in New York, and Omma lived in Lantana. They had no reason to hurt her. No doubt they were upstairs snooping around like the nosy, catty frenemies they are.
“That leaves seven,” I continued. “Courtney, Charles Layton, Nicolas Stevens, Christie Baudelaire, Rhodes Newbury, Micah Spencer, and Alexander Montgomery.” My throat closed tighter and tighter until the final name was nothing but a strangled whisper. “Rhodes was upstairs on the third floor. Alex told me in the car that he left his phone in his bedroom, and went up to call his aunt and check on Lily.
“Christie cleared a cool seven figures that night, so what in the hell would she have been in a rage about? She had zero reason to pop upstairs and murder my mother. And if she did, she’s the best actress in the world, because all that screaming, crying, and vomiting after we saw Omma looked pretty real to me.
“But,” I forced out. “The fact is I don’t really know Christie, and I haven’t been the one she’s been dealing with all these months that her and Sue were planning the party. Maybe something did happen between her and Omma, and she settled the score that night.
“Then there’s Charles Layton. Why did he go upstairs that night? That’s the first thing I need to ask him when he comes over for Lily’s piano lesson tomorrow,” I said. “It’s not going to be as easy to corner Mr. Stevens, but if the cop that clocked Courtney going upstairs had seen her going up and then back down with Stevens by her side, wouldn’t they have hauled them both in?
“They didn’t, so Stevens went upstairs by himself. Why?” I asked. “Why?”
I dropped my hands to my side, shutting off the recorder.
Scoffing, I spun away from the bright, sunny morning—seething with hate. “I want to talk about how lonely and isolated Omma has become? Well, look at me. Talking to myself in an empty room, surrounded bymurder suspects who think I’m someone else, all while my best friend sat in a jail cell. It’s me who has no one and nothing real.
“It’s me who’s all alone.”
If I thought someone would stick their head in right then to tell me I was wrong... no one came.
“THAT’S RIGHT, LILY. Now C, C, D. C, C, D. One smooth motion.”
Lily’s banging was far from smooth, but I had to admit she sounded better than she did the week before.
I stood in the doorway holding a tray of lemonade and cookies while Alex read in his armchair in the corner, and Lily and Layton practiced.
My phone buzzed. Balancing the tray on my arm, I stuck my hand in my pocket and fished it out.
Alex: I want you so fucking bad.
I almost dropped the tray.
Snapping up, I latched on to Alex, who still had his nose in his book, but for some reason, had started tapping the pages.
Alex: I want you in my mouth, baby—sweet, dripping, and wet. I want every drop of you on my tongue until there’s nothing left for anyone else.
My knees knocked together as my lower belly contracted painfully. A grown-ass woman, and my panties were dampening like a horny teenager.
Alex: And when you think I’m done— When you think you’re done and you’ve got nothing else to give, I’m going to lay you out and devour you, eating you out until I’m fat and blissed on your sweet, tasty cookies.
What?
The next text dropped on the screen.
Alex: And I’ll get on that as soon as this woman brings in the tray.
“You rat bastard!”
Alex burst out laughing. Giving up all pretense, the book he wasn’t reading fell to the floor, then he tumbled after it—curled up on his side and wheezing until he couldn’t breathe.
Lily and Mr. C stared at the two of us nonplussed.
“Are you okay, Mommy?”
I sniffed. “I’m perfect, sweet girl. I brought you a snack. Want to take it and your horrible daddy into the living room?” Alex laughed louder. “Have an hour of screen time before you start your homework.”
“Okay!” Jumping up, she actually went over to Alex, gave him her hand, and then led the winking bastard out the door with the cookies and lemonade.
