“Brie,” I say.
She freezes, just as I hoped. It gives me time to cover her mouth before she can scream, and then press my knife against her throat.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
“Drive.”
My knife is at her side, just touching. I won’t use it, but she doesn’t know that. The most important piece of advice I can give about murder is that you should never rush. I wanted to get rid of Grace for years, but I knew it was almost impossible to do alone. My incentives for killing her were too strong. My affairs, her affairs, the money—all flashing red arrows pointing to the only potential culprit.
I had to hire Brie first. I had to convince Grace that she needed another Caroline to act as her muse. Then I had to use Grace’s petty cruelties to push Brie into my arms. I had to make her love me, intensely and truly.
And now, I have to kill her. But again, I can’t rush it. The security guard knows about her. The receptionist knows I’ve been looking for someone. Hell, even the whore Stella’s testimony might come up in a murder investigation.
No, I need to work carefully.
First, I need to find out if she’s working alone.
“Tell me everything.” She’s crying—I forgot how Brie always cried, especially after Grace’s death. “Cut the waterworks.”
She takes a breath. We’re on the highway now, heading east.
“You set me up,” she says. “You killed her and made the police think it was me.”
“No,” I say. My performance begins. “Never.”
“What about all the evidence the police found? The knife? They were diving for the rock you killed her with, for Christ’s sake. How did they know where to look?”
“Not me, I swear it.”
“Don’t lie!” I see her fingers grip the steering wheel. I need to be careful. She’s a woman scorned. “I know what you did!”
“Darling.”
“Don’t darling me!” Tears again. “You said you loved me, just to suck me in. Then, as soon as the police sniffed around, you pretended you barely knew me!”
“That was always our plan! Wasn’t it? Didn’t I tell you that we couldn’t be seen together? Didn’t I tell you to be patient? I had to pretend, darling! For both of our sakes.”
“I thought I was heading to jail for the rest of my life.”
She takes an exit, and we’re soon driving through a forest. I have no idea where we are. Does she? I think of the dress on the mooring, the note to Stella, the water in my room, the fake name, the rock. It’s elaborate and petty.
And none of it is something Brie would do on her own.
“Stop here.”
“But—”
“Stop!”
She pulls into the dirt and switches off the car.
“Who are you working with?” I demand.
“What are you talking about?”
“Jesse! Where is he?”
She looks at me with hatred in her eyes. “Jesse tried to kill me. He kidnapped Neil and lured me to Pine Ridge. I think he was planning to kill me, then himself. He would have, too.”
