Page 125 of My Sister is Going to Kill Me

“Drugs,” Liv rasped. “She’s using it to make drugs.”

“What?” Charlie asked.

She whipped her head around and pointed at Lucinda. “She poisoned me. She poisoned Babette. With the hats!”

Lucinda shook her head calmly and stepped forward, unfurling a sleeping bag to put over Liv’s shoulders.

“You’re delirious, dear,” she said. “Here. Poor thing.”

“Get away from us,” Mandy hissed.

“I’m just trying to help.”

“Like you helped Babette and Stefan?”

Lucinda held her ground. “What on earth are you suggesting?”

“You’re the one who killed them,” Mandy said. “You’re the lady. The secret lead investor behind CareFree.”

“It’s true,” Guy added. “We figured it all out.”

“Oh really?” The older woman looked almost bemused, as if Guy was a colorful moth flitting around her garden.

“You’re the one who made those threatening messages in the hats,” Mandy said. “Imogen said you got to the lodge a day early, and that box of hats was in your room. You had plenty of time to sew in those threats. I think you wanted to make us all believe Babette was out to get us. But really it was you, out to get her.”

“And then there’s the knife you used to kill Stefan,” Guy said. “Charlie saw Marc give it to you, your first day on the beach.”

Mandy looked over at Charlie, hoping for verbal affirmation, or at minimum, a nod. But Charlie shrank back, staying silent.

Lucinda cocked a puzzled smile. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. Who is Marc? What knife?”

Guy motioned to Mandy, who passed him the old-fashioned knife, latched shut.

“This knife,” Guy said. “My daughter found it in the water near Stefan’s dead body. It belonged to Marc, the guide you hired to hike down with me and Babette to the river. The guide who killed her on your orders.”

“This is all very interesting,” Lucinda said. “But I recall spending our extra day at the museum, not messing around with hats. I don’t remember hiring a guide, or him giving me a knife. It seems like you’re the one with the knife. You, and your daughter.”

Liv jerked in Mandy’s arms.

“Lying,” Liv rasped out.

“Yes, dear,” Lucinda said, “I’m sorry but I’m inclined to agree. It seems you’ve done your best to avoid the family predilection for deceit. But your father and your sister continue to tell their tall tales, don’t they?”

“Lying,” Liv repeated. “I hate it.”

Mandy stiffened. But she didn’t pull away from Liv. She could feel her sister’s heartbeat right up against her own.

“Unfortunately, I fear lying is the least of your family’s offenses on this trip,” Lucinda said. “Your dad got one thing right. I am the investor behind the Regent Group, the chief backer of CareFree. No one here is more committed to this product, and this company, than I am. No one had more to lose from Babette’s and Stefan’s untimely deaths. But someone had something to gain.”

Mandy was vaguely aware of Charlie and Devon drawing closer to each other on the beach.

“You,” Lucinda said. But she didn’t point at the Sauvage siblings. She was staring straight at Mandy. “You and your dad.”

Lucinda swung her attention to Guy. “You used your daughter to invest in CareFree. You saw its potential. You wormed your way in. But you couldn’t stand that someone else was going to make more off of CareFree than you. I know you, Guy Chisholm. I’ve heard your big talk and seen how little success has accompanied it. With CareFree, you found something that could actually hit. And you wanted all of it.”

“No,” Guy said.

“Yes.” Lucinda’s voice had power now, reinforced steel. “You were the one who hiked with Babette to the river. For all we know, you hired Marc—”