Page 126 of My Sister is Going to Kill Me

“I hired him,” Thor said.

“Fine.” Lucinda didn’t miss a beat. “You hired him. Not me. And we don’t know how far Marc hiked with Babette and Guy, do we? We don’t know what happened after Marc turned back.”

Mandy could see the faces turning to her father with questions in their eyes.

“Dad . . .” she warned.

“And you,” Lucinda said. “The bubbly little minority investor. While your dad was dispatching the CEO, you had your sights set on the big money. On Stefan, and by extension, on me. When your sister decided to tie Stefan up, you saw your opportunity.”

“It’s not true,” Liv wheezed. “Mandy didn’t—”

“I’m sorry, dear, but it is. She stabbed him, and then they escaped. I know it’s difficult to accept the truth sometimes. Especially when it’s family. That’s probably why you threw yourself in the river.”

“No,” Mandy said. “You’re the one who’s lying. Distraction: That’s where CareFree falls in your portfolio. And here you are trying to distract us with a story. But this time, we actually know the truth.” She swallowed. “Stefan knew it too. When he was raving on the beach about a lady who’d gone too far, he was talking about you. You didn’t have to kill Babette. Charlie and Stefan had a plan worked out to take over the business without bloodshed. When you killed Babette, it must have infuriated Stefan, or scared him. Or both. So you decided to silence him too.”

“You’re embarrassing yourself,” Lucinda said smoothly. “Why would I kill Babette if Stefan could replace her by other means? Why would I remove—let alone kill—either of them at all? They were both critical to CareFree’s success.”

Lucinda sounded calm. Rational. And for once, Mandy didn’t have a good answer.

“You did it,” Guy said. “You coldhearted—”

Lucinda turned coolly away from him, facing the rest of the group. She gestured back at Mandy and Guy. “Think about the time you’ve spent with these two. Have they said anything that was actually true?”

Mandy cringed as silence swallowed the beach. Fiona, Charlie, and Devon backed away. Even PK shook his head.

Was this it? Was Lucinda going to convince everyone that she and her dad had murdered Babette and Stefan? Even more than her fear for her own survival, Mandy hated the idea that Lucinda might get away with it. That Lucinda’s stories might be more powerful than her own.

But there was nothing she could do to fight back. Any word she said, any attempt she or her dad made to right the wrongs, would be looked at with suspicion. She was muted. They were done for.

Then Liv dragged herself up and out of Mandy’s arms. She staggered, not quite to her feet, but to a kneeling position under her own power.

“You’re right,” Liv said. “I hate how they lie.”

She half shuffled, half crawled. One step. Then two. Toward Lucinda. Away from Mandy.

“But truth requires proof,” Liv said. “Thank God I held on to the letter.”

“What letter?” Lucinda asked.

Liv pulled herself up to standing.

“The letter I found in Babette’s hat. The letter where she explained that CareFree’s lead investor was actually a criminal who planned to use the waste material from the product to create a deadly drug that turns people into suggestible zombies. Or kills them. Like roofies, only worse. Because the target is conscious while they’re being controlled.”

“This is ridiculous,” Lucinda said. “You’re delirious.”

“It was a brilliant business plan; I’ll give you that.” Liv’s voice was hoarse but sure. “You’re the lead investor in CareFree, and Attention to Detail Disposal—ADD Inc.—is under your control too. CareFree assured you an unlimited, unregulated supply of highly concentrated scopolamine. ADD got paid to take it away, and you’d make even more from the skin care products that kept the psychotropic waste material pumping. But Babette connected the dots, found out what you were doing, and canceled ADD’s contract. That didn’t work for you. You couldn’t risk being exposed, and you wouldn’t let the scopolamine go, either.”

This was the piece Mandy had been missing. While she’d been tracking down Marc and the lady behind him, Liv had found the motive.

“You told Stefan you needed the CareFree waste contract reinstated,” Liv continued. “But you also had to remove the possibility that Babette would tell her siblings—or the feds—what you were up to.”

“Babette saw you on a video Imogen posted, that first morning up at the rim,” Mandy said. “She thought you were coming down to steal her company and turn it into a front for your criminal activities. She went to my dad for help.”

“That’s right,” Liv said. “Babette didn’t know what would happen to her when she confronted you. But she knew enough to write it all down.”

There was a click, and Mandy stopped breathing.

Lucinda was holding a pistol, pointing it at Liv.