Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Then the renovations stopped, and Prentice withdrew, leaving the estate less and less, trying to raise cash by selling art, though he’d had plenty of money in the bank. He’d stopped maintaining Heartstone Manor and become a hermit until the day someone had walked into Heartstone and shot him at his desk. We were no closer to figuring out who’d done it than we were the day he’d been killed. Ford had been arrested based on evidence so clumsy it had seemed clear to everyone that he was being framed. Video evidence recovered recently exonerated him, but he was only one name crossed off a very long list.
Trying to figure out who had killed my father was like grasping at straws. I didn’t know a single human being with more enemies than Prentice Sawyer. In all the mysteries of the last years of my father’s life, the missing fiancée was the one we hoped would point us to his killer. Put that way, the necklace Quinn had found didn’t seem like much, but it was all we had.
“Since when are you looking into the necklace?” I asked.
Avery shifted, her eyes skipping to Griffen, then to Hawk. “I’m not looking into anything,” she said.
I might not be BFFs with my sister, but I knew when she was lying. “You’re trying to find out where it came from, aren’t you?” I asked, knowing I was right when she looked away.
“Are you going to tell me to stop?” she demanded under her breath. “Because I’ve already heard that lecture, and I’m not interested.”
I couldn’t blame her. I understood the instinct to solve riddles and get to the bottom of things despite the danger. But my working on Alan Buckley’s codes was a far cry from trying to uncover a secret that someone had killed to hide.
“I’m not going to tell you to stop,” I said. “Not exactly. Have you talked to Ford? He thinks looking into things is how he got framed for Dad’s murder in the first place.”
“I know,” she said. “I’m being careful.”
I believed her. Avery was a brewer, part scientist, part artist. She’d banned me from the brewery and attached bar when I’d been drinking, but I’d been in recently. I’d seen how neat and orderly things were. She wasn’t careless, and she wasn’t stupid. Anyway, I was dodging the Irish mob and following a scavenger hunt of ciphers around the Carolinas. Who was I to talk about being careful? Sometimes, risks had to be taken.
“I don’t have the necklace,” I said. “As far as I know, Harvey still has it. I never asked Quinn if she got it back, but I have pictures of it.”
Avery straightened, saying, “I didn’t think to ask her about a picture.”
“Are you done with your cake?” I asked. Avery nodded. “I left my phone in my room. Come up and I’ll show you.
Avery was out of her seat before I finished talking. We left the dining room and went up the back stairs, coming out into the hall of the family wing to find the lights off and a familiar dark shadow only feet from my door.
Avery flipped on the hall light to reveal Brax, his hair golden in the soft light from the sconces, his blue eyes like ice. He wasn’t touching my door, wasn’t even within arm’s reach, but something about the way he was standing left me feeling like he’d been doing more than just walking by. Had he been inside? Had he done something to Shadow?
“What are you doing here?” I demanded.
“Going to my room,” he said, sneering down at me. “You keep forgetting I live here, too.” Brax lifted his chin at Avery and strode past us down the hall. I waited for her to chastise me for being rude, but her attention was fixed on his back as he shoved open his door and disappeared inside.
“Going to his room?” Avery asked, pushing through the door into mine. “From where?”
I followed her, glancing back over my shoulder at the end of the hall and another closed door.
“Ford’s room,” I answered, not sure if I was right. But I had to be unless Brax had been hanging out in the stairwell. Or somewhere else. I grabbed Avery’s arm and stopped her in the doorway. I swept my eyes over my room, taking in every detail. A soft meow sounded at my feet, and I bent over, scooping up Shadow and nuzzling her soft, dark fur. She seemed fine. Everything seemed fine.
“You think he was in here?” Avery asked.
“I don’t know,” I said, annoyed at myself. “I just…I don’t trust him, and I hate that he’s home so much lately.” I bit my lip after the sudden outburst, surprised when Avery nodded.
“I know. He’s never been my favorite brother, but he was easy to ignore. I work a lot, he works a lot—” She shrugged. “But now that Ford is home, he’s around all the time.”