Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 67432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Which meant increasing the pressure.
Before I could speak, Archie stomped toward me and nearly knocked Wendy from her chair. Rage filled the space, coming at me like a tidal wave. “You don’t even belong here on this trip. You and Colton concocted this entire plan to, what, frame me? Do you want me off the will, Colton? More money for you and your fake boyfriend? Huh? Eric, do you get a cut?”
He spoke out of anger, like a rabid dog barking and snarling after being pushed to the corner. It meant I’d got him; I just had to push a little further. I had to apply the pressure.
“Eric and I—”
I jumped in. “Colton brought me here as a detective, first and foremost. Yes. Our relationship was fake, but the information I uncovered is all real, and I wouldn’t have found any of it if I didn’t act the part with Colt.” It may have come out a little harsher than intended, but I needed to keep an air of authority, and stressing my place here as a detective came before clarifying my place here as Colton’s boyfriend. I could tell it hurt Colton. He likely expected me to stress that we weren’t fake—that we were never actually fake. But I couldn’t, not now. Not when I had Archie exactly where I wanted him.
That’s when Kendall got to her feet, shooting up from her chair like a bolt of crimson lightning, her strapless skintight dress showing her phoenix tattoo, splattered with pastel watercolors. “This is fucking crazy. We’re standing here, dressed like fucking Clue characters, talking about Archie like he could hurt a fly, much less our own mother. Do you see how ridiculous that sounds?”
The tattoo… Archie has none.
Still, I had to push ahead. Maybe the answer was closer than I thought.
I took out my phone and opened it to the video. Archie tried snatching it out of my hands, asking me what it was.
“It’s proof of your involvement in Amelia’s death.” I turned to Colton, who hadn’t left my side this entire time. Except now I wasn’t so sure I wanted him to stay. Not for this.
“Do you want to stay here for this?” I asked him. He answered with a solemn nod.
I pressed Play, and the family gathered around, except for Macy and Luna, who stood at the far end of the room, looking absolutely horrified. We watched as the masked figure came up behind Amelia’s unsuspecting figure and strangled her from behind with a rope.
Colton turned away, Matt stumbled backward, and Krystine started to cry.
Archie and Wendy looked closer at the video before Kendall spoke, throwing another wrench into my theory. “That’s not Archie. He was Mom’s same height—that person is clearly much taller than her. Look.”
“But how does he have your necklace?” William asked, gaze falling to the very necklace Archie was now wearing.
He thumbed it, shaking his head. “I don’t know. I had lost it for a few months. I found it in my underwear drawer, but maybe someone had it?”
I looked down at Archie’s wrist. No tattoos, but could he have had temporary ones placed just for the crime? Could he have thought that far ahead?
No, that didn’t seem right… there was something I was missing. I looked at the video again, pausing it on the frame that clearly showed the tattoo. It didn’t look fake. It looked slightly faded and—holy shit. That wasn’t a feather.
I was wrong. Archie didn’t kill Amelia, but now I was sure I knew who did.
29
COLTON COOPER
I couldn’t believe any of this was happening. My entire world felt flipped upside down. Yes, when I’d bumped into Eric at the coffee shop, I knew that asking him to solve this could very well implicate someone in my family, but… my own brother? The same one I’d walk to the playground with after school? The same brother who would sit on the couch with Mom and watch old I Love Lucy episodes together? Archie had his problems, but I always considered him family at the end of the day—how?
I didn’t look at the video. Couldn’t bring myself to watch. I instead watched Wendy, who had her back against the wall and her arms clutching herself tightly. She wore a black dress that shimmered with every tiny movement she made, giving away the fact that she was trembling.
That’s when Kendall pointed out the height difference between Archie and the killer. Wendy’s shaking became more intense, her shoulders looking like they wanted to fall right off. I cocked my head, turning my gaze back to Eric. He held everyone’s attention as he scrubbed through the video.
He looked up, first at me, then at Archie, then finally at Wendy. He stopped the video and put the phone back in his pocket.
“I’m so sorry, Archie. I was wrong. I misread some of the evidence.”