Saga opened her mouth to protest, closed it and sighed heavily. “Oh, cock, you’re right.” She leaned back in the armchair, defeated. Which was when she noticed the sparkle in Avery’s eye and the hint of a smile spreading slowly over her pale pink lips. “Why are you smiling?”
“Come on, Trygg,” Avery teased with encouraging urgency. “You can’t give up that easily if you’re going to keep up with me.”
Saga’s eyes widened, then narrowed abruptly in irritation. “Do you already know the answer?”
A noncommittal shrug. “I might.”
Saga leaned forward accusingly. “How long have you known?”
“I had my suspicions once I realized the motive, but what you said about the milk and bone china made for a rather damning confirmation.”
She squinted, scrutinizing the changeling before her. “Are you testing me?”
Avery flashed a grin and took a swig of her tea. “Think of it as an exercise in abductive reasoning. We believe that Elis Goff is our killer.Youhave already identified how he could have received an invitation into your grandmother’s homeandhow he could have introduced the poison to Riddle. Now do the same for Miss LaRosa.” She then used her cup to gesture to the files around them. “The information is all there.”
Saga slid to the floor again and began to carefully prod in the box until she found the file on Valentina. Opening it, she was greeted by two photographs, one from her identification, the other a headshot from the morgue. Bodies had never made her uncomfortable, but she’d never been able to shake the sadness that washed over her when she came across untimely deaths. “She was really pretty.” And far too young.
“What else? Based on what you know, and the information in there, what can you infer?”
Saga’s eyes traced over the photo of her medical ID and information about King’s College. “King’s College in London was her alma mater, and it’s known for having one of the best nursing schools in the country. She was smart—she would have had to be to be employed by Eira Goff, let alone be her caretaker. Eira didn’t suffer fools, especially when it came to medicine. We know Valentina was impulsive, much to her girlfriend’s disdain, and we know she and Rachel were separated, so she was living full-time at the Goff estate. Having been Eira’s caretaker for a few years, she absolutely would have known Elis Goff. Elis, we know to have a reputation for being a stereotypical handsome playboy…” Her nose scrunched. “Were they hooking up?”
“What do you think?”
Saga harumphed and began looking for more empirical evidence in the photograph. That was when she noticed the thin line around the back of Valentina’s neck and down either side of her chest. “She’d been on holiday recently. Somewhere sunny. There’s a tan line from a bikini, it’s a littlefaded but still fairly recent. Yet, we definitely haven’t had weather like that here. Been like early fall as of late with the rain and wind…” And she remembered a comment she’d made at Elis’s expense at the funeral. “You know…Elislooked like he’d had too much sun not too long ago either… And according toyoursource, he has a habit of taking expensive getaways…”
Avery could not suppress the proud grin on her face. “So what would be your conclusion?”
Saga sat up on her knees, retrieving her mobile from her pocket. “I think Elis Goff owes us some answers.”
Avery touched her forearm gently. “What are you doing?”
Saga thought this would have been rather obvious. “I’m going to call him.”
Avery’s eyes narrowed. “How do you even possess his contact number?”
Saga blinked. “He gave it to me.”
“When?”
“At dinner, after the funeral.”
“And you accepted it?” There was something incredulous about Avery’s tone.
Perhaps it was Avery’s judgmental tone that brought out the sarcastic petulance, but whatever the reason, Saga found herself turning a deadpan expression to Avery. “No, actually, at first I refused, but then he tied Leigh to the train tracks and laughed maniacally until I said I would put his number into my phone.” When Avery did not laugh, Saga shrugged. “Heoffered, I thought we might need it.” When this did not wipe the concern from Avery’s face, she added, “It’s not like I took it for pleasure!”
“I’d imagine not, he’s nearly twice your age.”
Was she being scolded now? “And if we count your winks, Sleeping Beauty,you’reat least seven times my age.”
“What the dickens doesthatmatter?”
Saga stopped. It didn’t. Unlike Elis, Avery had not tried to hit on her. Did she want her to? Yes, she found her companion attractive, there wasno denying that, but was she attractedtoher? She was far too aware of the warmth of Avery’s hand seeping into her arm. She spoke the next question cautiously. “Why doeshisage matter?”
Avery cleared her throat, pulled away, and shoved both hands into her pockets. “It…” She visibly wrestled with something, though whether it was what she wanted to say or how she wanted to say it Saga didn’t know. “I suppose if it doesn’t matter to you, then it doesn’t matter at all…”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” said Saga.
“Then it doesn’t matter to me either.”
