Every problem’s got a price. The trick is makin sure someone else pays it.
“That’s it,” Sapphire said, lowering the note.
Cassidy held out her hand. “Can I read what he wrote about me?”
Sapphire passed the note across the table.
“Can I ask,” Bella said, from the end of the table. “Did you find Frank at that house?”
“No.” Sapphire glanced at me. “You want to tell them what we did find?”
“No, you can,” I said. “Are you going to sit?”
Sapphire pulled out the chair I’d offered her earlier and finally sat. She opened her hands on the table and let out a slow breath. “When we arrived at William’s house, we found two bodies on the kitchen floor.”
Bella gasped and pressed her hand to her mouth, but the following beat of silence was absolute.
“Who were they?” Mitch asked.
“Bruce and Wayne Henderson,” I said.
Cassidy let out a short, hard sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “Good.” She put the note down flat on the table. “Those bastards lit a fire that nearly killed me and Xavier. Good riddance.”
“Cass,” Mitch said.
“Don’t.” Her tone was so toxic it could strip paint. “Don’t Cass me, Mitch. They tried to kill us. Both of us. I’m not going to pretend I’m sorry.”
Xavier’s hand found her shoulder. She let it stay.
“Who killed them?” Mitch’s gaze swept between me and Sapphire.
“We haven’t completed a thorough investigation, so I can’t make a definitive?—”
“Frank or Bob?” Mitch cut in. “Just tell us.”
“We don’t believe Bob was the perpetrator,” Sapphire said.
Mitch eyeballed Sapphire. “You think Frank killed them?”
“We believe so, yes.”
“Bloody hell.” Declan scraped his hand down his beard. “Frank’s done a lot of shocking things, but murder?”
“I know.” I raised my hands. “Here’s what we know,” I said, pulling the attention off Sapphire. I took them through all of it. Lyle’s call out at the creek. Flying to Winton. How we found the bodies. The knife in Bruce, and Wayne being hogtied. Bob destroying evidence. Bob’s phone call about the bounty on Frank. Bob shooting at us. All of it, in order, without softening any of it.
Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. Even Cassidy sat completely still, which was damn rare.
Footsteps sounded along the hallway, and Rose stepped into the dining room carrying a tray of sandwiches, which she set down at the end of the table.
Bella stood. “Would everyone like drinks? Beer, coffee?” She looked directly at Sapphire.
“A cup of tea would be great, thank you.”
“Beer for me,” I said.
“I second that,” Cassidy said.
Rose handed a plate to me.
