Page 193 of Trust No One

“To hurt me. To throw me off balance. To force me back into the marriage.”

A smile crept across his lips. “I love you. I only do what’s best for you. We’re better together.” He rose and crossed to the refrigerator.

I remained silent.

He reached for a bottle of white I hadn’t seen before and held it up. “Happy birthday. A little late. You didn’t think I forgot, did you?”

He filled two glasses to the halfway point, then set the bottle on the table before sitting close. “Drink.”

I thought about Maria. About poison. I didn’t touch it. “Did you kill Maria, Gabe, and Amy?”

The question amused him. “Why would I kill Amy?”

I thought about Amy’s Polaroid with the unidentified male. “You slept with her.”

Ken stared, eyes calculating. Time to cut losses. “In high school, sure.”

“And recently. Was it because she looked like me? Or was it her obsession with Hale House that appealed to you?”

He sipped his wine. “Great imagination, Raine. Consider creative writing for your next career.”

“You gave her the recent pictures of me, didn’t you?”

He sipped his wine, carefully setting his glass down. “You should’ve seen her face light up when I gave them to her.”

“Why did you kill her?” I asked softly.

“Raine, I didn’t. She was an overambitious little nothing who pissed off the wrong person when she set the attic on fire with Molly.”

“Amy died before Maria and Gabe.”

“Like I said, someone was leveling a score.”

“Who?”

“If I had to guess? Maria. Gabe’s affair and Amy’s fire . . . Maria started planning.”

“Maria was poisoned. She died.”

He glanced at the wine, sipped. “Maria’s death was an accident. She never intended to die.”

“How do you know?”

He shrugged.

His knowing expression said a lot.

“You were sleeping with her.”

“You don’t know that.”

A sad smile tugged my lips. “Just tell me, Ken. We are beyond the lies.”

He studied me a beat. “A few months ago, I came down here to see Amy. She was busy with Gabe, so I paid a visit to Maria. Didn’t take long to figure out Maria was furious and ready to get naked.”

“You were the guy the nurses talked about.”

He sipped his wine. “I suppose so.”