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“Betty’s a lovely woman,” Nancy said. “I’ve not even gotten to know her, just spent Thanksgiving with her, but I’ve heard what people are saying. I even watched a few of her videos as well. She’s a great person. You can see it.”

“If you’re trying to guilt me into being a better mother, that is not going to happen. I just don’t feel it. I do not love Betty. I never have. She is a thorn in my side and always has been, and now Martha has decided to grant her entire fortune and estate to Betty.”

“Actually, I believe I will be inheriting some as well,” Maeve said. “Martha told me.”

“A complete fucking stranger!” Bettina slammed her foot on the floor. “Damn her. I’m her sister. Her own flesh and blood.”

“And Betty is your daughter, and you’re tossing her aside as if she means nothing,” Grim said. “Burning down her studio.”

“I didn’t want to get pregnant. Betty’s father, the asshole, was being persistent, and then I got pregnant by accident. I wanted to have her aborted, but he made sure I could not. I never wanted kids.” Bettina frowned. “Burned down her studio?”

“Betty’s studio fire was no accident. I got the call from Dean, one of her cookbooks were set alight and left to burn,” Grim said. “That is his initial report.”

“I didn’t burn down her studio,” Bettina said.

“Okay, try another one,” Grim said.

Bettina slammed the phone down as she was still holding it. “I get it. I’m a bad mother and I wear that title. I am a bad mother. I did not want kids, and I don’t want anything to do with Betty. She is ... look, I’m many things, but I would not set fire to her studio.”

“Martha said you enjoyed setting things on fire.”

“Damn it, when I was a teenage girl, and regardless of how hard I try to look it, I am not a teenage girl. I’m an old woman who knows what playing with fire leads to. I would not do that, not even to Betty, okay? I don’t expect you to believe me. I don’t love the girl, and I know I’m horrible, but I’m not fucking cruel,” Bettina said.

Grim looked at her.

“Why did you leave on Thanksgiving?” he asked.

“Simple, I asked Martha for money, she refused, and I couldn’t reason with her. I went to the country club and figured I would find a man who would ... give me what I wanted,” Bettina said. “It worked in the past, and I figured it would work now. I left because I didn’t belong there. You were all having a lot of fun, and I was not. I was there for money. I didn’t get what I came for, so that was it. Rather than cause any more pain, I left.”

Grim stared at her.

“I actually believe her,” Nancy said. “To be honest like that, it takes some balls, especially owning up to the fact you don’t even like your daughter, which makes you a complete and total bitch, by the way. It does.”

“Doesn’t change how I feel,” Bettina said.

“So, if she didn’t set fire to Betty’s studio, who did?” Maeve asked.

He looked between Nancy and Maeve, and the truth was, he didn’t have a clue. No one at the club would be that stupid.

“Are you sure you turned everything off?” Maeve asked, looking toward him.

“He did, let’s face it, Mac wouldn’t speak up unless that was the truth,” Nancy said.

“What about the woman that kept staring at you all night?” Bettina said.

“We don’t need answers from the evil bitch, who doesn’t even like her own daughter, thank you,” Nancy said.

Grim looked toward Bettina. “What?”

“A young woman, barely wearing any clothes, even though it was cold. She was sitting with you at the start of the night until you told her to move,” Bettina said. “She wasn’t happy with that, and I’m sure I heard her asking some people what you saw in her, and I assume that meant Betty.”

Grim frowned because he could only think of Betty.

“The one Mac is playing with. Misty or Missy, or ... I can’t remember her name,” Maeve said. “It was something like that.”

“Yeah, she didn’t look happy with being pushed aside. Perhaps it was her,” Bettina said.

“The club whore?” Nancy asked. “Is she the one that tried to get Doc to cheat?”