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“My children’s rights, of course. Their claim to their father’s estate.”
“So it all boils down to money,” Adria charged.
“Money is only part of it. Prestige. Birthright. It all goes hand in hand.” No longer did she bother to mask her loathing. “If you would have left things alone, none of this would have happened. None. The children, my children would have gotten what they deserved from their father’s estate, but you couldn’t stay away, could you? Oh, no.” Her lips flattened against her teeth. “I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of. A lot.”
“Including the kidnapping,” Zach pressed.
Eunice hesitated.
“You did it, didn’t you and let me take the rap!”
“That wasn’t part of the plan.”
“Well, it’s what happened, Eunice.”
“Oh, Zach.”
“Jesus, you’re unbelievable. You did it, didn’t you? You kidnapped a child!”
“Not a child! An interloper!” She shot to her feet and seemed a bit unsteady.
“And later you killed Kat!”
“No, I—” She braced herself on the counter as if her legs would suddenly not hold her steady.
“You always hated her. Hated London.” He pressed his face to within a hair’s breadth of hers. “I’ve thought about it a long time and decided that Kat didn’t kill herself. No way. She was too into self-preservation, self-promotion. No matter how desperate she was, she wouldn’t commit suicide. So either she had an accident, which is damned unlikely, or someone helped her off that balcony.” His lips were bloodless, his eyes dark and knowing. “You’re the only person who hated her enough to do it. Probably all for the sake of your children and their inheritance, the same reason you kidnapped London.”
“No,” Eunice said weakly.
“Come on, Mother, you wanted me here to hear your confession, so let’s hear it.”
“But I didn’t—”
Bam! His fist slammed against the table. The teacup jumped. Adria started. Far in the distance sirens shrieked.
“Oh, God,” Eunice whispered, seeming pathetic. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
“Bull! You killed her!”
“Yes, okay, yes, yes, yes!” Eunice’s eyes were filled with tears and she blinked rapidly.
Adria, though she’d expected the news, was stunned—to actually hear a confession to murder. “You pushed her?”
“Of course I did!” Some of Eunice’s starch returned. “As pathetic as she was after she lost her daughter, she wasn’t suicidal. Not Kat. God, she was a disgusting creature.” She turned her gaze on Zach. “That surprises you? That your own mother could kill?”
A muscle worked in Zach’s jaw and he’d paled.
“It was easy, really. To slip into her room, to doctor her drink, to lure her onto the balcony…” Eunice’s voice turned to the barest of whispers. “All I had to do was pretend…put on a little girl’s voice…” She did then, sounding suddenly like a child. “Mama…Mama…” Eunice’s eyes glazed for a second, her thoughts turning inward, as she replayed the horrid scene. “She was disoriented, believed that I was London and I hid near the railing…”
“You murdering bitch,” Adria said, shaking all over.
Eunice snapped back to the present. “And I’d do it again. For my children.”
Adria’s blood turned to ice. So it wasn’t over.
“Save it, Eunice. No one’s buying the altruistic act,” Zach stated.
“I don’t expect you to, Zach, but believe this,” she insisted. “I didn’t kill Ginny.”
