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“Not Daisy?” Seb asks.
“Daisy was her sister, I think, but I never met her,” she says. “No, that’s definitely Ivy, alright. I’ll never forget her face.”
“Thank you,” I reply smoothly, taking out my wallet and pulling out a stack of notes. “You’ve been very helpful.”
She snatches the money and stuffs it inside her purse. Before getting out, she delivers a warning. “Don’t go bringing up the past. I don’t know why you’re asking about Ivy Penrose after all this time, but if you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave it alone. Mr Bexley is a powerful man.” She clambers from the car. “You shouldn’t come here again.”
She doesn’t look back, disappearing around the next corner, while realisation dawns on us.
“Why would Rose pretend to be her sister?” Seb murmurs. “She said Matteo,Ivy’spossessive ex, caused the crash…”
From Seb’s expression, I tell he’s thinking the same. What if Matteo wasn’t the jealous lover she referred to in her story? What if it was really Spencer? If we believe what she told us, there were multiple people involved. People that she’d have a grudge against.
“Do you think Rose could be the Killers Club client wanting Spencer’s men dead?” I ask, daring to vocalise my suspicions aloud.
“She could be,” Seb agrees. “It makes sense. Whoever wants them dead holds a serious grudge.”
Suddenly, Seb’s phone rings. He answers it. He doesn’t speak for long, only a few abrupt sentences, but the colour drains from his face as he talks.
“That was my brother,” he explains after ending the call. “He’s got more news about the Collingsbrook fire. They found another dead body. It got shielded from the bulk of the blast under collapsing rubble, and the coroner’s first inspection thinks that strangulation might have been the cause of the death.”
“So there was a murder that night.” Dread makes my stomach flip. The Collingsbrook Ball is turning into an Agatha Christie novel more with each day. “Who died?”
“Graham Baldwin.”
“Graham Baldwin…” I scratch my chin. “Why does that name sound familiar?”
Then, it hits me.
His name came up during our research into Spencer Bexley. Graham used to work for him, like the other men who have died recently.
No, surely not…
Questioning one thing makes you question everything, and then pieces start to slot together where they didn’t before. My mind flips back over the past few months, going through the timelines.
Rose met Seb at the party where we suspected Danny’s killer poisoned him.
I saw Rose at the bar at the same time we were due to meet the Killers Club.
She was at the Collingsbrook Ball—a high-security event that usually never lets outsiders in.
There are too many coincidences.
“What if Rose didn’t hire the Killers Club?” I turn to Seb. “What if Rose isinthe Killers Club?”
And we’ve been too fucking blind to see it.
CHAPTER24
IVY
“I’m not going back there,” I tell Alaric. I walk back and forth, unable to sit still. Being cooped up underground is making me antsy. “He’s not opening up to me.”
Alaric raises one eyebrow from his chair at Jonathon’s bedside.
“Who would want to?” Jonathon croaks. He’s making a good recovery and becoming more lucid. Thankfully, his injuries have left no permanent damage. It’s a shame getting his head bashed hasn’t stopped him from being a pain in my arse.
“You better shut up, or I’ll put you into another coma,” I snap.
