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“It’s nearly as impressive as disarming a mercenary while wearing a wedding dress, eh?” Leo winked at her.
After Aroostine stopped laughing, Hank pointed at Chance. “Heard you wanted to confess. Officer Duncan’s all ears, Galeton.”
The police officer nodded. “Yep. Start talking.”
“I … I killed Rex. And Grady.” Chance seemed to force the words out.
Sasha appeared in the doorway with a fuzzy blanket draped over her shoulders. She clutched a mug of steaming coffee. Her damp hair was trying to escape from the hair stick that pinned it into a knot, and her cheeks were still pink from the cold. Her green eyes glittered as she stared steadily at Chance Galeton for a long moment.
“I killed them both,” Chance reiterated.
Sasha’s eyes flicked to Leo. He gave her a slight nod.
“Why’d you do that, Mr. Galeton?” Officer Duncan asked the question as if he was only mildly interested in the answer, which threw Chance off-balance.
“Uh, what?”
“No. Why?”
Chance’s right leg began to bounce, jittering against the floor. He gripped the towel with both hands. “Right. I tried to talk to Rex about buying Bethany out of the company. But he blew me off. I got so mad. I guess I just snapped. I grabbed the poker, went back into the room, and took a swing at him.”
“You didn’t mention any of this when we were interviewing you,” Leo noted.
“Well, you didn’t have the murder weapon then. So, I thought maybe I could get away with it. And, you know, Bethany was already pissed at me for going behind her back about the cord blood. Can you imagine if she found out I talked to Rex about her?”
The officer drew his eyebrows together. “Weren’t you going to have to tell her if Rex had agreed to your request?”
Chance frowned. “I guess I hadn’t thought it all the way through.”
“So you hit Rex. Then what?” Sasha asked.
“I stuck the fireplace poker back in the stand. I went back into the room to apologize to Rex for losing my cool, but he was on the floor. I knew he was dead, and I panicked. I snatched a candlestick from the credenza and ran upstairs with it. I thought I could buy some time by misdirecting people. So I opened the first door I saw, which was Grady and Joy’s room. Grady was staring out the window, so I shoved the candlestick under the bed and said I needed to talk to him.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Sasha sipped her coffee.
Leo studied Chance. Chance averted his eyes, dropping his gaze to the floor to avoid Leo’s scrutiny.
After a long pause, he said, “So why did you kill Grady?”
“I was afraid he’d put it together. That he’d realize I was the one who planted the candlestick, and then he’d know I killed Rex.”
Leo twisted his mouth. “Good thing you carry cyanide salts everywhere you go, huh?”
Sasha and Aroostine both giggled at the sarcasm. Chance flushed. “I, uh …”
Pete Duncan raised a hand. “I’m going to stop you right there. I’ve had a long day. An unimaginably long day. My patience evaporated hours ago. While I might, under other circumstances, have played along while you spun out this fantastical tale, I don’t have the slightest interest in hearing the rest of your false confession. But I will gladly charge you with interfering with my investigation if you say one more blessed word.”
“But—”
“Don’t test me.”
Chance clamped his mouth closed. The police officer turned to Leo. “Any thoughts about why he wanted to confess to two murders he didn’t commit?”
Leo felt Sasha’s gaze and turned to lock eyes with her.
“We have a few,” she told the police officer.
“We should do this up at the manor,” Leo said.
