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Even Joy gave a little shrug and said, “I don’t know the guy. But, sure, okay.”
“So, the killer planned to deliver the murder weapon to Rex, then wait. At some point, Rex would make an amaretto sour with the candied lemon twists to try them out. And when he did, he’d die instantly. It was a plan that required patience but was very low risk.”
“So Rex was a dead man walking. Then why hit him over the head?” Brian asked.
Leo paused.
Sasha risked looking away from Bethany to give Chance a sidelong glance. “Bethany had to speed up her plan to get rid of Rex once he found out he was her baby’s father.”
“No!” Chance shouted.
Bethany flinched but said nothing.
Sasha spoke in a slow, measured tone. “Bethany overheard Rex telling Grady that he was a father. Not that he wasgoing to bea father. He told Grady that hewasa father. And that’s when she realized Rex knew. She didn’t have time to wait anymore.”
“Rex and Bethany were having an affair?” Joy asked.
“That’s usually how it works,” Sasha said. “Ironically, Chance is the one who inadvertently revealed to Rex that he was Rowan’s father.”
“I did not. Because he’s not Rowan’s father. Besides, I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Chance sputtered.
Leo gave Sasha a curious look. She returned it with a reassuring smile.
“Chance, is the company you contracted with for the cord blood storage called SafeCord?” Sasha asked.
“Yeah. So?”
She turned to Annette, “SafeCord is one of your brother’s companies, right? The one that expanded to the West Coast?”
“That’s right,” she confirmed.
“You decided to bank your baby’s blood with Rex’s company,” Sasha told Chance.
“Well, yeah. I didn’t know he owned it at first. I mentioned I’d done it, and he told me he owned one of those companies. It turned out it’s the one I used. What difference does it make?”
Bethany put her head in her hands and gripped her hair. Sasha suspected she was biting back a scream.
“Probably none—or it would have made no difference. But when Rowan was diagnosed with PKU, I’m sure that made Rex wonder.”
Annette’s eyes widened. “Rex and I both carry the recessive gene for PKU.”
“Right, so Rex and Bethany were having an affair. Bethany gave birth to a baby who shares a rare genetic condition with Rex. You could see how he’d be curious,” Sasha reasoned.
“Absolutely.”
Leo snapped his fingers. “Bethany knew Rex could be the father. That’s why she was adamant they not sign a contract with SafeCord.”
“But she couldn’t tell Chance the reason. So he dismissed her as irrational and emotional, and she’s been waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since.”
“Presumably, Rex had Rowan’s DNA tested,” Leo mused. “Did he reach out to you, Bethany?”
She stared fixedly at the table, her lips pressed into a firm line.
“I’m guessing he didn’t,” Leo continued, “because the whole poison waiting in the kitchen cabinet plan only works if time isn’t of the essence.”
“So she came here to slip the poison into his bar ingredients. But when she overheard him tell Grady that he was a father, she realized she had to act fast,” Sasha said.
“That’s stone cold,” Paul muttered.
