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“No, I don’t need ten million dollars. But I need to be able to pay for Dani’s medications, the hospital stays, the nebulizers, the pancreatic enzyme replacement therapies, the blood tests, the bone density tests, the ultrasounds, the chest CTs, the X-rays, the lung biopsies. And eventually, most likely, a lung transplant. Keely needs her sister and I need my daughter. So please, I’m begging you, keep me here as long as possible. For my family, One Lucky Winner is life and death.”
ChapterandVerse1990—I’m crying. Someone give her all the money!
This_Is_Not_A_Drill—She should set up a GoFundMe and be home with her kids. Why is she even here?
ChapterandVerse1990—I can think of ten million reasons.
Frankie_Gee—Color me skeptical... Forget the Best Friend, the Executive is the real deal.
ChapterandVerse1990—I’m skeptical of anyone who starts a sentence with color me...
CaitlynCBB—Did anyone else notice that the Executive looked a little off? He was weaving all over the place.
CisterPower—You can also make a donation to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at https://www.cff.org/—together we can find a cure!
IowaBornAndBread—I know the Best Friend and the Boyfriend. I mean I know who they are but never met them. We went to the same college a loong time ago. LOL. If I remember correctly, something really bad happened on Tanglefoot Lake. Someone died or almost died—I’m not sure of the details. Eventually, the Best Friend and Boyfriend just kind of disappeared from campus. It was weird.
FiggyPudding13—Oh, I was there that night. I know what happened.
TWENTY-NINE
THE CONFIDANTE
Camille sat on her bed, hands wrapped around a steaming mug of coffee. Dressed head to toe in white One Lucky Winner gear, she was still shivering from the disaster in the lake. Also dressed in white, Ned, Samuel, and Maire sat with their cups of coffee, waiting for nine o’clock and the next challenge.
If only she could have convinced them to hold off until tomorrow for the next challenge, maybe she’d be able to puzzle through what was actually happening here. But there was no convincing Maire or Ned. Despite nearly being killed, they were intent on moving forward.
The more Camille thought about it, the more she was sure that the five of them were brought here for a reason beyond battling it out for ten million dollars. How could they not understand this?
Fern was the key. The senator had played the game, lost, left the estate, and came back prepared to kill her, claiming that Fern had leaked a very damning piece of information about him. Did that mean Fern had dirt on all of them?
Camille was pretty sure that all Fern could know about her was the debt that she’d accrued over the years. So what? Big deal. Lots of people maxed out their credit cards or mortgaged their homes to the hilt. Fern couldn’t possibly know about the patients she saw off the books and didn’t keep records on. And she definitely didn’t know about Wingo.
Camille was certain that Fern was Nan, her former patient who said she worked with some truly awful people who needed to pay for what they had done. Were she and the other four contestants these awful people? It had to be the case. Fern, posing as Nan, would have seen the Alftan painting in her office. She felt light-headed at the thought of her misdeeds splashed all over the news.
“I wish you would rethink things,” Camille said. “We need to talk things through, figure out what’s really happening here.”
“Drop it,” Maire snapped. “We’re playing.”
“Maybe it’s best we don’t talk to each other,” Ned said from his spot next to the window. “Just shut up and let’s get through tonight.”
“Easy to say for the guy who tried to kill me,” Maire said, shooting Ned a dirty look.
“Who tried to kill who? I’m the guy who ended up needing CPR!” Ned snarled.
“You swallowed a little water,” Maire sniped back. “You were going to be just fine no matter what.”
“Stop,” Samuel said, rising from the edge of his bed. “Just stop. It’s our own fault we’re in this situation. It’s a brutal game—what did you expect for ten million dollars? Did you really think it would be a walk in the park? Let’s just all agree it’s not worth dying over, okay? Whoever wins needs to win fairly.”
“I don’t think anyone is going to win,” Camille said softly.
“What was that?” Ned asked. Out of the four of them, he looked the most wrecked. Despite his awful behavior, Camille had to wince at the sight of his broken nose and bruised face.
“I said I don’t think anyone is going to win,” Camille repeated. “I think it’s a setup. I think Fern brought us all here for a very specific reason.”
“A setup?” Ned asked. “But why? Because the senator said so? Nah.” Ned shook his head. “He was just looking for someone to blame for his own bad behavior. Why in the world would she want to set me up?”
Camille didn’t know how much to reveal about her theory. Even to her own ears it sounded unhinged. “Never mind,” she said. “I’m tired and cold. Just ignore me. I’m not making any sense.”
