Page 57 of Wicked Games

“Sounds good. Be careful, and if you need anything, call my cell.”

I don’t like leaving her, but I need to shower too, and Violet probably tried to call to talk about Vale’s press conference.

“Okay. See you later.”

“Yeah,” I say, and brush a kiss over her lips in goodbye.

I let myself out of her house and walk to mine. Even if it’s only a couple of hours until I see her again, my stomach will be in knots. I don’t like how this is playing out. Hattie, now Brooke. Theo’s kidnapping started it all, and I’m afraid the people who knew why can no longer say.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Avery

Ilost track of my phone, and I look around the kitchen, dazed. Four billion dollars. Brooke might be dead. The cops are no closer to figuring out who killed Theo, and if they can’t, they won’t ever know who killed Hattie, either.

Someone knows something, and I stand by my theory that it’s someone Seth knows. Someone followed Theo and his nanny to the park. Someone knew the tracker would be sewn into the lining of Seth’s bag. Someone knew Hattie would be in that alley that night, and someone knew that Brooke had gone out to dinner with friends. There’s a common denominator here, but I don’t know who it could be.

My phone’s in the bedroom where I left it when I was packing. Seth surprised me, and I forgot to take it with me when he asked me to sleep at his place. Bill called this morning and Darren tried to reach me again. Wanting what he can’t have, but that’s nothing new. A baby. An off-limits teaching assistant. A book deal. Me. I never noticed that unsatisfied part of him before, but I can see it clearly now. He was never happy, and it was only a deluded part of myself that thought he was with me.

I delete the call out of my Recents list and call Bill back.

“You’re not in the city?” he asks without saying hello.

“No. Ah, Seth said he didn’t blame me for Hattie’s part in Theo’s kidnapping.”

Bill’s quiet but I can hear his shock. “That’s . . . unexpected.”

“Yeah, it is. He was angry and let me walk out, but he found me while I was packing and said he didn’t want me to leave.” I pause to switch gears. “Did you see Rowan Vale’s press conference?”

“Yeah. Avery, this is serious. You know Brooke’s not just missing.”

“Yeah. I think with the way Rowan looked, he knows it too.”

“Did you talk to Mueller?”

I shove the panties I was going to pack last night back into the dresser. Seth didn’t wait very long to follow me and I don’t need to put anything else away. “No. This morning Seth called Detective LaSalle and put us on speaker. I told him everything I know and gave him the login information to Hattie’s website so they can read the post and Brooke’s interview. He said they’re going to stop by your penthouse and grab her laptop. She might have something on it that could help. I don’t know. I can’t stop thinking that Brooke told Hattie something, or that Hattie told Brooke something. Rowan said they were friends, and good ones, by the sounds of it.”

“You know you just accused your sister of kidnapping Theo Lockwood,” he says, but he doesn’t sound angry like he had when we talked about this before. There’s no getting around it now. He’s tired, and so am I. I don’t want to think of Hattie doing something like that. I really, really don’t, but there’s no denying she was involved somehow.

“Bill, she was at the park. Seth told me Theo’s nanny spoke to a woman who sounded just like her. We can hope her intentions for being there were good, but how could they be? She didn’t stop them from taking him. She went there to watch. To make sure it happened? To make sure they didn’t hurt him? I have no fucking idea, but trying to pretend she wasn’t there won’t do anything. When Detective LaSalle picks up her laptop, tell him she lied to you. They’ll probably end up talking to Darren to confirm what I was doing that day. We spent all day together, and I’m fortunate we did, otherwise they’d be looking at me too. And the fact that I’m renting a house next to Seth’s? Detective LaSalle didn’t like that, even when Seth defended me and I can prove Darren and I reserved this place last year before any of this happened.”

“We still don’t know how or why,” he says, his tone mild. “I’m not throwing her under the bus until we know that.”

“I’m not throwing her under the bus, but I’m not going to stick my head in the sand, either, and neither should you.”

He sighs. “What do you want me to do? I’ve been working with the police, for as little as they’ve done.”

“I think you should talk to Rowan. You didn’t know Hattie was spending so much time with Brooke, but he did. Maybe he knows something.”

“Like what? Now you’re blaming Theo’s kidnapping on Brooke. You think she would have done that to her own kid? What would she have gotten out of it? They got away with five mil. She got four billion in the divorce. Do you know how much money that is?”

“Actually, no, I don’t, but she obviously didn’t want what they got away with. It was their payment for doing the dirty work.”

“You’re scrambling, just like the cops are. I’m not close to Vale. I’d have to call his office and ask his assistant to give him a message.”

“That’s better than nothing. If you manage to meet with him, tell him I’m sorry about Brooke.” I bite my lip. “You should be careful. Someone’s trying to cover this up, and they might not know you don’t know anything.”

“Same goes for you too. When word gets out you’re letting Seth Lockwood under your skirt, that’ll put you up close and personal, and not in a good way.”