Page 185 of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies

“How do you reckon?”

“I figured it out before I figured it out.”

“What now?”

“All the attempts on his life were when he was alone. Not provable. But mine were public and undeniable.”

Oliver nods. “So it would look like he was acting as if it was the both of you who were targets, but it was really just you?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“But what if he’d died?”

I shrug. “Then they’d blame me. One of us in jail, one of us dead. Then no one would look anywhere else. Either way, they’d get rid of us.”

“What was going to be your motive, though? How did they know you wanted him dead?”

“They knew he was involved in the robberies, but I left that part out in the book. They must’ve assumed I knew about it and made the connection that he was holding it over me.” I bite my lip. “Plus, I think they were trying to reverse what he’d done.”

“How so?”

This occurred to me late last night. The one thing I’d never asked Connor or got an answer to. “He used me as a shield. All those years ago. That’s why he got involved with me, I think. Why he brought me into the investigation. I was his cover.”

“Bastard,” Oliver says through his teeth.

“He is.”

“You don’t seem mad at him.”

“I know, right? It must be the shock.”

We finish breakfast, and then collect in the library like it’s a ditch we’ve driven into.221

We go to our usual positions and more things drop out of the memory hole they fell into.

“How did they get us all here?” Allison asks.

“Marta,” Harper says. “She was working for the publisher. In the publicity department. She started there last year. She was the one who came up with the idea for the tour.”

“Why steal your purse, then?” Emily says. “If not for the itinerary?”

“For the master key.”

“Oh, right. That master key. Was that her doing, too?”

“Of course,” Harper says.

“Where is she?” Emily asks. “Are they going to catch her?”

“I hope so,” I say. “I don’t like the thought of her being still out there.”

“Same,” Connor says.

Oliver bunches his fists. “This is all your fault, Connor. Getting El involved in the first place. Taking up with Isabella.”

“I was taken in by a con woman…”

“Please, Connor,” I say. “Just go away.”

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