Page 146 of This is Why We Lied

“Christopher, were you fucking your sister?”

He choked so hard that the boat shook. “Are you insane?”

“Mercy was pregnant. Are you the father?”

“Are you f-fucking kidding?” he stuttered. “How could you even ask me something like that?”

“It’s an obvious question. Mercy was pregnant. You’re the only man up here except for your father and Jon.”

“Dave.” He wiped his mouth on his shoulder. “Dave is up here all the time.”

“You’re telling me that Mercy was fucking her abusive ex-husband?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you. She was with him yesterday before the family meeting. They were rolling around on the floor like animals.”

“Which floor?”

“Cottage four.”

“What time was the family meeting?”

“Noon.” He shook his head, still hung up on the incest. “Jesus. I can’t believe you even asked that.”

“Did Dave ever try to fuck you?”

The shock wasn’t as extreme this time, but he still looked disgusted. “No, of course not. He was my brother.”

“He fucked his sister but he wouldn’t fuck his brother?”

“What?”

“You just told me Dave was fucking his sister.”

“Can you stop saying that word?” he said. “It’s very unladylike.”

Faith laughed. If Amanda couldn’t shame her, this guy didn’t stand a chance. “Okay, buddy. Your sister was brutally raped and murdered, but you’re hung up on me saying fuck.”

“What does any of this have to do with bootlegging?” he demanded. “You’ve caught me red-handed.”

“We sure as fuck did.”

Christopher huffed out his breath like he was trying to control his temper. He looked at Will. “Sir, could we please get this over with? I’ll take the blame. It was my idea. I built both stills. I was in charge of everything.”

“Hey, ding-a-ling.” Faith snapped her fingers. “Don’t talk to him. Talk to me.”

Christopher’s cheeks turned red with anger.

Faith didn’t let up. “We already know that Chuck was balls deep in your little liquor operation. He’s even got the tattoo on his back to prove it.”

Christopher’s nostrils flared, but he gave in quickly. “Okay, I’ll flip on Chuck. Is that what you want?”

Faith opened her arms wide. “You tell me.”

“Chuck and I are connoisseurs, okay? We love whiskey, scotch, bourbon. We started making small-batch for ourselves. Just a little bit at a time. Experimenting with flavors and various species of exotic woods to bring out the richness.”

“And then?”

“Papa had his bike accident. Mercy started making changes at the lodge. She fixed up the bathrooms. Started offering cocktails. More money started coming in. Big money. Primarily from the alcohol. Chuck said we should cut out the middleman, use our hooch instead. At first, Mercy didn’t know that we were refilling the bottles with our own stuff, but then she figured it out. She didn’t care. All she wanted to do was prove to Papa that she could turn a profit.”

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