Page 28 of Covert Chaos

"Use your brain."

I looked at him. "What?"

"I know you. I know you put your ex in prison. You're not an idiot. Use your freaking brain."

I stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

He met my gaze. "I didn't kill anyone, Mia Murphy. But who did?"

"You tried to attack me!"

"Did I?"

I thought back to his reflection. I'd seen him move, so I'd reacted. Did I actually know he'd been planning to hurt me? I didn't.

I frowned and looked at Lucy and Beau. Lucy looked as confused as I felt, and Beau was videoing us.

I looked out the front window, but I couldn’t see Hattie and Emmeline anymore.

Devlin called, and I answered. "There's no one in the trunk of the car, Mia. Who told you there was?"

Fear began to drip through me. "Emmeline Williams. Did you find Chef Felicia?"

"We're interviewing her now. I can't get anyone over there for a few minutes. You all right?"

"Yes, we're good." I stood up. "I gotta go." I walked to the front window and looked out. Hattie and Emmeline were nowhere in sight. "Bert," I said softly. "Why are you here?"

"Money. Rachel paid me a hundred bucks to come here with Emmeline. I hid in the bottom of the boat so no one would see me."

Well, that explained why we hadn't seen him. "How well do you know Rachel?"

"Just met her tonight before I met you."

His words resonated with truth, and a cold chill settled down on me. "Bert. What does Felicia have to do with this?"

He met my gaze. "I don't know anyone named Felicia."

I frowned. "So, Rachel set this up? What about Emmeline?"

"All I know is that Rachel paid me to come here with Emmeline tonight. That's it. And I sure as hell didn't kill anyone."

If he was telling the truth, then what? "Then who did? Rachel couldn’t do it herself." As I said it, I met Lucy's gaze.

"Maybe Charles helped her with Beckwith. Then it would be easy enough for her to push Charles over the railing, especially if he'd had a few drinks. She could do that," Lucy said.

"Rachel might have seen the corkscrew when she was here," I said slowly, "but Emmeline definitely would have. She was the one who was trapped by the Barnes brothers. Hattie talked her out of being friends with Rachel when they were teenagers, but now they're friends again."

"Revenge," Lucy said.

"And money." Dear heavens, it was Emmeline?

I opened the door and stepped outside, listening for Hattie, but the dark night was silent.

Lucy stood next to me, and we listened.

Emmeline's boat was still at the dock, but Hattie and Emmeline weren't in sight.

Fear gripped me, a shocking fear that made my bones turn to ice "Hattie," I whispered, her name burning tears in my throat. "Where did they go?" I clutched my hairdryer, but there was no one to hit with it.

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