Page 53 of One Last Secret

“Hey! What are you two doing here?”

I jump at that voice. At the same time, my heart leaps with joy. Evelyn’s here early!

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Lisa shrieks, and Marcus releases an oath. “Shit. I told you the maid would still be here.”

“What areyoudoing here?” Evelyn repeats. “Lisa? I thought you were missing.”

Lisa laughs nervously. “Why would you think that?”

“Someone trashed your apartment. Badly. The police thought you were kidnapped.”

“What? That’s so weird. I mean, I haven’t been home yet since I got back from visiting my sister, but… oh my God. Was I robbed? Did someone break in?”

“I… I guess so,” Evelyn says warily. “Why are you here so early?”

“We’re picking up the last of Victor’s artwork,” Lisa explains. “Marcus and I are going to sell them in his gallery. He opens at nine, and we want everything ready for display by then. We’re going to use the money to help Celeste. The poor dear. How is she?”

“She… she’s not here. She ran away.”

Lisa gasps. “Oh my goodness! Why? What happened?”

My blood boils at Lisa’s lies. I’m beginning to wish I’d allowed Celeste to attack her.

Unfortunately, Evelyn seems to be falling for it. “The social worker came here to take her to her grandparents. She didn’t want to go. Mary tried to calm her down, but when she went outside to talk to the social worker, Celeste freaked out again. I tried to stop her, but she knocked me down and ran away. Mary went looking for her, but she had already gotten away.”

Damn it, where are the police? I open my phone to dial nine-one-one. Instead, I find the battery dead. I nearly scream in frustration. I’ve been so out of it that I’ve forgotten to charge it.

"That's horrible!" Lisa says. She sighs. "Oh, it's just awful! I was worried something like this would happen. I love Victor like a brother, but he's been so depressed lately. He's never been the most stable of individuals to begin with, but with his depression getting worse and what with all of the trouble he's had with his latest series, I worried he might snap and hurt himself." She sighs again. "I wish I had stepped in and gotten him help before it was too late. Or at least take Celeste somewhere safe."

“Well, we’ll make sure this money goes to her somehow,” Marcus added. “We can start a foundation for them. Maybe use it to research undiagnosed familial mental health issues.”

“Yes. What a wonderful idea, Marcus.”

There’s a moment of awkward silence. Then Lisa asks, “Um… would you mind? These paintings are heavy, and we’re trying to get them to the van.”

After another pause, Evelyn says, “Sure. All right. Do you need help with them?”

"Oh, no, thank you. We can handle it."

Still no police. No sirens within earshot. I curse softly and step out from behind the statue. Lisa and Marcus are carefully maneuvering a stack of paintings around a perplexed Evelyn.

“Stop!” I cry.

Lisa shrieks and drops her end of the painting. I hear a frame crack, and Marcus curses.

“Evelyn, close the door,” I say to the equally shocked maid. “These two are lying. Lisa faked her own kidnapping, and Marcus hired a hitman to kill Victor.”

Evelyn gasps, and Lisa and Marcus go white as sheets.

“It’s true,” I insist. “They’re stealing Victor’s artwork to sell to a dealer in San Diego. They owe money to a loan shark, and they’re trying to pay him off so they can go to Costa Rica and flee their debts.”

Lisa laughs, a sound that reminds me of nails falling onto aluminum sheeting. “That’s insane! What the…” she laughs again. “My, what an active imagination you have.”

“It’s not imagination,” I tell her. “I sent the police video recording of you two talking about your plan five minutes ago.”

Lisa’s forced smile vanishes. Marcus glances nervously at her. Evelyn looks between us, and the expression on Lisa’s face convinces her of the truth. She gasps and takes a step away from them. Her hand comes to her mouth, and she whispers, “Oh my God.”

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