Page 130 of Conrad

“And burned down his house.”

Again, nothing.

She might be ill. But—“Wait—who killed Swindle?”

He sighed.

“You did. Why?”

“Because he was an idiot—just like Edward. He was going to betray me.” His voice lowered. “Fine.” He sighed. “He freaked out—thought he’d be implicated in Beckett’s murder because Beckett had called him. He went to Holden’s place to get his computer, see if he could destroy the video.”

“But you left the computer there.”

“Deleted the entire hard drive.” He shrugged. “Nothing to find.”

She had gone cold. “You used Walsh’s phone to text me. You were the one at Theodore Wirth Park.”

He glanced at her, huffed. “You’re more trouble than you’re worth.”

She looked away.

They’d turned off the county road, headed into a wooded area, a dirt road that led back to—Frederick Lake? “Your father owns a lake home?”

He glanced in the mirror. “You don’t think you’re the only one with money, right?”

Oh.

“He bought it years ago when I was still a child. Spent years renovating it.”

So this was where it would end. “So, you’re going to kill me, bury my body on the land?”

He glanced at her. “Aw, it can’t be that easy. I think you probably need to do one last podcast for your listeners.”

One last—“What, naming you as the killer?”

He laughed, and there it was again, from the recording, driving a frozen sliver through her. “Oh, I don’t think so. I think we make this more fun.” He pulled into a long drive, birch trees shooting through swaths of evergreen, the occasional barren poplar. Through the forest, light ahead suggested lakeshore. “I think you confess.”

She stilled. “Me—why me?”

“I have Ring footage of you breaking into Holden’s house. That was helpful. And of course, you had a reason to hate Edward—crime of passion and all.”

“I didn’t hate Edward?—”

“Of course you did. You were in love with him.”

“My sister was going to marry him!”

“No. She’d broken up with him. Edward wanted to marry you.”

Her breath caught. Yes, Tia had said that, but?—

Well, she hadn’t believed her. Not really.

“He was in love with you from the minute he ‘rescued’ you when you were nine years old.” He’d finger quoted the wordrescued.

And that’s when his eerie smile clicked. “I wasn’t kidnapped.”

“Well, technically there was a ransom paid, but not really. Yes, it started that way—with Carmen and Nicolai. But Inga discovered what they were up to and told my father. He got Edward to ‘rescue’ you and hide you in the dumbwaiter and then took over the negotiations. Your father had the money—and the insurance—to cover it. He made sure the transfer went down, killed Carmen and Nicolai, and then my dad and Inga pocketed the cash. Your dad was such a chump—he actually thought Edward had saved your life.”

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