Page 128 of Possession

Danny Donnelly got out and met me on the porch. “Hey, Grace. I just got a call from Vi to meet you guys here.”

I frowned and looked down at my phone. “I don’t have a text.”

“Vi said that she had something she needed to ask me to help her with. Something that had to do with Philomena Stanwick. Which I can’t figure out for the life of me, but she said you guys would explain everything.”

Wouldn’t Blake have told me? I frowned and opened the front door. “All right. Come on in.” I hugged the clock against me as I plugged in my code at the door. I flicked on the switch as soon as we crossed the threshold. “Blake’s on his way.”

Danny gripped my arms and pushed me inside. “That’s fine.”

“Hey, not so rough,” I said.

“I believe you have something that doesn’t belong to you, Grace,” a voice said behind me. A voice that usually made me smile for as long as I could remember, but instead, every molecule in my body went on alert.

I struggled against Danny, but his grip was unrelenting. “Get inside.” He shoved me into the living room and down into the chair near the fireplace. He pulled out a very large, very black gun and pointed it at me.

Philomena came in after him. “No need to be so rough, Daniel. She’s not going anywhere.” She tilted her head. “Did you really think I wouldn’t notice that iPad was missing?”

My heart raced and climbed into my throat. “Kind of. You made me handle all your affairs at the gallery.”

“Sure, the simple ones. Besides, if I looked inept then you would come save me. That’s what you do, darling. You save people. Always a fixer. You wanted so badly to fix Annabelle too. You’d do anything to make her happy.”

“Because I loved you both.”

“And I love you. Obviously, I love you or Daniel would have killed you weeks ago. I’d hoped that I could get all of Annabelle’s paperwork, but she had to play her Nancy Drew games. For God’s sake, who hides a thumb drive in a cove? It’s ridiculous.”

I curled my fingers over the arms of my chair. “It was our special spot.”

“Yes, well, she was always a sentimental old fool. Just wanted to spend the money and stir up trouble. She didn’t see the bigger picture. Do you realize how much money we had? I’d be gone with the money by now if she hadn’t pulled this stupid stunt.”

“She wanted to come clean?”

“And go to jail? God, no. She couldn’t handle that. But she wanted to stop, and I couldn’t just stop.” Phil paced the length of the room, her heels echoing on the hardwood floor. She stopped in front of me in a whirl of black wool and copper chains dancing at her chest. “You don’tstopworking with these people. And now I have to clean up after her.”

What the hell did that mean? “What did you do to her?”

“To Annabelle? Nothing. I didn’t have to. She killed herself. I thought everything was going to be all right after that. I was home free.”

“No.” My heart pounded between my ears and the room went fuzzy. “No, she wouldn’t.”

Phil laughed bitterly. “You honestly think that?”

I sucked back a sob. “Then why are you still here?”

“Because of you. I couldn’t trust that the old fool hadn’t documented every blessed thing, so I was going to disappear. Then you had to come to see me last night.” She leaned into me. The scent of Chanel was now cloying instead of soothing. “I need that iPad. It’s the only thing that links back to me. All the other garbage I can get around, but that iPad.” Her fingers curled into fists. “I need it.”

“I don’t have it.”

She gripped the arms of my chair. “What do you mean you don’t have it? You just took it last night.”

“It’s with Blake.”

Phil’s face was red and splotchy. “God, you ruin everything.” She whirled toward Danny. “You’re going to have to kill her.”

Danny opened his arms wide, a gun in one shaking hand. “Are you out of your mind, lady? I didn’t sign up to kill her.” He wiped away a bead of sweat. “We’re going to the Caymans, and we’re getting out of here. That’s the deal.”

The front door slammed open, and Danny stumbled into the middle of the living room. His eyes were wild as he swung his gun up and at me. He looked over his shoulder, all the while in a forward momentum. I screamed and we both toppled to the floor.

I was under him so I couldn’t see what was going on around me. I heard footfalls and voices.

---