Page 42 of One Last Night

I gasp. She’s all but admitted now that she and Kevin are responsible for the sabotage.

That gasp is a mistake. Her eyes whip toward the door, and a moment later, she says, “Oh, shit. Kevin, I gotta go.”

I nearly turn and flee, but that won’t change anything, and besides, I want to talk to Luann and see if my suspicions are correct. If they are, then I’ll have a very important decision to make.

Luann whips the door open and blanches when she sees me. Her lower lip trembles. “Mary? What do you want?”

I’m surprised to find my voice steady when I reply, “The truth, Luann. All of it. Now.”

She stares for a long moment without saying anything. When she does answer, her voice is calm, but her eyes are still widewith fright. “No. The truth about anything having to do with me or my family is none of your business. You’re not my aunt. You’re my tutor. You’re aservant. You don’t have a right to talk to me like this.”

I give her a stern look. "My dear, you're not going to insult or intimidate me into refraining from investigating an action that could have killed people."

“Andyou’renot going to intimidatemeinto telling you things that are none of your business,” she snaps back. Her anger has overridden her fear again. “You’re. A.Servant. Get over it. If you want to give me a pop quiz on my math homework, go right ahead. That’s as much a part of my life as you get to be. In fact, it’s Saturday now. You don’t get to talk to me at all until Monday. So goodbye.”

She slams the door in my face. I remain where I am for a moment, but I decide not to knock on her door again. She’s not going to give me an answer.

And once more, I’m at a loss. If I tell anyone what I overheard, she’ll deny it. The police are already investigating, and I’m sure that Julian and Victoria aren’t interested in any of my nosiness or speculations right now.

I can tell Sean. That’s what I’ll do. He can investigate them, and if he finds an answer, he can pass that along to the people who need to hear it. It hurts to once more remove myself from active participation in this mystery, but my ego isn’t important right now. I need to put a stop to the danger, and if turning control of this to someone else is the way to do that, so be it.

CHAPTER TWENTY

I head downstairs, but Sean isn’t in the dining room anymore. He must have left already. I pull out my phone and begin to dial his number, but Julian’s voice interrupts me. He’s in the living room, and he’s on the phone. For the second time in ten minutes, I eavesdrop on a conversation between a Bellamy and a Cartwright.

“I’m just saying that it would be nice to know the truth. It doesn’t have to mean anything, Robert. I just want to know. Because I do, damn it! You and Mom… God, it’s like you two think you’re the only people who exist. You guys don’t get to sweep your sins under the rug. It hurts. Youhurtpeople, both of you. You don’t get to wash your hands and spit pithy bull crap about moving on and letting go of the past. I’m not saying that I want anything from you. I just want to know if you’re my father or not.”

There’s a brief pause that ends when Julian says, “You’ll never be my dad, so don’t worry about that. Parker Bellamy was my dad. But… damn it, there doesn’t need to be a practical reason. I have a right to know. What are you so afraid of, anyway? Donna died fourteen years ago.”

There’s another brief pause. Then Julian sighs. “I thought you didn’t like Kevin with Luann. Yeah, I know. But they’re not doing anything wrong. Why would it? Who gives a shit? They’re not brother and sister. They’re the same age, and they started dating before all of this. Wait. What do you mean you didn’t know?”

There’s a longer pause now, interrupted every so often with a half-phrase from Julian. “Yeah, but…” “Okay, listen…” “Julian, come on…”

The pause ends when Julian says, “All right, you know what? Fine. Go to hell. You’re already on the hook for the sabotage. Oh, you don’t think so? Yeah, good luck with that. I’ll bet you the next time I talk to you, you’ll be in a damned jail cell.”

His tone changes slightly. "Or… Maybe you work with me on this, and I work with you on the other thing. Right now, all we have is the conversation between Kevin and Luann. It wouldn't be too hard to make that go away. Mom's crops can be replaced, and as long as you behave yourself and don't act out like a moron, this won't…" He sighs. "Okay, sure. Fine. The point is that if you do a DNA test, I'll stop pursuing you for the vandalism, terrorism, and assault. Because I want to know, damn it! There doesn't need to be a practical reason! I just need to know whose fucking DNA I'm carrying."

Another long pause, this time uninterrupted. At the end of it, Julian sighs again. “Okay. Sure. Get back to me once you’ve made up your mind. Keep in mind that you’re in the middle of a police investigation, though. I’m not going to make the cops wait while you figure out if you have the courage to do the right thing. Yeah, you first.”

He hangs up, and I back away from the door so that when he opens it, it appears that I’ve just entered the dining room. He scoffs a little when he sees me. “Hello, Mary. Join me for a drink?”

I hesitate. I wanted to talk to Sean about what I overheard Luann say, but maybe it’s better if I tell Julian. It would be betraying her confidence again, but I don’t want an innocent man to suffer for a crime he didn’t commit.

Then again, it would take Julian’s leverage away if Luann was involved in the sabotage. And I definitely don’t want her in jail. Maybe it would be better to just let things work out as they will.

That’s a question I’ll have to answer later, though.

“Very well,” I reply. “Have a seat. I’ll bring you a drink. What would you like?”

He chuckles. “I’d like to wake up six weeks ago and know about Robert and Mom before all of the bullshit escalated.”

“Well, I can’t help you with that, but I can bring you some wine.”

“Forget the wine. There’s a bottle of vodka in the cabinet above the stove. Bring me that. And whatever you want for yourself.”

I fetch the vodka and opt for a glass of the freshly bottled Riesling. I would rather not drink right now, but it would be impolite of me to refuse, so I'll nurse a single glass over the course of the conversation. Hopefully, by the end of it, I'll know if I should tell Julian about the children or keep it to myself.

Julian pours himself a double shot and downs the entire glass, then pours himself another double shot. He sips this one, thankfully, but he keeps the bottle open.

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