Page 65 of The Anniversary Party

Paul hesitated.

“Like the news that Rex may have a child.”

He shook his head vehemently. “I don’t know anything about that. But I’m surprised he’d tell Grady first. But, hey, Rex kept his own counsel.“

“Who would you expect him to tell first?” Leo asked.

Paul’s lower lip protruded. “Honestly? Me.”

“Not Chance?” Sasha wondered.

He scoffed as he stood to leave. “No way. Rex and I were roommates all four years of college. Chance was just some guy who dated Bethany. I’m not saying he was the odd man out, but—he was the odd man out. Anyway, hope I was helpful.”

When Paul had nearly reached the door, Leo said, “One more thing. You said Tessa was talking to the Carlisles at the front door when you came in through the back with the cocktail supplies, right?”

Paul scrunched up his face and shot Leo a bewildered look. “No, you’re confused. Tessa wasn’t at the door. It was Bethany.”

Leo snapped his fingers. “That’s right. My mistake.”

“Thanks a lot, Paul.” Sasha flashed him a smile.

After he stepped out into the hall and slid the doors closed behind him, she turned toward her clever husband, and her smile widened. “Nicely played.”

CHAPTER25

Sasha filled Leo in on the broad strokes of Bethany’s story. After he expressed his amazement at Chance’s nerve, they agreed they should speak to Bethany in private. They’d just left the library to look for her, but Joy found them first.

“There’s something else I didn’t tell you,” she said without preamble as she met them near the wide, curved staircase.

Her hushed, confessional tone suggested the need for privacy, so Leo jerked his head toward the stairs. They followed her up to the second-floor landing. Her thin heels clacked against the steps, echoing in the empty reception space below. So much for being discreet.

Sasha darted down the hallway, opened the first door she saw, and flipped on the light. Joy and Leo trailed behind her. They entered a cheerful bedroom decorated in shades of soft blue and bright yellow and milled inside the doorway. Leo closed the door and gestured toward the fainting couch along the wall under the window.

Joy shook her head, sending her copper-colored waves bouncing off her shoulders. “No thanks. This won’t take long. Besides, I want to get back before anyone notices I’m gone.”

Sasha frowned, but Joy addressed her concern before she could raise it. “Don’t worry. Maisy knows I came to find you. I mean I don’t want the others to realize I left.”

Leo noted that she didn’t refer to the rest of the group as her friends. But then, why would she? They were essentially strangers as far as she was concerned.

“Okay, what’s up?” Sasha asked, leaning against the wall near what Leo assumed was a closet door.

The redhead rolled her neck and shoulders and blew out a breath.”When you were talking to Chance in the library, he said something that’s not quite right. I didn’t want to call him out in front of everyone. And then Bethany told that wild story about why they’re fighting, and I almost forgot about it. It’s probably nothing.” Her voice hitched as her confidence slipped out of place.

“Every detail matters,” Leo hurried to tell her before she could talk herself out of sharing whatever was gnawing at her.

“The most seemingly unimportant thing might be what helps us catch Grady’s killer,” Sasha added, focusing on the one member of the reunion party with whom Joy had a connection.

“Okay.” Joy’s lower lip wobbled, but she forged ahead. “Chance said he was coming downstairs when Paul came in with the drink fixings, but he wasn’t. I saw him in that little alcove outside the room where Annette found her brother’s body.”

Leo pictured the house’s layout. “Are you talking about the anteroom with the fireplace?”

She nodded. “He was standing in front of the hearth and staring at the wrought-iron stand that holds all the fireplace tools—you know, the poker, the bellows, all that stuff.”

“Staring at it?”

“Yeah, he was fixated. It was weird. I almost asked him if he was okay. But then Bethany said goodbye to that couple who runs this place and shut the front door. And that broke the spell. He wheeled around and practically ran into the kitchen. I just assumed he was avoiding his shrew of a wife. And maybe that’s why he lied about it?”

“Maybe,” Leo allowed.

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