Page 194 of Trust No One

“Did you convince her to file the lawsuit against the trust?”

“It was a suggestion.” He held up his glass. “You’re not drinking. Take a sip. Makes me think you don’t trust me.”

“I don’t.”

He chuckled. “I’m not going to kill you. You have papers to sign. You have an estate to sell.”

“That’s why you’ve been dragging your feet with the divorce. The trust, the land. Maria convinced you it could be up for grabs.”

“She thought many steps ahead.” He handed me my glass. “Drink.”

An order.

I tipped the glass up until cool liquid brushed my lips. I tasted a slight bitterness under the wine.

“See, not such a big deal. We’re just your average married couple having a pleasant evening.”

“What happened with Maria?”

He chuckled. “Her plan was to poison Amy and Gabe, but she was worried about landing in jail as the prime suspect. I suggested she poison herself.”

“And that’s what she did. She didn’t know about her heart condition.”

He grinned. “Devil is in the details.”

“She poisoned Amy here at Hale House. Slipped it in the coffee grounds and water bottles.”

I’d drunk some of that coffee. The grounds were bitter to me, and my stomach was too queasy to finish the cup.

“But Amy didn’t die right away, did she?” I asked.

“Maria followed her to the creek bed until she died. Then she slipped poison in Gabe’s anxiety medicine.”

“If it’s true, very clever.”

“Her plan was to recover, free and clear of the deaths of her husband and his mistress. And then she’d start working on you.”

“And my mother?”

He smiled. “That I don’t know.”

Maria had always reminded me that I owed her. Whenever I pressed, she never would explain.

“I suppose eventually, I’d have an accident or illness. And then she’d have it as Molly’s mother.”

He leaned forward. “It would have been my play if I were that conniving.”

But he was. “The estate is why you married me.”

“Not the only reason, Raine. I love you. But I’ve had my sights set on Hale House since I was a kid.”

“Our meeting in the Alexandria bar wasn’t an accident.”

“Took a little planning to make it look like chance.”

Rage surged. Gripping the wineglass, I lunged forward, threw the wine in his face, and cracked the glass against his head.

He arched back, cursing as blood trickled down his face. “What the fuck.”