Page 124 of Falling for Mr. October

“How’d you do it?” Giovanni asks. “Did the murderers give you clues too?”

She smiles, shaking her head, and then motions for us to huddle with her. “I bought the map from Whit.”

Giovanni looks astonished, but I bust out laughing. Of course she bought the map. Emily’s nothing if not a survivor, just like Whit. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn she taught him some of his hustling skills, or that she bought him a book to guide his eventual world domination.

“I think I have a lot to learn from you ladies,” Giovanni says at last, smiling.

“You’ll learn everything you need to know at book club,” Emily says. “If you survive book club, you can survive anything.”

Christopher, who’s been making the rounds, talking to various townspeople, approaches us.

“Congratulations,” he says to Emily. “You got through the maze at least twenty minutes before everyone else.”

“I have a fantastic sense of direction,” she replies deadpan.

“So it would seem, so it would seem,” he mutters, then turns toward Giovanni and me with a faux sympathetic smile.

My back immediately stiffens. I don’t like it when people look at me, or anyone else, like that. There’s nothing in this world more rank than false sympathy.

“I heard something interesting about the car accident your brother was in, Bianca, and I was wondering if you’d be willing to comment?”

“Why are you interested in an accident that happened five years ago?” I reply, suddenly feeling like my throat is coated with ash.

“They say your brother was in that car with Ann Campbell and Jake Simmons,” he says, then turns to Emily and adds, “Ann was your boss’s granddaughter.”

“I know who I work for,” she says tightly.

“And Jake…”

“We know who both of them were,” I say. “Of course we do. We live here, Christopher. I went to school with them. We all cried for them. Some of us still do.”

He nods, more of that fake sympathy filling his gaze. “Jake was your high school boyfriend.”

Giovanni darts me a wide-eyed look, and I know he’s wondering why I never told him about Jake. Why Miles never said anything either.

I force myself to look away. “Why don’t you cut to the chase and tell me what you’re accusing my brother of?”

“Or you can leave.” Giovanni wraps an arm around me, pulling me close. “That would work too.”

Christopher lifts his hands, palms facing outward. “I’m not accusing anyone of anything. I’m trying to get the story straight, because from what I understand, a reporter from It’s Not Gossip has been calling around and asking questions about the accident.”

Giovanni swears under his breath. I swear over my breath.

“The story goes,” Christopher continues, “that Ann had broken up with Miles, and supposedly everyone in town knew Miles and Jake didn’t get along…”

“Oh my God,” I say, pulling away from Giovanni so I can wag a finger at the reporter. “Are you suggesting my brother⁠—”

“I know he wasn’t driving. None of them were drunk, but why were they in a car together? No one seems to know.”

“Does it matter?” I snap. “Jake took a blind curve too fast, and he hit that tree. Miles only survived because he was in the back seat, and if you think he doesn’t carry that with him every single day, then you’re a fool. I don’t know what the hell this has to do with anything.”

“People are interested in your family,” Christopher says softly. “People are interested in the woman behind all of this.” He motions toward Giovanni.

A feeling of deep misgiving clutches at me. Giovanni warned me they’d want all of our secrets, but that threat had barely given me pause. Because we’d needed the money. We’d needed it, and now we’ve gotten it. The farm is doing better than it has in a decade. But Miles is coming back home soon, based on what Giovanni told me, and if he returns only to discover all of the old stories were revived right before his return…

It’ll kill him all over again.

“Leave my brother alone,” I say, feeling hot tears pressing at my eyes. “He’s been through enough. So have the Campbells and the Simmonses.”