Page 66 of Twisted Elites

“We made a deal that I would play hostage and get you to retract your statement and refund his twenty-five-thousand pounds.”

“But you took that from my room before setting my things alight,” I said.

Her head snapped up, and she twisted her misshapen face into a scowl. “See? Accusations like that are the reason why people hate you.”

“Of course,” I said, not meaning a single word. “Go on.”

“Mr. Byrd let me stay with him for a few days.” She swallowed. “But when he called, and you hung up on him, he turned weird.”

My eyes squeezed shut. “How?”

“There’s something wrong with him. He locked me in his bedroom all day and only gave me food and water if I wore Bianca’s clothes and did things for him.”

Leopold shook his head, and Sebastian blew out a breath.

Ashley continued a hair-raising tale that detailed her time with the erratic Mr. Byrd. Throughout her story, she continued to blame me for not responding to the madman’s demands. When Leopold pointed out that Geraldine had lured her into a trap, she brushed that aside to ask why I hadn’t taken the time to listen to Mr. Byrd.

She hiccuped. “I should have gone to Ibiza, but after everything you’ve done to me, I had to see you punished.”

Anger surged through my veins, and a dull roar filled my ears. I’d heard enough. It was time for Ashley to leave. But I would have to be careful with what I said next.

“Are you going to report him?” I asked. “That was false imprisonment. He can’t get away with that.”

She dipped her head. “Will you stay with me while I talk to the police?”

“As long as you don’t accuse me of crying-wolf syndrome.”

“Not this time,” she rasped.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called the local police station, making sure to give the operator Ashley’s name. Hopefully, someone would notice that she was wanted for murder, and they would send a squad car soon.

Leopold made a pot of peppermint tea, and we sat around the dining room table and waited. My heart quickened, but I forced my muscles to relax and hoped the police would come soon. I wondered if telling Ashley that Mom and Dad had died while driving through perilous mountain conditions had caused something in her mind to snap. She hadn’t once mentioned the batch of cannabis she had poisoned.

Cupping the mug between her thin fingers, Ashley glanced from one bookshelf to the other. “Thanks for saving the house. It almost feels like Mom and Dad are upstairs sleeping, you know? Being away from you has made me realize that you weren’t nearly as bad as I’d thought.”

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” I tried hard to keep the sarcasm out of my tone.

Leopold and Sebastian sipped their tea in silence, occasionally shooting Ashley furtive glances.

“Can we start again?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I said a lot of horrible things, but it was the pressure of being in Brittas Academy. DJ Bones said the place had bad feng shui.”

“How is he?” I asked.

Tears filled her eyes. “I lost my phone, and now I can’t get hold of him. The first place I went when I hitched back to Carlisle was his squat, but they were all on their way to meet him in Portugal with his girlfriend.”

Sebastian gaped. “The one who stole your money?”

She nodded. “They were in it together. Did you know he got one of his friends to break into the house? When I told him I had the key to a fortune, he thought I was hiding gold.”

“Someone from the squat told you this?” I asked, shuddering about that time I’d had to hide under Mom and Dad’s bed.

“Yes.” She lowered her head into her mug.

I rubbed my temples. “It must have felt terrible to be betrayed by someone so close.”