in a crisis. It was stupid to shoot you. He should have run.”
Bree agreed. “How long did it take you to look like Shannon? That was the genius part.”
“The hardest part was gaining weight. That took a couple of months. I didn’t like letting myself go like that, but Shannon was dumpy, so . . .” Holly shrugged. “The rest was easy. I cut my hair and curled it. Unless someone looked really close, I passed. I even switched our makeup, toothbrushes, and hairbrushes. I knew the medical examiner would do a DNA test.” Holly was bragging outright now.
“What about your mother? Didn’t you think she’d notice?”
“She’s mostly blind.” Holly bit her lip. “I did worry about her recognizing my voice. That’s why I’d been avoiding her. I never had a cold. I was hoping she’d die before I had to deal with it. But even if she did figure it out, what would she do? Call the police on her only living daughter?”
Bree kept her interested poker face intact, but inside, she was thinking, wow.
“Owen helped you,” Bree said, trying to sound impressed. Holly seemed narcissistic, and narcissists love praise.
“Of course he helped me. This was our big chance. Shannon had a nice cash cow going. She hardly worked. She made good money. I went through her files. It didn’t seem very hard.”
“But Owen would still have to deal with the debts.”
She shrugged. “He was going to declare bankruptcy. The only bad part of the plan was we had to live apart for a while. But we figured in a year or so, Shannon would move. She didn’t have any friends or coworkers. She hardly knew her neighbors. She was wasting her life. She didn’t travel or have fun. She was such a freak.”
Shannon was the freak?
“Your plan really was perfect.” Bree tossed out more flattery. “It’s almost a shame you got caught.”
She suspected Holly was a sociopath as well as a narcissist. She couldn’t resist boasting about her superior intelligence.
Holly sighed. “I put so much work into it. Paul had forged his kids’ names on corporate documents. He gave me the idea to steal more money from Beckett Construction. I started a new corporation in my sister’s name, and Owen opened an account at the bank. We planned this for years.”
Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place: Owen’s job had enabled him to illegally open accounts.
“Why not just take the money and run?” Bree asked.
“And do what? Live on the run?” Holly’s tone was filled with contempt, as if Bree were an idiot. “This isn’t a TV show. How could we travel without passports? Do you know how hard it is to get fake documents these days? Everything is digital.”
“You’re right.” Bree nodded. “To have a good quality of life, you need documentation.”
Holly’s single nod was arrogant. “I wanted Shannon’s business, her nice house, the whole cushy life she’d built.” Jealousy laced her words.
“You deserved it,” Bree said.
“I did.” Holly shook her head. “I should have killed Angela. She tipped off the IRS. They started sending Paul audit notices. He was freaking out. I was afraid I’d go to jail with him. I did most of the work. It’s easier to get away with murder than cheat on your taxes.”
Bree did not point out that Holly had failed on both counts. “Did you make Shannon’s dog sick so you’d have an alibi with the vet?”
“I would never hurt a dog.” Holly’s posture and tone turned indignant. “I’m not a monster.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Someone needs to get Chicken,” Holly added. “I’ll miss that dog. He’s ugly, but he’s really sweet.” She blew a frizzy curl out of her eye. “He didn’t like me that much, though. He missed Shannon, but he would have adjusted over time.”
“So, Owen had an alibi for Friday night. Did you kill Holly alone and dispose of her body?”
“Do I look like I could have tossed that much deadweight over the side of a bridge?” Holly rolled her eyes. “We killed her early Friday morning—before I went to work—and dumped her Friday night before Owen went to the bar.”
And because the real Holly showed up for work on Friday, Bree had gotten the time of death wrong.