Fate Actually (Moonstone Cove #2) - Elizabeth Hunter Page 0,54
extra little houses on the property. Like guest cottages, you know? If anyone in the family needs a place to stay, they stay here.”
“That’s so lovely,” Katherine said. “I think large families like yours are fascinating.”
“I can’t lie,” Megan said. “It makes me miss all my cousins back east.”
“And I can’t lie.” Toni turned and paused before they walked in. “With my empathy, big parties like this are getting harder and harder for me to do. So we may not be able to stay long. Jackie said she managed to get Fairfield’s accountant here as a guest, so our priority is questioning him and seeing what he knows about Fairfield’s death, the blackmail stuff, and why Fairfield was so determined to screw with Nico.”
“Understood.” Katherine looked around. “Is Henry coming?”
“Yes. He was working today so Nico and the kids could help Marissa move to the rehab center.” Marissa was better, but according to doctors, she had a long road in front of her. “He’ll be done in another hour or so. I told him to meet us here.” And that could be the other reason that they weren’t staying long.
Did Toni want to introduce Henry as her… boyfriend / significant-other-type person?
Yes.
Did she want to stick around for questions?
Most decidedly no.
Just as they were about to walk into the backyard, Jackie rushed out of the house with a giant smile on her face.
“Hi!” She jumped over and hugged Megan. “So great to see you.” She stuck her hand out to Katherine and Baxter. “You must be Toni’s professor friends from the university, Katherine and…”
“Baxter.” Baxter shook her hand. “You have a beautiful home, Mrs. Dusi. Thank you so much—”
“Yep. I am going to chat with all of you, but first” —she turned to Toni— “please don’t kill me.”
“What did you do?” Alarm bells were going off in her head. Jackie could be dramatic. But this time she looked genuinely panicked.
“So!” She took a deep breath. “Okay, the guy you need to talk to is Ron Withers and he was Whit’s accountant and I guess he’s also a customer of yours because he was really excited when I told him you were my sister-in-law and he thinks you’re really cute and he kind of thinks this is a blind date. I am so sorry—it was the only way I could get him to come to the barbecue.”
Toni had to rerun it three times in her head. “Sorry, you what?”
“You wanted to question him about the stuff for Nico, but it was the only way I could get him here, okay? I’m so sorry.”
“You… you told him you’d set me up with him? On a date?” Toni looked around in a panic. “Jackie, the week that I told Henry I would introduce him to my family as my boyfriend, you set me up on a fake date so I could interrogate someone about a murder?”
Jackie made a high, whining noise. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know about Henry, and it was the only way he’d agree to come!”
Baxter leaned over and spoke quietly to Katherine. “It really is like watching a television drama, isn’t it?”
Toni was panicking. “Oh my God, Jackie!”
“I’m sorry!”
“What am I supposed to do? Henry will be here in an hour!”
“Okay, well just… interrogate Ron fast?”
Megan grabbed Toni’s arm and hooked it around hers. “We can do this. Jackie, you take care of Katherine and Baxter for us, point us in the direction of the accountant, and we’ll handle it.”
Toni’s mind was racing, but Megan’s calm presence steadied her. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
“Sadly, I have had to pretend to be interested in more than my fair share of boring men over the years.” She patted Toni’s arm. “We got this. I’ll be your wingwoman.”
“He’s a little older, like midfifties, and he’s got a white beard and he’s completely bald otherwise. Pretty fit, but he dresses like a dad.” Jackie looked at Megan. “You got it?”
“I got it.”
Toni could feel her panic start to rise with every step she took into the maelstrom of her big brother’s backyard. She felt a low burning anger start to simmer. She was trying to exonerate her cousin. Did men have to put up with faking interest in women to get information about murderers? Did men have to play dumb in order to—
“Okay, you’re gonna want to tamp down on that.”
Toni took a sharp breath. “Can you feel it?”
“It’s just rolling off you in waves, honey. I’m surprised no one around us has