“What were you fighting about?” Devon asked. “Maya’s pregnancy?”
“No, I didn’t know about that then. I changed my will over the summer. I had to make arrangements after I got the diagnosis. Instead of passing everything down to Bill and his sons, everything was going to go to Hutch. The land, the vineyard, the house and my work in the lab. Eric and Bill, they just didn’t get it. They wanted to butcher the land and sell my property so Eddie Dover would finally own the whole mountain and he could rip it apart for his experiments. I won’t let them destroy our land and the school. I promised Francis Keaton I wouldn’t let them, and I intend to keep that promise from the grave if I have to. Hutch understood. He’s the only one who really understood. Eric came down thinking he was going to talk sense into me. I can’t believe that sonofabitch. His own brother.” Reed shook his head and twisted his mouth into a grimace.
“These are forty milligram pills,” Bodhi said. “It wouldn’t have taken much. If Eric crushed them up—”
“In a beer?” Devon added. She didn’t want to be right. Somehow if her hunches were wrong she didn’t need to look at the brutality of the truth.
“In a beer,” he agreed. His voice shook. “A strong beer like Gernsbach would have hidden the taste. If the pills are broken up they release the full dosage at once instead of over time as they’re supposed to. He would have stopped breathing within an hour.”
The room was silent as everyone absorbed what Bodhi said. For once, Devon thought, it feels like the puzzle pieces are all starting to fit together.
“What do we do now?” Raven asked. “Reed is the one with the pills in his name. If we accuse Eric and we’re wrong, the cops will turn on Reed, won’t they?”
“We need a confession,” Cleo said. “And if there’s one person who can get someone to talk.…” Devon blinked. All eyes in the room were on her. “You’re up, Counselor.”
CHAPTER 19
The last remnants of daylight were fading from the sky. The night was taking over, ushering the brighter colors off stage. Devon leaned back on the bench against the cement wall of the Palace. But the beauty offered her no comfort and with all the graffiti vying for wall space around her, she felt as if she were in a bathroom stall. Trapped. It was hard to imagine that seventy years ago soldiers sat here, scanning the ocean for incoming enemy activity. It seemed ironic. This used to be a place of safety, security. And now it was for rebellion and secrets, the worst of all, murder.
Tires twisted on the dirt path above. A door slammed. Devon checked the six pack of Gersbach beers at her feet, the notebook in her lap. Everything was in place.
“Babe? You down here?” Eric’s voice called. He was getting closer. Devon exhaled long and slow. Looking calm and confident was key. This was her session. She was in control here.
Eric rounded the corner and stopped when he saw Devon. “What are you doing here? Where’s Maya? She was meeting me here.”
“I know. Maya called you. But I’m the one meeting with you.” Devon stood up. “Have a seat. Pop a beer.” She slid the cardboard pack toward Eric with her foot. The glass bottles clinked together.
Eric tucked his hair behind his ears and glanced around. “Nah, Maya wouldn’t do that. Where is she?”
“Well, she did. And she’s not here. Maybe you two have more trust issues than you thought.” Devon sat back down and crossed her legs.
“Excuse me?” he said. “What’s this about, Devon? You wanted to have a beer with me in honor of Hutch or something?”
“I’ve got something for you.” Devon tapped the hard edge of her notebook. “Heard you were itching to get a look at my session notes.” Eric eyed the notebook in her lap. “Figured, if you were gonna pay someone to steal them from me, we could just cut out the middleman. I make a little cash; you get what you want. That is what you want, isn’t it? To find out what everyone’s been saying about Hutch. About you.”
The crickets filled in the silence as Devon leaned down and pulled a beer from the six-pack. With one deft move, like she had seen Raven do, she snapped the metal cap off with a pop of her hand and the