I could say.
He swallowed hard, looking back at the enormous burned out shell, “She never made it out,” he said.
“Your aunt was going to get rid of Cruz,” I told him flatly, “They already brought Evie’s car back here. They were going to send him off a cliff… exactly the same way that they murdered Congressman Hill.”
Both Ethan and Brad looked at me in shock. I suppose I’d blurted that out rather bluntly, but after the day I’d just had I was simply in no mood to sugar-coat anything.
“It’s the truth,” I said wearily, “And your father is in on it too. I had no idea you or your aunt were part of the Edward’s family.”
Boris appeared from the shadows, surprisingly stealthy for a man his size.
“Marina,” he gestured for me to follow him, “Come… Evie needs you.”
Ethan clamped down on me in a panic, pulling me behind him like a ragdoll, “NO!” he said harshly, “She’s not going anywhere.”
I saw Boris sizing Ethan up, the two of them staring at each other intensely. The last thing I needed was more trouble. I felt weak and dizzy; all I wanted at the moment was a hot shower and a long nap.
I pointedly shrugged out of Ethan’s grip, and came around to stand between them, “Boris, I really need to go home right now. Please warn Evie about Olivia. Tell her I’ll be in touch soon. I need to speak with her alone.”
He nodded curtly, looking over my head to address Ethan, “Keep your eyes open.” He turned and disappeared back into the shadows, clearly in a hurry. I thought he must want to get back to Evie. I sighed, and looked up at Ethan, too exhausted to be annoyed.
“I’m sorry,” he said sheepishly, taking my hands, “I just can’t let you out of my sight… I won’t.”
I slumped onto him, giving in to the need for support, and yawned, burying my face in his chest, “I’m so tired.”
He stroked the back of my head, “Yeah, me too.”
I looked up to see Cruz returning, addressing Brad, “Mission accomplished. They’re going to contact us when they finish the arson investigation.” He paused uncomfortably, “They’ll let us know as soon as they can get in and do a search. You’re going to have to call your father…”
“What am I supposed to say?” he choked out, still clearly in shock.
“He already knows that they took us,” I said, “Barbara said he was on his way back to town.”
Cruz screwed up his face for a moment, “But he won’t know what happened… All the surveillance tapes are gone… Just tell him what I told the cops… Some crazy home invasion robbers showed up after we went surfing and you helped me get away from them.”
“We ran out and called the cops… We heard gunshots… They must have started the fire,” Cruz’s eyes were darting around as he thought.
“Yes!” I jumped in, “Brad can play dumb, say that he thought they were after Barbara.”
Cruz jumped in, grasping Brad by the arms, “Just tell the truth… You don’t know how Marina got out of the house.”
“Be sure to mention that you didn’t see them grab us.” I added. “It’s important to stay as close to the truth as possible when you lie.” I should know, I thought.
Cruz nodded, “And don’t tell him that you know Marina was here before! Can you do that?”
Brad nodded numbly, “But why?” he asked again.
I looked at Brad, and then at Cruz, “I guess you can tell him the truth… but take him home first.”
“Oh my God! Evie’s car!” Cruz wailed, “What will she say?”
“It’s gone now,” I nodded towards the house, “But I’m sure Evie could care less.” The loss of one of her many cars was the last thing Evie would be concerned with once she learned what had been going on.
“I can drive,” said Brad.
“Good,” I said with finality, turning back to Ethan, “I want to go home.”
Ethan had been watching us formulating our story, looking back and forth between Cruz and me apprehensively, “You guys are scary.”
“No,” Cruz snarked, “We’re creative.”
“We’re outta here,” Ethan said, taking me by the waist and leading me down the driveway. He picked me up and carried me over the rough gravel drive to deposit me in his truck.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” I joked.
“I hear that,” he said.
I asked him to take me to my studio and found it just as we’d left it that afternoon, with the door swinging