I had what I’d really been robbed of.”
Ed wasn’t her husband? This wasn’t making any sense, along with so many other things. For instance— “What are you going to do to me?”
“I’m afraid you’re going to take an unfortunate tumble down the basement stairs. They’re so steep, I’ve always been afraid someone would fall and break their neck. Sadly, it’s going to be you.”
“You can’t think you’ll get away with this.”
“Of course I will. Just like I did with the last one. Nobody figured out she didn’t die in an accident, and no one will with you, either.”
“I figured it out,” Jillian declared. A surge of fury rushed through her, piercing the fuzziness in her head and giving her a brief burst of strength. “I didn’t come here to get married. Courtney Miller was my best friend. I knew her death was no accident. I’ve told people back home about my investigation. If anything happens to me, they’ll know it was no accident.”
“But you didn’t know it was me, otherwise you would have been more suspicious and you wouldn’t have drunk the tea. That means no one else does, too.”
“Someone will come along now. They’ll see what you’re doing.”
“Everyone’s busy dealing with that tree. Ray and Zack are outside. Ed and Adam are all the way upstairs on the other side of the house. Grace went to check the other rooms in the west wing to make sure there weren’t any other problems that needed to be handled. And Meredith’s taking a nap.”
“They’ll still know it wasn’t an accident. They’ll find the drug in my bloodstream. They’ll know I didn’t just fall.”
“By the time anyone finds you, most of it should be out of your bloodstream. And I’ll leave some of the pills in your luggage so they’ll think the drugs were yours anyway. Too bad you took some before you decided to snoop.”
“But they’ll know Meredith was drugged, too.”
“Obviously you did that, to give yourself time to snoop. After all, the pills are yours.”
They’d made it to the dining room. Rosie tsked softly under her breath. “You’ve only given me one more reason why you have to die. Pretending to be a bride? You really have no shame, do you? No respect for what that means.”
Clearly there was not going to be any reasoning with the woman. She was completely insane. Jillian’s only chance was to fight back physically, not with mere words. She struggled to force her limbs into compliance. She got only the barest flicker of response. They felt numb, almost as if they were no longer attached to her body. Panic rose inside her the more she struggled to get any kind of reaction from them. She didn’t believe Adam would believe this was an accident or there was any way Rosie would get away with this. But that wouldn’t do Jillian any good if she was dead.
“That might actually make this work better,” Rosie muttered under her breath. “It’s going to look suspicious to have another bride die around here. But if you’re not really a bride then it won’t look so strange. Everyone already knows you’ve been poking your nose around here, going places you don’t belong. It only makes sense that you’d try to go down to the basement. These stairs are steep. Anybody would trip and fall on them. Too bad for you that you decided to sneak down there when everyone was busy with the storm.”
At this point Jillian suspected the woman was no longer trying to convince her. Rosie was simply talking to herself, her frenzied ramblings only deepening the impression that she’d gone that far over the edge.
They finally reached the kitchen, Rosie pushing through the revolving door. Jillian immediately spotted the open door Rosie began guiding her to.
The doorway to the basement.
It stood black and empty. Waiting for her.
Frantically, Jillian tried harder to get her limbs to move. She felt the faintest, tiniest trace of response in her arms and legs. She worked harder, trying to build her strength, trying not to give her efforts away. Maybe the woman would think she’d finally passed out, maybe she would lower her guard. Jillian needed her to, needed every advantage she could get. She might have only one chance to strike, only one shot to fight the woman off.
She finally felt her muscles begin to tighten, her strength gathering, wanting to lash out. She couldn’t do it too soon. She needed just the right moment. She would need every last