me. “The body you buried on my land! Of course, none us give a damn the bastard’s dead; you did us all a favor killing him off, but you could’ve at least—”
That’s when I saw it on her finger. My engagement ring. She’d been hiding it up until that point, had twisted it backwards into her palm. Now it shone like a prism, glimmering dangerously. “It was you lot!” I yelled back. “You all murdered Juan, you and your unhinged triplets! And you stole my ring, you bitch. Give it back!” I was about to race downstairs, but heard a noise coming from there, too. I was blocked from above and below.
“Don’t mind that banging noise,” Lee said. “We had to lock Jen in the laundry room for a little time out. Make her see sense.”
So Jen was on my side, after all? Or was this another set-up?
Lee cried out, “You think we don’t know what you buried in the dell in the woods? You, skulking around by that big redwood whenever you got the chance? We have the GPS co-ordinates, you dumbass. ‘Hidden’ in the wall safe, written in your hand.”
“Liar!” I screamed, panicked. How did she know?
She laughed and tossed her head. “The password to the safe was so damn easy to figure out.”
“You’re bluffing,” I said.
“Baby Rupert’s date of birth!” She cackled. “Your mommy just loves to share her pity party on Facebook, doesn’t she?”
My stomach lurched. My mum probably had no idea about privacy settings on Facebook—no doubt her posts were public. Sharing personal information: Rupert’s 40th “birthday,” fuck! I could just imagine Mum wallowing in “I’m sorry for your loss” comments from friends and family, albeit thirty-nine years after the fact. The hearts and smiley face comments “I” had made on Mum’s posts: was that Lee?
“My kids did start digging between the roots but must’ve been off by several feet, because they couldn’t find anything. But we will. You, Mrs. Trujillo the Second, are a murderer. You thought you could get away with it, didn’t you? All that juicy life insurance money on the back of my ex-husband! On the back of a house I built! On the backs of my children’s inheritance, our blood, sweat, and tears! You thought you could swoop right in and take Cliffside away from us.”
“You’re the thief!” I screamed back, waving the pistol at her. “You and Juan had a deal! And, for your information, you know what’s buried by that redwood? Not Juan, you idiot, but money. Eight million dollars! That’s right! Take it, it’s yours if you and your children just leave me alone and get the hell out of my life, you can have it!”
“You must think I was born yesterday. Eight million dollars,” she shrieked, “is buried in your backyard?” She hooted with laughter. “I’m not that freaking gullible.”
“See for yourself. It is next to that big redwood. You can have the bloody money,” I yelled. “Take it. Just leave me in peace and let me go, and you can take all the money, every last filthy dollar.”
“You’re lying.”
“Be my guest, Lee, find out for yourself.” I was aware of the danger I was putting her in. I knew somebody might still be watching the house, and Juan had told me not to dig anything up for three years.
She waved her bony finger at me again. “This ring? It’s collateral, honey. It stays on my finger until I find out if you’re bullshitting me or not.”
The sound of the doorbell cut out my cries. What? The doorbell? Had Lee locked the house? Didn’t the triplets have a key?
We both stood there gawping at each other, stunned into silence. Lee looked as shocked and bewildered as I did.
She moved warily towards the door. I stepped back up to the top of the stairwell and craned my neck around to see, curiosity getting the better of me. She opened the door slowly.
It wasn’t Dan, or his sisters. Nor even Pippa. It was a highway patrol officer in uniform, standing there, smiling.
“Mrs. Trujillo? I’m sorry to bother you, ma’am, but I had a call from your mother a couple days ago, from England? I promised her I’d check in on you. Excuse the delay but it’s been crazy out there on the highway the last couple days.”
I had never sprinted so fast in my life, stumbling over myself to get to the door, barging Lee out of the way, practically hurling myself at the officer.