“So would I,” Jo said. “And your bodyguard knows what I’m like when I’m upset.”
Spencer Harding blinked. “Thank you for your concern, ladies,” he droned. “I’m afraid I really must get back to the conversation I left. Again, my deepest apologies for my man’s appalling behavior. I do hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the party.” He turned to Claude. “Tell Leonard he has strange taste in friends.”
They watched him walk away. Claude waited until he was just out of earshot. “I hate that conceited asshole.”
“Gee, I wonder why?” Jo joked.
“You didn’t tell me you saw Rosamund,” Claude said. “She hasn’t been outside in days. I know she’s dealing with some issues, but I worry about her being stuck in a house with that scumbag.”
“If she ever wants to get rid of him, she’ll find everything she needs in the planters in her front yard,” Harriett said.
Claude’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“The flowers are Korean aconite. Some call them wolfsbane. Their poison has been saving women from assholes for thousands of years.”
Jo glanced nervously at Harriett. “She’s kidding.”
“No, I’m not,” Harriett said. “Ask Rosamund to google aconite, would you?”
Jo and Harriett sat side by side in the back seat of Chase’s car. They’d both held their tongues while another of Jackson Dunn’s sons drove them back to the gate. But the moment the car doors slammed shut, Jo couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Why did you—” she started to ask before Chase slid into the driver’s seat and shut the door.
“What the hell?” he said, interrupting Jo’s thought. “Am I supposed to be your chauffeur now? Why are you both in the back seat?”
“We have things to talk about,” Jo snipped.
“You going to tell me what happened back there at Jackson’s house?” Chase demanded.
Harriett rolled her eyes as she turned to face him. “No,” she said. “And don’t ask again.” Then she returned her attention to Jo. “What were you saying?”
“Why did you say that about”—she put her lips to Harriett’s ear and whispered—“getting rid of Spencer?”
Harriett pulled away and shrugged. “Why not? Someone’s going to have to do it eventually, don’t you agree? It might as well be Rosamund. She has a bumper crop of yellow wolfsbane growing right in her front yard.”
Jo took in a breath. It was pointless trying to talk sense to Harriett. “You probably blew Claude’s mind.”
“I doubt it,” Harriett replied. “Seems to me like she’s considered killing him a few times herself.”
“I can’t see her going that far,” Jo said. “Besides, I’m sure she’s used to taking shit from the Culling Pointe set.”
“Wait—are you two serious?” They looked up to see Chase’s laughing eyes in the rearview mirror.
“Your games are boring,” Harriett told him.
“I’m not playing games. You really don’t know who Claude Marchand is?”
“The woman who plans Jackson Dunn’s parties,” Jo said.
Chase’s laugh was that of a man cursed by fate. “I spent all afternoon schmoozing my ass off and getting nowhere, and you two end up best friends with Claude and you don’t even know who she is?”
“This is getting tiresome,” Harriett said with an exaggerated yawn. “Enlighten us or shut up, would you?”