“Let’s wait for Thea,” Xander suggested.
“Thea?” I grumbled.
“She’s delightfully Machiavellian, and she hates to lose.” Xander was absolutely unapologetic. “I like what that does to my odds.”
“She’s also Zara’s niece,” I couldn’t help pointing out. “And she hates you and your brothers.”
“Hates is a strong word,” Xander hedged. “Thea just loves us in a somewhat negative and occasionally vitriolic way.”
“Thea isn’t coming,” Rebecca said, interrupting the back-and-forth between Xander and me.
“She isn’t?” Xander raised his lone eyebrow.
“I just…” Rebecca took a breath, and the wind caught in her dark red hair. “I can’t, Xan. Not today.”
What’s today?
“What’s the new lead?” Rebecca asked, her expression begging Xander not to press her further. “What do we know?”
Xander gave a slight nod, and then he cut to the chase. “One of our persons of interest is Grayson’s father. Jamie and Gray are, I assume, making contact. Until we find out what they find out, our only option is following up on my other lead.”
“What other lead?” I asked.
“Camden House,” Xander said definitively. “Cross-referencing its major donors to the victims on Hawthorne Island led to two matches. David Golding’s family are platinum-level supporters. Colin Anders Wright’s uncle gave a onetime, but very generous, donation. And though I haven’t identified any direct donations from my grandfather, I have a theory.”
“Toby was a patient there,” I cut in. “Nan told me as much.”
“I’m almost positive that all three of the boys did a stint at Camden House,” Xander said. “I think that’s where they met.”
I thought about the news coverage of the fire. The suggestion that there had been a wild party that had spun out of control. The way that the tragedy had been blamed, again and again, on Kaylie Rooney, when the three upstanding young men had been partying straight out of rehab.
“If the boys met at Camden House,” Rebecca said slowly, “then…”
“Exactly! Then… what?” Xander bounced from one foot to the other.
“This tells us something about their state of mind that summer,” I said. “Leading up to the fire.”
“The fire,” Rebecca repeated, “and their deaths.” She closed her eyes tight, and when she opened them, she shook her head and began backing away. “I’m sorry, Xan. I want to play this game. I want to help you. I want to be able to do this with you, and I will, okay? Just not today.”
CHAPTER 30
It took me longer than it should have to piece together that when Rebecca had said earlier in the week that Emily’s birthday was Friday—today—she hadn’t been lying. Neither had Thea when she’d said that there was a memorial fundraiser.
The same fundraiser that Alisa was planning that I would attend.
“I booked you a session with Landon for this afternoon. She had limited availability, so we may have to double up with hair and makeup.”
I buckled my seat belt and narrowed my eyes at Alisa as Eli settled into the front passenger seat. “You failed to mention that tonight’s memorial was for Emily Laughlin.”
“Did I?” Alisa didn’t sound even the least bit guilty. “Country Day is building a new chapel in her honor.”
I heard a cough from the driver’s seat and realized that Oren wasn’t the one driving. This man had lighter, longer hair. I’d almost gotten used to Eli shadowing me at school, but this was the first time since the will had been read that Oren had willingly let me out of his sight while I was in transit. “Where’s Oren?” I asked.
“Otherwise occupied,” the driver replied. “There was a situation.”
“What kind of situation?” I pressed. No response. I looked at Alisa, but she just shrugged and redirected the conversation.
“You wouldn’t happen to know why Jameson and Grayson took one of your jets, would you?”
Back at Hawthorne House, we found Oren waiting at the door with the situation he’d been dealing with.
“Max?” I was stunned to see her. We hadn’t been together in person in more than a year, but there Max was, her black hair tied up in messy buns on either side of her head.
She beamed at me, then shot the world’s most aggrieved look in Oren’s direction. “Finally! Avery, will you tell Monsieur Bodyguard over here that I’m not a security risk?”