“Jack and I have been worried.”
Olivia stepped away from the door so Finley could jab the key into the lock.
“I’m sorry. I had to think all this through. My mother is dead. My sister is missing, possibly dead too. I wanted to disappear again. I was just plain scared.”
A perfectly reasonable explanation—to a point. Finley pushed open the door and flipped on some lights. “You’re supposed to trust me. You’re supposed to trust Jack. We’re not going to get through this if we don’t have trust.”
Olivia followed her inside, her expression crestfallen. “I’m really, really sorry. I do trust you and Jack. I think I just panicked.”
Where had she heard this before?
“Have you talked to Cecelia?” Finley tossed her bag on the sofa and sat. She was too tired to worry about food.
Olivia shook her head. “I haven’t, and this is the first time she’s been out of touch for this long. Mother took care of her. Always. This is why I’m so worried that someone took her.”
“No one took her,” Finley announced. “She was here last night.”
“So you know now the agoraphobia is a lie?”
“I stopped by the house to check on how the forensics part of the investigation was going, and while I was inside, she claimed she covered her head and hid in my car. The answer to whether the phobia is real remains up in the air.”
Olivia’s face turned to one of confusion. “Why didn’t she call me and let me know she was okay? Why didn’t you call?”
Her confusion visibly shifted to frustration.
“You haven’t been answering your phone,” Finley pointed out, restraining her own frustration. “At least not for me or Jack.”
Olivia pulled out her phone and checked the screen. “I have no missed calls from either of you.” She faced her screen outward for Finley to see.
She waved her off. Didn’t matter. They were beyond a few missed calls at this point. Besides, call logs could be erased. “Cecelia believes you killed Sophia.”
“What? That’s insane. Where is she? We need to talk about this. She can’t possibly believe I would hurt Mother.”
“She disappeared on me last night. I looked for hours. Never found her. For all I know she could be hiding in a neighbor’s garage. She’s pretty shaken up.”
“So am I!” Olivia stood and started pacing. “I can’t believe this. Cecelia is the one who always lies. She has always been the troublemaker. How can she blame me for this?”
“Whoever came into the house and killed your mother had the security code.” Finley had gone over the list provided by Montrose and circled the names of folks she wanted to interview.
Olivia stared at Finley for a few beats. “Like I told you, the code hasn’t been changed in years.”
“Assuming we can find Cecelia again,” Finley said, “the four of us need to sit down and figure this all out. One or both of you is lying. Jack and I can’t help you if you’re not telling us the whole story.”
“I’ve told you all I know. The first time we met, I explained to you that my sister can’t be trusted. She lies.” Tears rolled down Olivia’s cheeks. “She terrifies me, but she is still my sister, and now I’m all she has left.”
“Tell me about her relationship with Holmes—and don’t leave anything out. I’ve already been to Paradise, the place they hung out together. I’ve spoken with the man who runs the place. He remembers Cecelia.” Finley shrugged. “Of course, it could have been you, pretending to be Cecelia. You told me you did that sometimes for tests at school.”
Fear sparked in Olivia’s eyes. Good. She should be afraid. Finley had run out of patience for their games.
“Cecelia was a little obsessed with him. She and Bethany would go to that place just to be around him. To watch him. It was really stupid.”
“You never went,” Finley pressed.
“I did once.” She dropped her head for a moment before meeting Finley’s eyes again. “Cecelia was sick with some kind of bug. I’d heard her talking to Bethany about him so much that I was curious. So that night I went. I pretended to be her. But I never spoke to him. I stayed in a dark corner and just watched. I was too afraid to talk to him. I left at the first opportunity I had.”
“Why would you keep any of that from me? If Holmes has his way, Cecelia will be going to prison.”
She looked up at Finley then. “The truth? She needs to be in prison where she can’t hurt anyone else.”