Say It Again (First Wives, #5)(68)

Jeb remove a knife from his back pocket and helped her open the package.

In it was a bouquet of white lilies.

A confused look crossed Trina’s face. “Wade?”

“Your husband sends you flowers instead of handing them to you?” Claire asked.

Trina shook her head, grabbed the card. “Not usually.” She read the card, turned it over, and read it again. “I don’t get it.”

Jeb hesitated.

“Not from Wade?” Claire asked.

“No it’s . . .” She handed the card to Jeb.

“‘Miss Scarlet, Dining Room, Revolver. Yours Faithfully, Charles.’” Jeb looked up. “Who the hell is Charles?”

A deep chill ran down Claire’s spine. “Let me see that.” She read the note, looked at the flowers.

“Isn’t that from the board game? Miss Scarlet in the dining room with the revolver?” Trina asked.

“Clue,” Jeb said.

Claire remembered the game vaguely, or the reference to it.

“I get Scarlet . . . but who is Charles? Shouldn’t it be Professor Plum or Colonel Mustard?” Trina asked.

“I don’t like this,” Jeb said, reaching for the box holding the flowers.

“This isn’t a clue, it’s a warning,” Claire stated.



“I’m really not much of a cook, I’m sorry to say,” Sasha told Marjorie as they stood in the kitchen over what would become their dinner. Throughout the late morning and early afternoon, AJ had kept most of the conversation going. He’d played the part of doting boyfriend a little too well. They’d agreed to stay for dinner, and now Sasha was standing over the sink with a potato peeler in her hands.

AJ was gathering wood by a shed in the back of the yard and bringing it closer to the house. At least that was the excuse he used to give Sasha time alone with his mother. Alex Senior was due home anytime, a meeting Sasha was hoping would shed light on the Hofmann parents’ dynamics.

“I wasn’t either at your age. It wasn’t until after AJ was born that I had to learn my way around the kitchen.”

Sasha started the task of peeling the skin off the potato. “You didn’t cook for Mr. Hofmann?” she asked.

“Not much in the beginning. We dined out a lot before the kids showed up.” Marjorie’s voice softened. “AJ would eat just about anything. Amelia was the picky one.”

They hadn’t talked much about her throughout the day. Only to say that they’d gone to her place and grabbed her mail and would return to do the rest at a later date.

“AJ’s been pretty torn up about your daughter,” Sasha told her.

“We all are.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “Have the police come up with anything?” Sasha watched Marjorie from the corner of her eye.

“No. I don’t think we’ll ever know who did this or why.” She stopped spreading seasoning over the roast she was preparing long enough to look up at Sasha. “Losing a child is the worst possible pain. Maybe when I’ve processed the fact that she’s gone I can spend my time trying to find out who did it. Right now I’m still numb.”

Emotion welled behind Marjorie’s eyes.

“I shouldn’t have brought it up,” Sasha told her.

“It’s okay. I’m glad you’re there for my son. I know he’s been hard on himself since her death.”

Sasha looked down at the sink, slowly worked the potato. “I don’t really understand why. It’s not like he could have stopped it from happening.”

Marjorie started working on cutting an onion. “He wishes he’d had more time. They weren’t close when Alex took the job in Germany. I think AJ wishes he’d gone to school with his sister. At least that’s what he told us after her funeral.”

Now they were getting somewhere. Sasha played dumb. “He told me something about a boarding school.”

“A normal occurrence in Europe. People in the States don’t understand the concept.”

“Sounds strange to me.”

She chopped the onion with a heavy hand. “If you ever visit Europe, you might understand.”

Sasha finished one potato, picked up another. “AJ said he wanted to take me.”

“Is that right?”

She shrugged, pushed some of the blonde wig out of her eyes with the back of her hand. “Yeah, I told him we were moving too fast, but he said that life was short and sometimes you just need to live it like tomorrow isn’t going to happen.” Where had that come from? The words left her lips and then registered in her head.

“He just lost his sister. I suppose his actions are normal.”

Sasha felt herself going down that rabbit hole. “Rebound relationship.”

The noise from the cutting board stopped and Sasha stood with water rushing down the sink stuck in the thought of AJ holding her tight. She’d felt his pain when he spoke of his sister. It wasn’t until that moment that Sasha realized that he was reaching out to ease his loss.

“Oh, honey. I’m sure AJ sees you as more than a crutch after Amelia.”

Sasha shook away her thoughts.

Marjorie had moved to her side, laid a hand on her shoulder. “I see the way my son looks at you. And maybe you don’t know this, but he hasn’t brought a girl home since he was in high school. The fact that you’re here speaks volumes.”