Twenty Years Later(102)
Natalie was sitting on the veranda of the villa and reading the latest version of the manuscript Victoria had produced. Victoria walked out and popped the cork to a bottle of Dom Pérignon. The Aegean Sea was in front of them, and the air was chilly. It seemed to Natalie to fill Victoria with vigor. More than that, actually. Natalie sensed defiance in the way Victoria carried the bottle of champagne and filled their glasses.
“Well?” Victoria asked. “What do you think? Is it our best yet?”
Natalie felt a strange shiver climb up her spine. There was something in the way Victoria asked the question that made Natalie hesitant to voice her true opinion. Still, she tried one last time.
“Vic, this is not what our readers want from us. It’s not what they want from Peg Perugo.”
Victoria handed Natalie a champagne flute filled to the brim.
“Why do you say that? It’s okay if Peg gets an investigation wrong. It will build her character in future books.”
“Sure,” Natalie said. “It’s just that . . . the way it happens. I’m not sure we should go in that direction.”
“Of course we should,” Victoria retorted. “It’s the only way Peg Perugo could be fooled. It goes hand in hand with the title I’ve come up with.”
Victoria reached over and touched her glass to Natalie’s.
“Besides, it’s too late to change things now. I’ve already sent the manuscript to New York.”
Another chill ran through Natalie’s body when Victoria smiled at her. It felt like Victoria was daring her to protest. Something told her not to, so she didn’t. Instead, Natalie lifted the champagne and smiled back at her friend.
CHAPTER 80
Santa Monica, CA Saturday, April 16, 2022
WALT HAD NOT MADE THE FORMAL MOVE FROM JAMAICA TO CALIFORNIA, but it was inevitable. He visited more and more often, to the point that Avery had given him a key to her place. She was getting used to the Friday afternoons that she came home from the studio to find a rental car in the driveway and Walt making dinner in her kitchen, a glass of wine waiting for her. After spending most of his life on the East Coast, Walt pledged never to spend another winter anywhere the temperature dipped below fifty degrees. He rather enjoyed, he told her over the last year, bouncing between the Caribbean and Southern California.
He was staying for a week this visit, and they were taking advantage of rare downtime Avery had before she would be busy recording the last few episodes of her second full season as host of American Events. After this weekend, they wouldn’t see each other again until Avery headed to Jamaica in July to spend a month during her summer break from AE. She hadn’t seen Christopher since the previous October and was anxious to hear about his adventures at sea. Walt had provided updates over the months, reporting back to Avery every time Christopher returned to Jamaica to restock supplies. Claire-Voyance II was proving to be as formidable a vessel as Avery had predicted, and Christopher was enjoying his new life as Aaron Holland.
Avery and Walt returned home from a late dinner. Walt turned on the Yankees game. They were playing the A’s and they had made it home for the ninth inning. Avery poured them each a glass of wine and, while Walt became engrossed in the game, she returned to the book she was reading—the latest Peg Perugo novel, which was proving to be as unputdownable as all the others she had read over the last few months. This one, though, had her on edge in a way the other books in the series hadn’t. It was darker than the previous ones, and more intense. She was lost in the pages.
The Yankees game ended. Walt clicked off the television.
“I’m heading to bed,” he said.
“I’ll be up in a little while,” Avery said. “I just have another couple of chapters.”
Walt kissed her and disappeared up the stairs. Avery reached for her glass of wine before returning to the pages. As her eyes skimmed through the final chapters, time seemed to stop and the pages flew past with no effort at all. The ending materialized and Avery anticipated the twist as she read. It would be the first time in Peg Perugo’s storied career that she got a homicide investigation wrong. It would be the first time the loveable character got duped. The way it happened brought goose bumps to Avery’s skin. It was clever and cunning, and the only way for the endearing heroine to be fooled. Not even Peg Perugo would suspect that the killer planted her own blood at the crime scene to lead detectives in the wrong direction.
Avery’s mind spun as she read the final page. Finally, she closed the book and looked up at the blank television where the Yankees game had been playing a few minutes earlier. Then she turned the book over and looked at the cover. The wineglass dropped from her hand and shattered on the floor when she reread the title with a new understanding of what it all meant.
The Perfect Murder
A Peg Perugo novel
EPILOGUE
The Night of Cameron
Young’s Death
July 14, 2001
VICTORIA FORD WALKED BACK INTO THE BEDROOM WEARING NOTHING but a silk robe that was unclasped and open in the front, covering her breasts but revealing her cleavage, her smooth midsection, and the fact that she was wearing nothing else. She kept her right hand hidden behind her back. Cameron was lying on the bed with his hands tied to each bedpost. She had made sure to secure the knots tighter than normal.