Good Girls Lie(107)
“There’s too much evidence, Ashlyn. You’re going to be caught.”
“If we’re caught, you mean—and it is we, my dear Lexie, not just me, you’ve been in on this little plan from the beginning, don’t forget—but we won’t. The tableau is just what you think it is. Damien was killed by Sylvia, she’s poisoned him and, distraught, shot herself. Don’t worry, the powder residue will be on her hands. Check her pulse for me, would you? Shan’t be long now.”
Ashlyn is insane. I’ve known this somewhere in my heart for months, years, really.
“I’m not touching her. You never said anything about killing them. I’m calling the police.”
The shotgun is in my face before I can take a second breath. She backs me up against the wall.
“If you call the police before I tell you to, I will explain to them you created this scenario, that you were obsessed with me, with my family, because you had to live in squalor while we got served off gold plates and lived in this fabulous mansion. Who do you think they’ll believe? You? You and your ratty, heroin-addicted mother, or me, the upstanding daughter of a peer?”
I see how neatly Ashlyn has boxed me in. If I weren’t so terrified, I might have admired her ingenuity.
The shotgun drops. “You’re free now, Alex. And so am I. Play your part and nothing bad will happen. Now, get ready. We have a few things to do, then you’ll have to take my place. You’ll have to be the one who comes in from the gardens and finds them like this, after you heard the gunshot.”
OCTOBER
Marchburg, Virginia
83
THE CONFESSION
“I took her place from that moment on. It wasn’t hard to pretend to be devastated, I was. And I told the police Damien had been distraught, that I thought he killed himself. I didn’t think it was fair to brand Sylvia a murderer when her daughter was the psychotic one.
“I managed to sneak back home a couple of days later and found my mum dead on the couch. The needle was still in her arm. No way to know if Ashlyn was responsible or it was just her time, but either way, everyone was gone. Everything was done. I had no real alternatives after that but to follow through on Ashlyn’s grand plan.
“You, Dean, made it so easy on me. I appreciate that. You showed such compassion.”
Ford Julianne Westhaven has never wanted to run away from Goode so much as she does at this moment. But she has no choice, she must stay. She must find out why Becca Curtis is dangling on the gates, her photo being shot from every angle before she is carefully, gently, moved to a horizontal plane.
She must learn why Ash Carlisle is standing in her office, staring out the window, telling a story as insane and twisted as any she’s ever heard.
No, this girl is not Ash. She is the impostor they’ve been worried about. Alexandria Pine. Damien Carr’s illegitimate daughter.
Ford has to decide if she believes the tale she’s being told. Is this girl the real monster? Or is there another, far worse, lurking somewhere on the grounds? The Grendel in their forest?
“It all started over the summer. Ashlyn decided she didn’t want to do all the work it would entail to get a degree. She just wanted the money. She knew I craved an education desperately, more than anything in my life. And she knew I would never, ever, have the opportunities she did. This is what happens when you’re illegitimate. Your agency is ripped away and you’re stuck with the scraps thrown from the real family’s table.
“I had no idea the lengths she would go to, but when I realized how crazy she really is, I knew the best thing for me to do was play along and get as far away from her as I possibly could. If I hadn’t agreed to impersonate her, I have no doubt she would have killed me, too. As she did our brother, our father, and her mother. Possibly my mother, as well. I’ll never know unless she tells me, but even then...” She turns from the window, resolve etched on her face.
“She killed Camille. And Becca, too. Anyone who gets in her way, who she can’t manipulate, she simply eliminates. We’re all in danger.”
Tony isn’t buying it; incredulity is written across his strong features. “You’re telling me a sixteen-year-old girl masterminded an identity scam and killed six people?”
“Six people so far,” Kate says, calmly. “That we know of. Are there more?”
“I don’t know. And I don’t think we can say Ashlyn did all the masterminding. It was her idea from the start for us to switch places, yes, but I’m the one who did all the legwork. The paperwork. But that’s all I’ve done. I swear to you, I had nothing to do with the murders. Ashlyn kept telling me she was going to handle things, but I never in a million years guessed murder was her solution. And don’t forget, she practically had a gun to my head the whole time. She made it quite clear I had no choice in the matter.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?” Ford asks.
When Alex smiles, Ford is reminded of the flatness of a snake’s eyes. “What would they have done? She’s a master manipulator. She would have told them I cooked up the whole thing, that I murdered her parents, that I held her hostage. That’s what she told me last night, at least. That she was going to tell you I held her hostage if I didn’t go along with her.”
“What does she want from you?” Kate asks.