Page 177 of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies

She nods slowly. “But you already did this.”

“Did what?”

“Got people into trouble. You and Mr. Smith. You ruined a family.”

So here we are. She’s not hiding anymore, and there’s no reason for me to do it either.

She saw my phone. She knows I know who she is.

“I didn’t make anyone rob those banks or murder anyone.”

“No?”

“They were criminals before I came on the scene.”

“You do not understand.”

“So, tell me.”

She tips her head back and laughs. “No, Miss Eleanor. No. I do not owe you that.”

“What are we talking about?”

“I think you know.”

“You’re a Giuseppe.”

She tilts her head down.

“You planned this whole thing. You and Isabella and Marta.”

She opens her hands. There’s something on her ring finger, inside the palm. It looks like the device that was used on Shek.

I gulp down my fear. “I could scream.”

“Ah, but no one would hear you, would they?”

“They might. Oliver knows I am up here.”

“And yet he let you come up here alone?”

“I asked him to.”

“I do not believe you.”

And why should she? It sounds like the kind of lie people tell in movies to escape someone who wants to kill them.

“You don’t have to do this.”

“You are wrong about that. You took everything from me.”

“I’m not the reason your husband went to jail.”

“You are.”

“I didn’t make him commit crimes. I only discovered it after the fact.”

“You do not understand. He was a good man. He was providing for his family. But you and Mr. Smith, you wanted the money for yourselves. You went to the police without a thought for who it would hurt. And my Gianni… my beautiful boy.”