Page 79 of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies

Except for the blackmail. But I’ll keep that detail to myself for now. Just in case.

Guy smirks. “He was deep into crypto. Lost most of his money when one of those markets crashed.”

“Seriously?”

“Happened about six months ago.”

That tracks with Connor’s story on the timing, but not with the cover-up part. Or maybe it does. Didn’t they catch one of those crypto bros in the Bahamas with hardly any money left? Is that what Connor did? Help one of those guys hide his Ponzi scheme takings?

“How do you know that?”

“I keep tabs on him.”

That’s interesting.

“Why?” Emily asks.

“Keep your enemies close and your friends closer,” Guy says.

“That’s not how the saying goes,” Shek says.

“Well, it should.”

Emily tosses her head. “I only invest in blue-chip stocks.”

“Good for you, honey,” Guy says. “But Connor, sorry to inform you, is a little rough around the edges. Always looking for a get-rich-quick scheme. You know what I’m talking about, Eleanor.”

I stare into my glass.

“You invested in something with Connor?” Emily asks.

“No, he’s not… He just means how I first met Connor. He wanted to solve the robberies to get the finder’s fee. It wasn’t altruistic.”

“That’s not how it was in the book.”

“So you have read it.”

Emily tucks her chin in. “Hasn’t everyone?”

“That’s not what she means,” Shek says.

“What then?”

“Didn’t you hear her last night? She thinks you stole her plot.”

“I didn’t do that.”

I clear my throat. “A young woman on vacation in Italy gets embroiled in a string of high-profile robberies along with the dashing man she met on her first night of vacation…”

“You’re quoting my dust jacket to me?”

“I’m quoting my dust jacket. But thanks for telling on yourself.”

“Catfight,” Shek breathes, his excitement palpable.

“Is this whole table full of plagiarists?” I ask. “No wonder you’re getting canceled, Shek. You’re stealing material from Guy now.”

“Oh, screw off,” Shek says.