Page 91 of Not Quite Dead Yet

‘Just tasting it.’ Jet brought the handful to her mouth, took a huge bite. Cloying and sweet, sticking to her tongue.

Cameron giggled.

‘Jet!’

‘Hold on,’ Jet said, mouth full of cake, stuffing the rest in, chewing. She pulled a face. ‘My god, Sophia. Waaaaay too much salt. What are you trying to do, poison these kids?’

Sophia’s eyes widened, feet rooted to the spot. Had she caught that? Jet hoped she’d caught that.

‘You’ve got icing on your face,’ Sophia said, sharpening the letters, letting them hiss.

‘I know,’ Jet said. ‘And Cameron’s got broccoli on his. Excuse me.’

Jet walked right over to Sophia, too close, looking up into her eyes as she wiped the clumps of cake and icing off on the dish towel, getting some on Sophia’s clothes, sucking the rest off her fingers, wiping again.

‘What has gotten into you?’ Sophia lowered her voice to a whisper.

‘An aneurysm, apparently.’ Jet stepped back. ‘You should listen to what I said about the salt. Can be really dangerous to eat too much, especially for someone who has PKD.’

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ Sophia hadn’t moved.

‘Oh, really? No idea?’

‘No.’ Sophia dropped the dish towel into the sink. ‘You can’t just come in here and –’

Jet placed the little yellow capsule down on the counter.

Sophia’s eyes snapped to it.

‘Is this where you’d do it?’ Jet gestured around with one arm. ‘The kitchen? Pour the medicine down the sink, fill each one with salt instead, put them back together. That’s fiddly work.’ Jet flexed her chin, like she was impressed. ‘One hundred pills in each bottle. No wonder it took you over an hour each time.’

‘I don’t know what you’re –’

‘– Yes, you do. Don’t be boring, Sophia, I don’t have time for it.’ Jet folded her arms. ‘The doorbell camera has footage of you taking the pills out of the house. Coming back an hour later to put them back, after you’d replaced each one with salt. You thought no one would figure it out? Fourth of July. Mom’s birthday. Halloween. It’s been going on at least four months, maybe longer.’

Sophia pressed her lips together, a tight line.

‘Oh good, no more denials,’ Jet said. ‘Guess we’re being grown-ups now, huh?’ She wiped her face on her sleeve, more clumps of crystalline icing. ‘Honestly, I thought it was me at first, the one you were poisoning. Got excited, seeing as I’m looking for who murdered me. But, no, it’s Dad. You’ve been poisoning him for months, Sophia. Killing him.’

Sophia’s mouth opened with a pop of saliva.

‘Don’t be so dramatic, Jet. I wasn’t trying tokillhim.’

‘You were poisoning him. Every day. With salt. The man with the dodgy kidneys. They’re starting to fail. He’ll need dialysis or a transplant soon or he’ll die. You did that to him. That sure looks a lot like killing somebody to me –’

‘– Not tokillhim.’ Sophia shook her head like the idea was ridiculous, and so was Jet. ‘I was going to stop as soon as … I just wanted him to get a little sicker, just for a little while.’

‘Why the fuck –’

‘– So that he’d realize it was time to retire, time to take his health seriously.’

‘Seriously?’ Jet snapped, stealing Sophia’s word, changing it.

‘Oh, come on, Jet, I thought we were being grown-ups.’ Sophia sniffed. ‘We all know he was supposed to have retired by now. It’s been two years since he said he would. Luke has been waiting for so long. I was just trying to … speed that process along. Give Scott a little push, make him finally let go of the company. I was not trying tokillhim,’ she spat the word.

‘Ah, sure,’ Jet laughed, deep and empty. ‘Poisoning someone so they retire early is completely different from poisoning someone so they die early. One is definitely morally justified, Sophia, you’re right. I shouldn’t have questioned your fucking principles.’

‘Shut up, Jet. We all do what we have to do.’