Page 92 of Not Quite Dead Yet

Jet clutched her right arm at the elbow, edged her way toward another question, studying Sophia’s eyes for a reaction. ‘And you think Dad is going to leave Mason Construction to Luke?’

‘Yes, of course he will, eventually,’ Sophia said, no change in her eyes.

Jet’s heart kicked up, reacting instead. Sophia must not have known about Dad’s plan to sell the company to Nell Jankowski. And did that mean Sophia no longer had a motive to bash Jet’s head in with a hammer? Killing one Mason, but not the other?

Sophia was still talking. ‘He just has to retire first. He wants to, your dad, he’s tired, he’s ready. I’m not just doing this for me. This is for all of us.’

‘Yeah, you’re such a fucking saint, Sophia. Thank god you married into the family.’

‘You’re so ungrateful, Jet. Always have been. That’s why you never got anywhere.’

‘Oh, and you went somewhere?’ Jet rounded on her. ‘’Cause it looks to me like the only place you went is my brother’s bed.’

‘Ah, she finally says it.’

‘Says what?’

Sophia flashed her eyes. ‘I’ve always known you were unhappy that I married Luke!’

‘I’m more unhappy that you’ve been slowly murdering my dad so you and Luke can take his company, actually!’

A muscle twitched in Sophia’s jaw. ‘Luke has worked really hard. The company came close to going under last year, and Luke is the one who turned everything around. He deserves this!’ Her voice faltered, came back weaker. ‘Why do you hate me so much, Jet?’

Jet widened her eyes, gestured to the small yellow pill.

‘No,’ Sophia sniffed. ‘Before this. Before Luke. What did I ever do to you?’

‘Are you joking?’ Jet got stronger as Sophia weakened, shrank back. ‘You abandoned me, Sophia. I used to think of you as a sister; we spent every day together. Then I go away to college, and everything is scary and new and I don’t really belong, and I needed you and you stopped answering! You weren’t there!’

Sophia shook her head. ‘Funny,’ she said. ‘’Cause that’s not how I remember it. You’re the one who stopped responding to me, Jet. I didn’t have anybody when you left Woodstock. You were my everything, and then you were gone, so focused on Dartmouth, on trying to be Emily, that you forgot to be yourself.’

That stung, Jet felt it behind the eyes. ‘No!’ she barked. ‘You never met Emily. You don’t get to talk about her like you know anything. You stopped responding first.’

‘I remember it differently.’

‘You remember it wrong!’

‘Fine!’ Sophia snapped, coming back. ‘You can hate me as much as you want, but I did this for Luke. I’d do anything for him, for the people I care about.’

‘Poisoning your father-in-law seems a step too far, if you ask me,’ Jet said. ‘Why couldn’t you just wait until Dad was ready to retire?’

‘Luke can’t wait,’ Sophia said, tensing like she’d accidentally said too much.

‘Why?’ Jet stepped closer. ‘Why can’t Luke wait? Has he done something?’

‘No, no, no,’ Sophia said, twonos too many. ‘He’s just waited too long already, that’s all.’

‘Sophia,’ Jet growled. ‘Tell me.’

‘There’s nothing to tell!’

‘Where were you when I was being murdered?’ She stepped forward again, squishing a piece of cake into the floor. ‘10:46 p.m. on Halloween. I know you and Luke weren’t here together, like you said. One of you was out. Was it you? Was it him?’

Sophia blinked. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking ab–’

‘– Not this again,’ Jet cut her off. ‘Yes, you do. You lied to me. You texted Luke, sayingCall meat 10:52 that night. Look, go get your phone, if you want to keep playing dumb. One of you was not in the house like you said. Was it you, Sophia? Where were you?’

Sophia blinked. ‘I was here,’ she said, voice deflating.