Page 122 of Wasted

Cillian would need to check into that tomorrow. McCully was probably just hoping he could still hang the murder rap on Victoria somehow. He sure had seemed put out over needing to arrest Glenn instead.

“There.” She looked up from her phone, her hazel eyes finding Cillian. “Hopefully, that will prevent any disasters at dinner. None of my siblings will be arriving as early as I plan to, though Hank is likely home already.” Stress creased her forehead. “In theory, now that they know the killer has been apprehended, none of them will be tempted to discuss the matter in front of our father.”

“Great.” Cillian’s tone probably showed too much of his ambivalence. He couldn’t care less if her father was disturbed at his birthday dinner.

She glanced at her watch. “Oh, my.” She stood. “I need to get going. I need to tell Sydney about dinner in the refrigerator, and then I’ll change.”

“Did she seem a little weird to you when we got here?”

Victoria met his gaze. “I thought so. Anxious, perhaps. I’m not sure why.” She gave him a weak smile. “Well, thank you for everything today.”

His mouth twitched with the urge to grin. “Is that your way of saying you want me to leave now?”

She glanced away. “I’m no longer in any danger, and I do need to get ready.”

“You just don’t want me to see you in the dress.” He let the grin loose.

A blush colored her cheeks even as she shook her head in exasperation.

The buzz of his phone interrupted the fun exchange. He sighed and grabbed the device off the coffee table.

Marsha Faint.

The plaintiff in the malpractice suit against Victoria’s father. What would she want?

“Sorry.” He lifted the phone as he got to his feet. “I have to take this.”

“Of course. I need to go anyway.” She walked out of the room, saving him from needing to move somewhere private to take the call. She probably thought he would leave her house now, but there was no way he was going to miss the chance to see her looking even more beautiful and dressed up than usual.

He pressed the phone to his ear. “Mrs. Faint, good to hear from you.”

A pause.

“Are you the one who came to my house, asking about Dr. Weston?”

“Yes, ma’am. Cillian Doherty.”

“Is your grandmother going to sue him for malpractice?”

“She’s still trying to figure out if she should. She doesn’t have much money, and her health isn’t good.” Adding more reasons for Mrs. Faint to feel sympathetic wouldn’t hurt.

“Well, I feel this is the right thing for me to do then. I need to tell the truth about what happened.”

He waited, anticipation building in his chest.

“Tell your grandma it could be dangerous.”

“Dangerous? How would it be dangerous?”

She paused again. “Is anyone there with you?” Her voice grew quieter, even more cautious.

“No, ma’am. Please tell me what kind of danger my grandma could be in.”

“When I had a lawyer sue Dr. Weston, I started getting phone calls.” She stopped again.

“What kind of calls, Mrs. Faint?”

“From a man. I don’t know who he was. But he said I should drop the lawsuit if I didn’t want to get hurt. Things like that.”