Page 90 of Wasted

“That’s the thing that makes me think it wasn’t Ryan.” Lines creased Robert’s forehead. “He’s an aggressive man, someone who gets in the face of anyone he feels threatened by and anyone who disagrees with him. If he’d somehow learned Thomas had chosen to leave his fortune to Victoria, Ryan would have confronted him. He wouldn’t have snuck around and surprised Thomas from behind. He would have faced him and attacked him head-on.”

“That does sound accurate.” Victoria moved her gaze to include everyone. “All of my interactions with him never led me to conclude he was calculating or strategic. He was emotional. If he was happy or flirtatious, you were fine. If he had a problem with you…well, he made that very clear and didn’t hold back.”

Ryan had flirted with Victoria? Irritation crawled upward through Cillian’s torso. Of course he had. She was gorgeous. But there was no way she would’ve responded or fallen for a guy like that. She was much too sensible. An advantage, in this case.

“Clinton Glenn, on the other hand,” Robert lifted his index finger straight up, “seems to be exactly the sort of person who would ambush Thomas from behind. The crimes we know he’s guilty of already involve deception, manipulation, and self-preservation. They also indicate he has a calculating, strategic mind that would enable him to think of moving Thomas’s body outside to the mailbox to make his death look like an accident.”

“But what if Ryan teamed up with Brenda, and she convinced him it was better to make it look like an accident, so they wouldn’t be blamed?” Spring glanced at Torin beside her.

“Could be.” He smiled slightly as he looked down at her, almost like he couldn’t help himself. Couldn’t be more obvious he and Spring were a couple in love. “But they would normally be the first suspects in any case since they stood to inherit. Or at least thought they did.”

“And that leads me to two more reasons I don’t think they did it.” Robert walked to the coffee table and bent to grab a handful of chips. “One, it’s clear they did think they were going to inherit. That’s why they were hanging around all the time and acting friendly with Thomas. And two,” he held up a chip in the air, “if they did find out Victoria was the heir that last day before Thomas was killed, they wouldn’t have motive to kill him. They would have wanted to kill him before he changed his will. And if they missed that opportunity, their next strategy would be to change his mind. Killing him only means cementing his new will and spending a fortune trying to combat it in court.” He popped the chip into his mouth.

“Okay, I’m convinced.” Hank stretched his legs out in front of him, swinging them to the side to bypass the end of the coffee table.

“But maybe Brenda is some kind of criminal mastermind.” Treese folded her arms over her low-cut V-neck sweater. “We haven’t talked about her yet.”

Robert grinned. “Can’t stand that I’m right, can you?” He crunched another chip.

Treese rolled her eyes.

“I wasn’t able to talk to Brenda yet.” Spring accepted the small plate of chips and salsa Torin brought her from the table. “I have an appointment to see her next week for a fundraising meeting.”

Torin grabbed a chip for himself off Spring’s plate on her lap. “Brenda’s background check was clean.”

“But she did threaten Victoria on the phone.” Cillian thumbed toward Victoria.

“She did what?” Spring visibly swallowed down her chips, her eyes widening. “You guys, you have to tell us these things.”

Cillian liked the sound of that, Spring grouping him with Victoria. He squashed the smile that wanted to reach his face.

Victoria shot him a glance that did not share his pleasure. Kind of the opposite, actually. “It wasn’t a serious threat. Nothing like Ryan. She called me to inform me they were having their lawyers file an injunction that would prevent me from using the assets Thomas left me.”

Cillian reached across the space between them and gripped the nearest wooden spindle in the back of her chair as he shifted toward her. “It was a little more than that. She ordered you not to go to the house.”

“Yes, but it wasn’t a physical threat.” She met his challenge with that adorable chin tilt.

“What aren’t you two telling us?” Robert’s question jerked Cillian’s attention to him. Was he talking about their relationship? The fact that Cillian loved Victoria and hoped she loved him back?

Robert moved his focus from Cillian to Victoria. “Is there another threat or attack you may have forgotten to mention?”

Oh. Not their relationship. Now that Robert mentioned it, Cillian had been surprised Victoria hadn’t mentioned the drive-by shooting when she’d told everyone about their visit with Judy Kline.

She pressed her lips together now, looking like she wasn’t going to say anything. Wow, she really did not want her siblings worrying about her. Why, Cillian couldn’t quite figure out.

“Come on, sis.” Hank sent her a small smile across the room. “You know he’ll keep using his superpower on you if you don’t fess up.”

She looked up at the ceiling, then let out a sigh. “Oh, very well. When we were in front of Mrs. Kline’s house, someone drove by and shot at us.”

“Victoria!” Spring’s shocked exclamation stung Cillian’s ears. “You can’t hide someone trying to kill you from us. We’re your family.”

“We were fine. Cillian made sure Mrs. Kline and I ducked in time.” Victoria’s gaze found him. “He protected us very efficiently.” Something warm lit her hazel eyes, accelerating his pulse.

“Did you see the car or the driver?” Torin didn’t waste any time getting to the helpful points.

“Not the driver, unfortunately.” Cillian looked at Torin. “But I caught a glimpse of the truck as it drove off.”

“Truck?”