He found his way to the kitchen. Cupboard doors opened and closed, and then the whooshing of water from the faucet. The clink of ice cubes.
Soon he was back, holding a glass to my lips. “Drink. Come on.”
I took a sip and let the cool water wet my mouth and throat. It felt nice. Really nice.
“What can I do for you?” he asked. “And don’t say leave.”
“I wasn’t going to,” I said.
“Good.”
“I’m a mess, Matt.”
“So you’ve said. I happen to think you’re beautiful.”
That got a scoffing laugh out of me. “Right now? Please.”
“Riley, you could be covered in dog shit and still be the most beautiful woman in the universe. You’re a supermodel, for God’s sake.”
“There’s nothing super about me.”
“I beg to differ.”
I took another sip of water. Then another. My throat felt raw from the sobs, and the water soothed it.
“I love you,” Matt said.
I sigh. “I love you too.”
“At least we’re in agreement on that.” He took the glass from me and set it on the coffee table. “What do you need, Riley?”
I let out a soft huff. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Look around you, Matt. I’m an heiress. I have everything anyone could want.”
“I’m not talking about stuff, Riley. What do you need?”
I huff again. “A different life?”
He smiled. “I can give you that.”
“I mean a different first twenty-five years, Matt. And I’m sorry, but you can’t give me that, and my money can’t buy it either.”
“That’s true. But I can offer you my love. My support. I’ll hold your hand and help you get through everything.”
I shook my head. “You don’t even know what you’re getting into.”
“I have a general idea.”
I glared at him. “It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the friend Rock had a drink with.”
“I had a drink with him, yeah.”
“Damn him.”
“He didn’t tell me anything. Other than you’re all persons of interest in your father’s murder.”
And one more huff from me. “Not the devoted children we seemed to be at the funeral, huh?”
“He didn’t tell me anything I couldn’t find out on my own. You know that.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“Is that why you used a fake name in Montana?”
“Part of it. Part of me just wanted to be someone else for a little while. Pretend. Have that different life that you and no one else can give me.”
“But it wasn’t different,” he said.
“No. It wasn’t different. Not at all. On the outside, maybe, but not on the inside.”
“I want to help you.”
“I’ll say it again. You don’t know what you’re getting into.”
“Maybe not. But whatever it is, I don’t care.”
“What if I did it? What if I killed my father?”
“I don’t believe you did.”
“You hardly know me.”
“All right.” He took both of my hands in his. “I’ll keep all your secrets, Riley. Did you kill your father?”
I shook my head, sighing. “No. But if I’m going down for it, I wish I had.”38MatteoI believed her.
This woman didn’t have it in her to harm another soul.
But if Derek Wolfe had done to her what I was imagining, he didn’t have a soul.
He was rotting in hell right now.
Good thing, because if he crossed my path, I’d strangle him with my bare hands.
This woman—this sweet and beautiful woman…
“Riley,” I said, “I’m going to help you. I’m going to help you prove your innocence, and I’m going to help you get through all the other shit you’re living with.”
“You can’t,” she said. “No one can help me.”
“I don’t accept that.”
“You don’t have a choice, Matt. I am who I am, and there’s no changing it.”
“I think you misunderstood me. I don’t want to change you, sweetheart. I love you exactly as you are. I want to help you deal with all of this.”
“I love you for that. I really do. But I’m a fucking mess, Matt.”
“You say no one can help you. I disagree. If you want help, it’s available.”
“I do want help. But I also don’t want to go down for a murder I didn’t commit, and I don’t want any of my brothers going down for it either.”
“Rock says he has an alibi.”
“He does. He was in Montana, but the authorities think he might have hired someone to do it. Except he had no money. He was living on his own.”
“And Reid and Roy?”
“Both alone in their apartments. No one can corroborate.”
“And…you?” I asked hesitantly.
“Same. I was alone. Here. The murder took place at four in the morning.”
“What about his girlfriend? Fonda something? I read about her when I researched your dad.”
“Fonda? She’s not implicated. She wasn’t with him that night. She and my mother appear to have alibis. Besides, my mother wouldn’t have him offed. No Derek Wolfe means no seven-figure alimony payments.”
“So you all have a motive?”
“All except Lacey, and they seem to be going after her the hardest. I don’t get it.”
“Where was she?”
“Home alone at her place as well. Except the security tapes, which would have shown her coming home and going out the next morning, seem to be missing.”