"What kind of lies are you telling now?" Daniel shouted, getting right up in my face.
I instinctively skittered backward on my chair and ended up half in Noelle's lap, half suspended over the floor. He looked a lot like his mother did when she was getting all psychotic.
"First Poppy and now my mother? Who the hell do you think you are?"
"Your mother tried to kill Reed!" Sawyer shouted, getting up and shoving Daniel away from me with both hands.
Everyone fell silent. It was the first time I had ever heard Sawyer raise his voice. The first time he'd gotten directly involved in a conversation of his own volition, let alone a fight. We were all stunned. But it was Paige who recovered first.
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"You're lying," she said, her voice quaking. "Why would my mother want to kill anyone, let alone her?" She gave me a look like I wasn't even worthy of her attention, let alone anyone's ire.
Just then a female police officer stepped into the room, a blue windbreaker over the standard uniform of polo shirt and shorts. Her short black hair was pulled back in a tiny, tight ponytail and she was looking at a small pad as she entered. After a moment she flipped the pad shut and glanced around at us.
"Paige and Daniel Ryan?" she asked.
"Yes," Daniel said, stepping forward with his sister.
"You're going to want to come down to the station to meet up with your father," the woman said. "Your mother has just confessed to attempted murder."
"What?" Daniel shrieked.
Paige clutched her purse in front of her with both hands. "I don't understand. She has no motive. She wouldn't hurt a fly. She-"
The woman sighed and flipped open her pad again to read. "Apparently she had some sort of sexual relationship with this girl's boyfriend .. . one Upton Giles?"
"Omigod." Paige turned around, and without so much as a breath, puked into the stainless steel sink. My stomach heaved. It was barely ready for food, let alone seeing someone else's come backup. I turned away and stared out the window toward the ocean.
"What?" Daniel blurted again. "No. That's not possible."
"That's what your mother says." The woman was behind me, but I
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saw her shrug, thanks to her reflection in the window. She looked at Paige and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "She didn't even need to be asked twice. It was almost like she was proud of it."
Kiran snorted a laugh and earned an admonishing look from the rest of us. "Sorry, it's just... I've done a few things in my life, but I've never shared a guy with my mom," she said, glancing at Paige's still heaving back.
Paige stood up straight, hand over her mouth, and ran out of the room in tears.
"She confessed?" Daniel said, staring at the officer. "To all of it?"
"Hiring the kidnappers, spooking the horse, rigging the Jet Ski," the woman said. "She does, however, maintain that this Marquis person is guilty of the incident at sea, but it seems like an open-and-shut case to me."
No one said a word. We all stared at the floor. Was Marquis really guilty, or had Mrs. Ryan hung him out to dry for some reason? I had no idea, and not enough energy to think about it for very long.
"This can't be happening," Daniel said.
As much as I disliked Daniel, I actually felt bad for him at that moment. It couldn't be easy to find out your mother was an attempted murderer. Not to mention a pedophile who'd had sex with one of your friends and was now obsessed with him.
"Are you coming along?" the woman asked him.
"I'll go get my sister," he said. Without another word, he ducked his head and walked out.
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"Is there anything we can do foryou, miss?" the woman asked me.