"No," I answered, knowing a smart-ass response would not help me here. "Whoever killed her had to have worked fast. She went storming past me, and I watched her until she was out of sight. She caught my attention because she was dressed all wrong for dawn in a garden." I glanced at Daisy and Hope, guessing they would get it. "Little black dress, lots of makeup."
"Sounds like Vanessa," Hope murmured.
"And when did Tenn come along?" Griffen prompted.
"At most two minutes later, from the opposite direction. I guess if he sprinted he could have shot Vanessa, but he wasn't breathing hard, and I didn't hear anyone coming back past me. Based on what I saw, it's nearly impossible that Tenn shot her."
"What did you tell West?" Griffen asked carefully.
"Exactly what I just told you." I almost slouched in relief when Griffen's hard eyes swung back to Tenn.
"She was killed just like Dad," Griffen said, mostly to himself.
"And if Scarlett hadn't been on the path, Tenn would be the prime suspect, just like Ford was," Royal finished. His eyes, a deep blue that matched Tenn's, landed back on me. He studied me but addressed Tenn. "Why the handcuffs?"
Tenn joined him in examining me. When he spoke, Tenn's voice was as cold and hard as Griffen's eyes had been. "Scarlett was skulking around the Inn gardens after breaking into the empty cottage and stashing August inside."
Griffen, Royal, and Daisy all stared at me. I felt like a bug under a microscope. Of the three, Griffen looked the least surprised. He let out a sigh and shook his head. "You couldn't have been a normal guest, could you?"
"I wish I were." It was the truth. If I could go back, I would have checked in as a real guest, but… No. I couldn't use my credit cards. Not until I knew exactly what kind of trouble Thatcher had been dragged into. Places like the Inn at Sawyers Bend didn't take cash.
Griffen leaned back in his big leather armchair and propped his ankle on his knee, a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. Everything about him had shifted back to friendly welcome, including the easy smile on his face. I wasn't fooled.
"How did you get into the cottage?" he asked as if idly curious.
I took a sip of my own coffee and stayed silent. Griffen tried again.
"What were you doing at the Inn this morning, Scarlett?"
Everyone waited for my answer. I weighed my options. The truth was out of the question. Mostly because I wasn't sure exactly what the truth was. I wouldn't know that until I got my hands on Thatcher, and the only clue I had to his eventual location was Sawyers Bend and the Sawyer family. My conscience twinged—hard. The Sawyers seemed like good people. Normally, I'm not a liar. And I didn't have to lie now.
Stuck between the truth and a lie, I chose door number three.
Complete and utter silence.
The Sawyers waited. I took another sip of coffee, trying to hide my racing heart. Griffen ended the stalemate with a decisive nod. Transferring his attention from me to Tenn, he asked, "Does West have proof of the breaking and entering?"
Tenn shook his head. "Trespassing so far, but when I see him later, I'll let him know I found August in the closet of the cottage. That should be enough to add to the charges."
They discussed my crimes as if I wasn't sitting right there, my gut turning to ice as the full ramifications of what I'd done sank in. I was sitting in a mansion surrounded by the trappings of extreme wealth. There was no way I could fight these people.
Griffen's eyes on mine were cold green flame, the pretense of friendly welcome gone as quickly as it had reappeared. "Do you understand your situation, Scarlett?"
I took another sip of coffee, the hot liquid bitter in my mouth. Or maybe that was the taste of the angry words I held back. Trapped. I was trapped by Thatcher's idiocy, my own shortsightedness, and the dead body I'd fallen on top of.
I thought I understood my situation. I answered with a question of my own. "Who was Vanessa?"
Tenn answered as Griffen continued to stare me down. "Vanessa was our brother Ford's wife. They're divorced, and she hasn't been smart with her alimony. Now that Ford's in prison for killing our father, Vanessa has been hounding us for money. There were public arguments. She was a real pain in the ass."
"Lots of motive there," I commented, my mind racing. "Did your brother kill your father?"
"No," both Griffen and Tenn said.
Griffen set down his coffee mug and leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. "I have one brother rotting in prison for a crime he didn't commit. I couldn't stop that." He glanced at Tenn. "Those are West's handcuffs?"