“You’re telling me he was poisoned with antifreeze just like Veronica and Dina?” I tried to keep my voice calm, but I could hear the rising panic make my voice sound shrill.
“It wasn’t enough to kill him,” Mike said. “But police suspect it made him disoriented enough to run off the road.”
I sank back onto the sofa, letting the information settle in my brain. Three people had been dosed with antifreeze and all three were connected to the Inspire scandal. I let my eyes close for a minute, and I breathed in and out a few times to slow my thoughts, which were muddled and chaotic. In the background, I heard the chanting of the high priestess layered over the lapping of the nearby waves as they reached the shore.
“Annabelle? Are you okay?” Mike’s voice broke through my deep breathing.
I opened my eyes. “I’m okay. I was thinking.” I let my eyes drift over the crowd, seeing Chatty Cathy standing with Seth and Topher next to the bar while Kristina stood a few feet away with Brett, wringing water from her hair. The priestess appeared to be wrapping up her ritual, and everyone seemed to be damp to some extent. Some, like me, had been in the front row and were thoroughly soaked, but others had stayed in the back and gotten a sprinkle. I searched the crowd but didn’t see the women I was looking for. “There are two blondes here who are from Atlanta.”
Daniel sat up. “And is one of them connected to the victims?”
“Actually, no.” I bit the edge of my lower lip. “At least not that I’m aware of. Both of them are pretty young and had never met anyone on the trip until we arrived.”
Mike exchanged a look with his brother. “So we’ve got opportunity, but no motive.”
“Where are these two now?” Daniel asked.
I ran my eyes over the lawn. “There they are.” I indicated Carol Ann’s two assistants with my head. They sat with Cliff and Ted on a long sofa flanked by two matching chairs. Both women looked like they’d gotten the gentle misting version of the purification ritual. “Dahlia is the one with lighter hair, and Kelly has the pixie cut. Did the witnesses in Atlanta describe the woman?”
Mike frowned. “The only descriptor I got was blond. I was lucky to get that much since I had no connection to the case.”
Daniel watched the women. “They are young. Are they even out of college?”
“At least one is,” I said.
“Who are we talking about?” Fern called to me, leaning over so far he had to catch himself with one hand before he tumbled onto the grass. “Dahlia and Kelly?”
Carol Ann jerked up as if she’d been jolted out of a deep sleep. “My girls? Where are my girls?”
Fern patted her hand. “You just relax, sweetie. Everything’s fine. Your girls are enjoying the party.”
Carol Ann gave him a vacant smile through barely opened eyes. “It had to be an accident, you know. Neither of my girls would ever try to kill me.”
Fern looked at me, a startled expression on his face, then turned back to the doped-up Southern belle. “What do you mean? You think one of your assistants had something to do with the attempt on your life.”
She shook her head vigorously. “Never. They both know I would take their secrets to the grave.”
I walked over and took a seat next to Carol Ann, pushing Kate out of the way. “What secrets would you take to the grave?”
Carol Ann swung her head over to look at me and frowned. “You want to get people in trouble.”
“No, I don’t,” I said, trying to make my voice sound as soft and sweet as I could, although I could never match the syrupy sweetness of her Southern drawl. “I want to help keep people safe. Don’t you want that, too?”
Carol Ann closed her eyes for a moment, and then they flew open. “You’re trying to trick me, aren’t you?” She wagged a finger at me. “It won’t work. I thought about telling you. I really did.” Her eyes looked pleading. “But I can’t, and none of your tricks will get it out of me.”
Daniel nudged me over and took my place next to Carol Ann, clasping her hand in his. “Would I try to trick you?”
She focused on his face and her face melted into a nauseating smile. “Never.”
Daniel returned her smile. “You’ll tell me your secrets won’t you, honey?”
“Please tell me I don’t look like that when I smile,” Mike muttered.
“You promise me you won’t tell a soul, sugar?” Carol Ann ran a finger down the side of Daniel’s face. “I’m sure she didn’t mean it.”
“Who didn’t mean it?” Daniel asked.
“At first I didn’t think it could be true.” Carol Ann shook her head as if trying to dislodge a thought. “I tried to pretend it was random—that the two murders couldn’t be connected. I even thought Jeremy’s murder could have been by someone else. So many people despised him, you see. But when you mentioned the names being added to the guest list, and that Insider Weddings hadn’t added them, I knew. But I didn’t want it to be true.”
“It’s not your fault,” Daniel said, his voice soothing. I wondered how many times during his career as a police officer he’d had to talk people off the ledge.
“But then she tried to kill me.” Carol Ann’s face crumpled. “Little ole’ me. After everything I’d done. I still can’t believe it. She must know I’m one of the last people who knows the truth. And knows who she is.”
I felt like shaking Carol Ann to get her to say the girl’s name, but I restrained myself. I noticed Mike jiggling his knee next to me and realized he felt as impatient as I did.
Daniel put a muscular arm around Carol Ann. “Tell me who it is, hon, and I’ll keep you safe.”
Carol Ann’s pupils widened. “Aren’t you the sweetest thing? You know, I’ve tried to be like a mother to her since Marilyn died. Her mother and I weren’t close, but I always felt awful I didn’t help her more when her life fell apart. I’ve tried to make it up to her daughter.”
“I’m sure you’ve been amazing,” Daniel said.
“You’re a doll to say so.” Carol Ann puckered her lips before she collapsed against Daniel’s chest.
Kate gasped. “Is she dead?”
Daniel put a finger under her nose, and shook his head. “Just passed out.”
“She didn’t give us a name,” Mike said.
“But we know it’s one of two people,” Kate said. “Why don’t we do eeny-meeny-miney-mo?”
Fern shrugged. “We have a fifty-fifty shot of guessing the right blonde.”
“Those are bad odds if you’re the innocent one,” Daniel said, as he extracted his arm from around Carol Ann.
Fern tapped his chin. “Well, it’s either the one with the pixie cut or the one who dyes her hair.”
“Dahlia dyes her hair” I asked.
Fern rolled his eyes at me. “The one with long hair definitely goes blonder than she is in real life. From her roots, I’d guess her real shade is more of a sandy blond.”
A recent memory bubbled to the surface of my mind. “Marilyn had sandy blond hair. I saw a picture of her.” I turned to Kate. “And do you remember when we first got here and Carol Ann told us how she’d been like a mother to one of her assistants?”
Kate nodded. “It was Dahlia.”
“Exactly,” I said, thinking back to the tidbits of information we’d heard throughout the trip. “Dahlia had just graduated from college when she started working for Carol Ann which means she would have been a teenager when her mother died.”
Fern shuddered. “Are you telling me a teenaged girl planned all these murders to get revenge for her mother?”
“Let’s ask her.” I turned to where Dahlia had been sitting, but her space was empty. Only Cliff and Ted sat chatting with Kelly.
Kate grabbed my hand. “She’s gone.”