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Chapter Ten

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Bucky

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GERTIE WAS WRONG. THE bacon didn’t help. Bucky could feel her stomach grumbling, guilt reaching inside and twisting her intestines as she and Rosa walked toward her trailer.

“They seem nice,” Rosa said.

“Nice?” Bucky hissed. “They’re up to something. Who are they, anyway? Olive never mentioned an Ida Belle and Gertie.”

“Delilah said they were from her dad’s side of the family. What’s wrong with you? What I’m more concerned with is how did sleeping pills end up in Olive’s melatonin capsules? I think whoever killed her put it there.”

Bucky’s stomach clenched again. “I think they’re wrong about that. Maybe the melatonin went bad and affected Gertie in a weird way.”

“I suppose it’s possible.”

“Yes, it’s possible.”

“But it would make sense,” Rosa said. “If Olive took some strong sleep med, anybody could just come in and put a pillow over her face and that would be it. She’d be so conked out she couldn’t fight them.”

“Pillow?” Bucky asked. “Who said anything about a pillow?”

“Well, I’m just speculating,” Rosa said.

Bucky stared at Rosa. The anonymous letter she had received mentioned “we,” as if she were there with someone else and they killed Olive together. Could that someone be Rosa?

“What’s wrong?” Rosa asked. “Why are you looking at me that way?”

Should I ask if she was with me that night?

Are you crazy? And let her know you woke up with Olive’s pillowcase at your feet?

“You don’t look so good,” Rosa said.

Bucky rubbed her belly. “I don’t trust any of those three. Especially the two newcomers. They’re from a place called Sinful? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. No, Fortune found the map and called in some map guides to help her steal our treasure.”

“You don’t think Olive sent her the map, do you?” Rosa asked.

“No,” Bucky said, “she hated that little tramp. She wouldn’t want her to have it. That’s why we have to make sure they hand it over to us. We owe it to Olive.”