Page 91 of Everyone’s a Liar

“No, Bryce.” Ignoring her friend’s glare, Livia climbed out of the vehicle and folded her arms over chest. “I’ll stay behind you, but we’re in this together.”

Bryce looked like she wanted to toss her back into the SUV, but with a glance around their isolated surroundings, she gave a sharp nod. No doubt she was weighing whether Livia would be in as much danger alone on the deserted road as trailing along with her.

“Fine.” Bryce pointed a warning finger at Livia. “But if he’s here, let me do the talking.”

Keeping her weapon in her hand, Bryce ignored the narrow path that circled past the vegetation, instead battling her way through the overgrown bushes to approach the cabin from the side.

They halted in the lacy canopy of a weeping willow, studying the weathered structure that looked like it’d been abandoned for years. The sideboards had long ago lost any paint and the windows were covered by layers of dirt. Even the tin roof had rusted until it looked on the verge of collapse.

Still, there were signs that the place wasn’t as deserted as someone wanted a casual passerby to believe. The windows were dirty, but more than one had been replaced and there was a pile of firewood that had been recently chopped. Plus there were tire tracks pressed into the grass, as if someone had driven up in a heavy vehicle and parked in front of the narrow porch.

Clearly noticing the tire tracks at the same time as Livia, Bryce stepped to the side to peer toward the back of the cabin.

“I don’t see a car here, but there’s a shed behind the house. It could be hidden in there.” She sent Livia a stern frown. “I’m going to knock on the door. You stay behind me.”

Livia nodded, following on Bryce’s heel as she crossed the spongy ground and climbed the one step onto the porch. The wooden planks sagged beneath their combined weight, but thankfully they didn’t splinter. Bryce rapped on the screen door.

Livia’s mouth was weirdly dry as they waited for any sound of approaching footsteps. There was nothing. Not unless you counted the sound of buzzing insects. The eternal song of the bayous.

With a frown, Bryce pulled open the screen door and rapped on the wooden one behind it. Surprisingly, it slid open, as if someone hadn’t managed to get it firmly latched. A bad feeling washed over Livia. Had a malignant spirit had been released from the cabin to slither past them?

She sensed Bryce’s shiver, as if she’d experienced the same sensation of evil, but with a grim expression she stepped through the opening.

“Hello?” Bryce called out. “I’m looking for Larry Sutton. I’m Deputy Swift.” She paused, her words echoing through the empty space. “If anyone is here, show yourself.”

Livia entered the cabin behind Bryce, careful to give the woman plenty of space in case she needed to back out of there in a hurry. A quick glance was enough to warn her that they weren’t the first person to come looking for Larry Sutton. The small living room was littered with papers and books that had been pulled out of the desk in a corner and off the narrow bookcase. Even the cushions had been jerked off the couch and slashed, as if someone was searching for something hidden inside.

“The place has been trashed,” she muttered, her gaze moving to the door leading to the kitchen. That room appeared to have received the same treatment. There were broken plates and pans scattered across a linoleum floor and cabinet doors left hanging open. “Do you think Larry still owns it?”

“Looks like it.” Bryce pointed toward the framed photo that was hanging cattywampus on the paneled wall. Even at a distance Livia could see a young Larry Sutton standing next to a pretty blond-haired woman in a simple wedding gown. “That must be his wife, who was killed.”

Livia grimaced. A lingering violence hung in the air. As if the fury sizzling from the intruder had stayed long after they’d disappeared.

“I guess someone came looking for Larry and they weren’t happy when they couldn’t find him.”

“Or they were looking for something,” Bryce suggested, crossing to peek into the kitchen before moving to the second opening that proved to be a bedroom and attached bathroom.

“Maybe Larry found an incriminating piece of evidence against the Benoits and someone wanted it back,” Livia suggested.

“That’s a logical guess,” Bryce agreed, wandering toward the desk as her gaze kept watch on the open door to make sure no one was trying to sneak up on them. “He seems the sort of guy who would get hired to find something, then once he had his hands on the prize, he would turn around and blackmail his client to get it.”

Livia watched her friend tiptoe over the papers that were tossed on the floor, trying to imagine what the private investigator might have been told to find, and why whoever trashed this cabin would be so anxious to get their hands on it.

Was it the information her mother had been intending to hand over to the FBI? And if so, why wait almost thirty years to go looking for it? It’s not like anything had changed …

Wait. Livia sucked in a sharp breath. Something had changed. Stella Gates had died.

“What if he got it from Stella Gates?” Livia’s heart skipped a beat, a surge of excitement racing through her. For the first time since she’d discovered that Jacob Pearson was a fraud, she was convinced she’d just grasped a sliver of the truth. “She shared rooms with me and my mother at the Willows. Who else would have been so close to Giselle just before she died?”

Bryce sent her a puzzled glance. “You think your nanny was responsible for her dying?”

Livia shook her head, struggling to arrange her chaotic thoughts. “No, I think Stella would have known why my mother was going to the FBI. And after she died, Stella might have taken the evidence and hidden it somewhere the Benoits couldn’t find so she could get money from them. Then once they realized Stella had died, they panicked and hired Larry Sutton to find it.”

Bryce slowly nodded. “I see where you’re going with this, but I thought Larry Sutton was run off by the nosy neighbor?”

“He was, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have come back later that night.”

“And then he decided to blackmail your family?”