Page 94 of Everyone’s a Liar

“Where else could they know for certain it would stay hidden?” Livia insisted, leaning forward as if a sudden surge of adrenaline had seared away her weariness. “And why else has at least one of them been trying to frighten me away from the estate?”

“That’s what you think they were doing?”

“It makes more sense than someone trying to kill me and choosing such ridiculous ways to do it,” Livia said. “I mean, come on. Locking me in an apartment above the garage with a window, not to mention being close enough to the main house to yell for help. And then pushing me on top of a tarp? It was creepy, but not lethal.”

“Okay.” Bryce nodded in agreement. If someone wanted Livia dead, they wouldn’t have given her so many warnings. Not unless they were playing with her before the kill, a warning voice whispered in the back of her mind. “The theory still leaves questions, but I agree it needs to be checked out. Where would they hide her personal belongings?”

Livia considered the question. “Not in the main house,” she finally decided. “At least not while they’re inviting members of the press into the house on a daily basis for Celeste’s engagement. There’s too great a risk that some inquisitive reporter might poke their nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“The garage?”

Livia shook her head. “I would have seen boxes or totes when I was out there. The stuff has to be in the swamp.” Livia sent Bryce a smile edged with bitterness. “After all, my mother warned the FBI agent that it’s a family tradition to hide our sins out there, right?”

It was another wild guess, but Bryce couldn’t deny that Livia made a good point. Not only were the bayous vast enough to hide thousands of sins, but the Benoits had gone to a lot of effort to keep people away. Everyone assumed it was because they snobbishly wanted to keep out the riffraff. What if they blocked the road because they had something to hide?

“That would be unfortunate,” Bryce said. “Things—along with people—have a habit of disappearing in the bayous.”

“Not if we get there quick enough.” Livia abruptly swiveled in her seat, reaching to pull on her seat belt. “Whatever they might have hidden in the past is probably gone, but Stella’s house has only been on the market a few weeks. It wouldn’t have time to disappear.”

Bryce switched on the engine. It was late, but she felt the same urgency as Livia. Once word got out that Larry Sutton’s body had been found, whoever killed him might not wait for the swamp to do its thing. They would want to destroy any evidence ASAP. “I’ll drop you off at your house and go look for it.”

“No.” Livia reached out to grab Bryce’s arm. “We’ll go look for it.”

“Dammit, Livia—”

“I’m safer with you than on my own,” Livia interrupted. “Especially now that word will be spreading that I found Larry Sutton’s body. If they were willing to kill him, they would certainly be willing to kill me. Especially if they were afraid I could expose them.” She held up her hand as Bryce’s lips parted to continue her argument. “Besides, you’ll need my help to find the stuff.”

Bryce scowled, but she put the SUV in gear and drove out of the parking lot. Livia’s words echoed her own worries. Could she really leave her friend alone in New Orleans? No. Absolutely not. Not when there was a crazed killer on the loose. And she couldn’t take her to the Willows. At least not to the house where her family was waiting.

The only alternative was to go together to search the bayou.

“Fine,” Bryce conceded defeat, turning onto the road leading out of town. “But this is still just a theory. I don’t want you to get your hopes up when we don’t know if anything is there.”

Livia settled back in her seat, her expression grim. “Something is out there. I should have suspected it a long time ago.”

“Suspected what?”

“When I was a child, the bayous were off-limits.”

“That’s not really a surprise. They were off-limits to most kids in the area.” Bryce’s father had spent hours going over the various dangers to be found in the wetlands surrounding Rushville when they’d first moved there. “All of us were warned to stay away from them.”

“Yeah, and that’s why I didn’t really think about it at the time. But beyond the general warnings of snakes and alligators, my uncle had a specific location that was marked off with old oil barrels that he told me never to go near. He said that there was a quagmire in the center of that spot. And that if I got caught in it I would die before anyone could find me.”

Bryce tried to remember if she’d ever noticed any oil barrels when she’d been poking around the bayous. Just because her father had warned her to stay away, didn’t mean that she’d listened. Her rabid curiosity was always getting her in trouble. It was also one of the reasons she’d gone into law enforcement.

She had to dig out every secret and get to the bottom of every mystery.

“I assume you never went there?” she asked her friend.

“No way. The mere thought of being sucked into a muddy grave gave me nightmares.” Livia sent her a small frown as if sensing that Bryce was going to suggest that she wait in the vehicle while Bryce went in search of any hidden evidence. “But I know the exact spot. Which is why you need me along. I can lead you straight to it.”

Bryce clicked her tongue as she veered onto the highway. “It’s no wonder you’ve been so successful selling real estate. You can talk people into doing anything. No matter how crazy.”

“I wish that was true. I’d be a rich woman.”

Bryce pressed the cruise control as they sped down the empty road. She’d known Livia for years, but she never really thought about her as one of the Benoits. Not like Adrian or the snooty Celeste.

“Do you ever regret not being the one to inherit the family business?” she asked, genuinely curious. “I mean, everyone in my family is dirt poor. I can’t imagine having rich relatives constantly shoving their wealth in my face.”