Under the Altswood Sky (The Altswood Saga #2)

Chapter 19 - Blind

Chapter 19 - Blind

We pulled up outside the home-for-rent that a newspaper article had listed as belonging to Maire.

"Are you sure it's safe to talk to her?" Gabriel asked when neither of us made a move to leave the car.

I bit the inside of my cheeks. "She's just the benefactor," I said, "not the killer."

"So why did the killer send Jules to rummage through Rebekah's box and why did Maire claim ownership for it?" Gabriel wondered. "What was it the text said? I'm not the villain here. Then who is?"

I peered at Maire's house, seeing it void of movement.

"You'd think they'd be referring to Rebekah, since she owns the box," I said. "But that doesn't align with everything we know already—this killer is helping Rebekah. Besides, how was Jules to know who the box belonged to when he tried to break in?"

Gabriel frowned.

"Let's think about it from a removed perspective," he said. "Jules arrives at the post office. Jules is caught by Maire. Maire, for some absurd reason, claims it's her PO box. Jules concludes that Maire is the villain the text refers to."

"Okay," I said. "What was the point? Jules wouldn't then think that Maire is the killer. She wouldn't reveal herself."

"And why reveal anything at all?" Gabriel added. "Clearly the text message was the killer's attempt to throw someone off, but Jules wasn't anywhere close to finding out their identity."

At this, I sat up straight. "No, he wasn't." I eyed the garden in front of us. "But maybe Maire was."

I got out of the car.

"Do you have a plan for this at all?" Gabriel whispered, close on my tail.

I showed him my shaking hands. "My plan is to do this as quickly as possible so I can get home and take my meds."

Gabriel knocked. We stepped back and waited.

I was half-expecting Maire not to be at home, since there was no car in the driveway and the curtains were drawn. But then the door opened a crack, and the millionaire philanthropist's heavily lined eye appeared into the light, squinting.

To say she wasn't expecting to see us would be an understatement.

"Hi," I said.

"Can we come in?" Gabriel followed with.

Suspiciously, Maire opened the door wide and gestured for us to enter.

"Tea?" she asked.

"Sure," Gabriel said.

Maire disappeared into the kitchen.

I elbowed Gabriel sharply.

Ouch, he mouthed. What was that for?

Did you forget the ground rules? I mouthed back.

Maire returned with a pot of tea and a few porcelain cups balanced in her arms.

"Take a seat," she said, nodding at the sofa. "I don't suppose this is just a housewarming call."

"We'd be a little late for a housewarming, I think."

I settled into the sofa, surprised when the cushions didn't sink in underneath me. The entire set-up of this house was opulent to the extreme, but something about it felt artificial. It felt like it was hardly lived in.

"True," Maire said simply, seating herself opposite to us. She poured the tea carefully, and though we thanked her and took it, no one made a move to drink.