Dead and Dusted by Lily Webb (reader novel .TXT) 📕

though it wasn’t addressed, I’m sure she knows who sent it. For all we know, it might’ve been her.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Blair objected. “I can’t imagine Leland’s personal assistant doing something like this.”

“Are you sure? Evie seemed awfully anxious about Leland coming back from the restroom. She was twisting in her seat so much to look for him I thought she might break her neck.”

Blair shook her head, ignoring me. “Regardless, I don’t think she’s in any condition to talk about it right now,” she said with a frown as she watched Mayor Nash pat Evie on the back and mumble comforting words to her.

“It never hurts to try,” I said, and left Blair and the others for Evie. Mayor Nash met my eyes as I approached and flashed me a smile that screamed relief. Clearly, comforting heartbroken assistants wasn’t a role that came naturally to him. “May I?” I asked, and Mayor Nash pried himself from Evie’s grip long enough to stand. I took his seat and both of Evie’s hands in mine, but she barely seemed to have noticed the personnel change. With a last withering look at Evie and me, Zadie fled the room with the mayor while they whispered to each other, no doubt about Leland.

“I-I don’t understand,” Evie sobbed. “How could this happen? With all this security? It shouldn’t be possible!”

“I know, Evie. I’m so sorry,” I said, and she threw herself at me to soak my shoulder next.

“I mean, I know Mr. Marth can be a bear sometimes, but who would do this to him?! Something’s not right here!”

I rubbed her back for a few moments until she gathered herself a bit more, then risked it. “I know you’re upset, so you can say no, but can I ask you something about Mr. Marth?”

Evie leaned back to wipe her eyes on the back of her hand, smearing her makeup even further across her face. “W-what?”

“It’s probably none of my business, but I noticed you brought a letter down to Mr. Marth a while ago.”

“What about it? I thought it was something you left for him, like a welcome note,” Evie said, her voice croaky from crying.

“What? We didn’t leave him anything,” I said, my heart racing.

“Well, maybe you didn’t personally, but someone must have. I saw it as soon as I walked in. It was lying on the floor like someone had slipped it under the door, so I picked it up and brought it down to Mr. Marth.”

That shouldn’t have been possible. I was standing right outside the door when Brady’s team of guards invaded Leland’s room, and I didn’t see any envelopes on the floor. But even if I’d missed it, surely a guard would’ve seen it during their search — unless someone left it after the sweep. But no one else was upstairs, so how could that letter have gotten there?

“Are you sure someone left it? Could it have fallen out of Mr. Marth’s briefcase instead?”

Evie paused for a second to think about it. “I mean, I guess? But what difference does it make? What does that dumb letter have to do with what happened?”

I had a sinking feeling it had everything to do with Leland’s death, but I didn’t dare tell Evie that. I wasn’t sure how much if any of the details she’d overheard from Brady, but I didn’t want to upset her any further.

“I’m only asking because Mr. Marth was alone in the restroom.”

“Alone except for Brady!” Evie shouted, twisting wildly in her seat to seek the bodyguard out. When she didn’t find him, she whirled back to me, anger burning on her pale face like a sunset. “He must’ve done this. Him or one of his other goons!”

“Whoa, whoa, calm down. Brady was outside the restroom. Besides, it’s his job to keep Mr. Marth safe so why—”

“And he’s terrible at it!” Evie shouted, interrupting me. I stared dumbstruck into her watering, furious blue eyes, and she continued. “This isn’t the first time he’s fallen down on the job. With him in charge, I can’t believe something hasn’t happened sooner! I’ve begged Mr. Marth since I took this job to get rid of him, but he wouldn’t listen to me. If only he had,” she groaned and dissolved into sobs again.

Evie hadn’t convinced me Brady had anything to do with what happened to Leland, but I had to admit the circumstances seemed suspicious. If Brady and Jorah really were the only ones waiting outside the restroom, either of them could’ve slipped in when no one else was around, taken Mr. Marth down, and then staged the letter and dust to throw everyone off.

I shook my head. As much as I wanted to find a culprit, that theory seemed beyond ridiculous. Why would the head of Leland’s security kill the person who paid him? And even if he wanted to hurt Leland, surely there would’ve been less conspicuous ways for him to do it.

My eyes drifted back to Evie’s. She was the last person in Leland’s room. What if she didn’t find that letter at all? She could’ve had it with her all along and come up with a cover story. But then again, as Leland’s personal assistant, she also probably could’ve found more discreet ways to kill him if she’d really wanted to.

Which brought be back to Brady. As little as I believed Evie’s accusations against him — I still couldn’t figure out why Brady would want to hurt his boss — I couldn’t help wondering. Brady had to know who Leland’s biggest enemies and security threats were, so how hadn’t he seen something like this coming and prepared for it? For Lilith’s sake, he’d ordered a large security team to scour the entirety of Kindred Spirits, so if Evie was telling the truth about how she’d found the letter, how could Brady have missed something so obviously suspicious?

Thankfully, Evie seemed to have mostly gathered herself again for me to ask. I waited until her eyes