Norton looked at me with grave eyes and nodded.

“You did the same to Abella during last night’s cocktail hour.” From the start, Tim had wondered whether drugs were involved. But Jasper wasn’t the only target. “Did you spike her ice? Clever. If someone else wanted their wine extra cold and ended up knocked out like her, all the better.”

“I didn’t want her to see,” he said feebly. “I was trying to protect her.”

“And you did it again tonight, to Camilla.” She was required to take pills several times daily, Norton had said. But I’d spent a whole day with the family and hadn’t witnessed her take anything, and there were no pills at her bedside. Camilla had seemed tired during our conversation in her bedroom, but she was coherent—nothing like the near-comatose state she slipped into after just a few sips of wine. “You couldn’t have her contributing to a conversation about the family money. Not with Flynn and Bebe in the house.”

Norton brought his hands to his head and squeezed. “You don’t understand! It wasn’t like that!”

“No? Camilla’s dying. The Sinclair fortune’s dried up. All that’s left now is the island. Who gets it when she’s gone? Who did Camilla name as her heir? It’s you, isn’t it? She’s leaving it all to you.”

Philip Norton’s shoulders collapsed and he closed his eyes.

“Jesus,” I said under my breath. More than anything, I felt disappointed. Camilla seemed like such a strong lady, the only one in the family in her right mind. She’d lost her husband, her only son, and the business she’d watched her family build from nothing, but she should’ve had the good sense to spot Norton’s ruse. If only she’d heeded the warnings of her beloved grandson, whose instincts had been on target. Instead, she listened to her friend of twenty years tell her how much Tern Island meant to him. That leaving it to Jasper would put it at risk of being snatched up and sold by Bebe and Flynn. Norton painted himself as the only logical choice. He promised to protect the priceless property until it could safely be transferred to Jasper. Jasper, who was about to disappear into the October mist.

Norton would face a colossal legal battle when Camilla’s wishes were discovered. A widowed empress of New York spurns her rightful heirs and leaves a multimillion-dollar estate to its longtime caretaker? The media would go wild. With Jasper gone, though, Flynn and Bebe were the only ones left to fight for the island, and doing so would inevitably call attention to the family business. The siblings needed Tern Island sold, but if it meant the press might shine a spotlight on Sinclair Fabrics, they’d be better off mourning the tragic loss of their brother and grandmother and letting the property go. Norton must have been overjoyed to hear Flynn announce he and Bebe were corporate criminals. Both faced massive fines, possibly even jail time. There was no one left to interfere with the plan.