“Jade,” I said, trying another tack. “She’ll lose her grandfather. Think of Jade.”

“Oh, I have been. That’s why I married Bebe in the first place. Bebe was our safety net. There was supposed to be plenty of money.” Miles glanced down at Norton with a grimace. “It was supposed to be easy. All of this has been for Jade—Jasper most of all. My mother was sixteen years old when she had me.” His grip on Norton tightened as he spoke. “You refused to help her,” he hissed in Norton’s ear. “Got her pregnant and tossed her aside. I’ll be damned if I was going to let a spoiled rich kid do the same thing to my daughter. All I wanted was to know you,” Miles said, “and you wouldn’t give me the fucking time of day.”

“I was a kid, too,” said Norton. “I had no job, no money, nothing. I tried to make it right.”

“You tried? You tried? Soon as I got my driver’s license I was up here every couple of weeks, following you around like a loyal puppy. You sent me away every time. Did you think I’d forget all about that when you finally showed up begging to be best friends?”

“Killing him won’t save you, Miles.”

“No?” Miles lifted his gaze to find me. “Philip bought the drugs. His name’s in Camilla’s will. His fingerprints and DNA are all over the knife and the rope upstairs. You’ve got no signed confession,” he said. “No evidence to bring charges against me. No proof at all I’m involved beyond a theory shot full of holes. I’m about to kill him out of self-defense. I’ll tell your boss that when you take me in—and take me, by all means. I’ve got enough criminal attorney friends to start a softball team, all itching to vouch for my character. Meanwhile you shot a witness today, and your incompetence got another one killed. I saw you up there with Wellington, having your little heart-to-heart. Seems to me you’ve got issues that need serious attention. Maybe some time off is just what you need.”

His arm tensed in preparation to slit his long-lost father’s throat, but the grin slid off his face. He’d heard it, too. The creak of a door.

“Go back inside, Jade,” I said quickly. “Nobody else has to get hurt tonight, not your dad, not your grandfather. Just stay—”

“Daddy?” Jade sounded utterly lost. She was shaking so hard she could hardly stay upright. “What are you . . . what does she . . .”

“My God,” I said, absorbing the horror on Miles’s face. “She doesn’t know.”

“Get inside,” Miles roared. “Now, Jade.”

“But—”

“I wanted to tell you,” said Norton. “I didn’t even know about you until I tracked Miles down last year. He said we had to wait . . . wait for the right . . .”

“You didn’t tell her who he is,” I said. “You didn’t trust Jade not to spill the secret to the Sinclairs while her grandfather robbed Camilla blind. Were you ever going to let Philip live after this weekend? Or is he just another casualty of your conspiracy to hijack a family fortune?”