Ugh! It was gross when I didn’t know whose it was, but with a definite name and face of where it came from . . . extra yuck!

Yvette smiles at Sebastian sweetly. “Okay, babe.” To me, she drops the smile to say, “You need to rule Dickie’s death from natural causes. Fill out whatever paperwork you need to so this whole thing is cleared up.”

I gape, eyes and mouth wide open in shock.

Is she for real? All this cloak and dagger kidnapping to get me to change some paperwork?

“Sure. I can do that,” I tell her.

She beams at Sebastian, and he pats her head like she’s a child. “See, Vettie. I told you it’d all work out.”

“Just one teensy-weensy problem,” I interrupt, garnering both their attention. “No one’s going to believe it. Not even for a split second. Everyone knows you killed Richard, Yvette. And by now, you’re likely the number-one suspect in my disappearance. If I show up and change the paperwork, it’ll be the biggest red flag in the history of red flags.”

Shut the hell up, Zoey! Why the hell are you saying all this? Fucking professional pride?

“But I didn’t kill my Dickie,” Yvette pouts. “Why does everyone keep saying that?” she implores Sebastian as tears spill down her cheeks in trails that leave mascara rivers. “I loved him.”

Sebastian yanks Yvette into his chest again in a forceful hug, and I feel like an unwelcome intruder into a private moment between them. But it’s not like I asked to be here.

“Shh, it’s okay. They just don’t understand. You did everything for Richard for so long, and he didn’t appreciate you. Not like I do. You’re an amazing woman, Vettie.”

Sebastian tilts Yvette’s chin up and kisses her fully. He has to be eating mascara, tears, and probably snot too because Yvette is full-on sobbing, but he keeps on kissing her.

I take a couple of slow steps away, hoping to go unnoticed as I get a head start. But I’m not too far away to miss when Yvette stutters out, “I did everything for Dickie. Took good care of him, even making those awful tasting smoothies you recommended so we could be healthier. I don’t care how good for me you say they are, I’m not drinking those anymore. They said in court that they had dangerous metal in them.”

She sounds shocked at the very thought of heavy metals being in the smoothies.

Wait . . . did she say ‘so we could be healthier’? Was Yvette drinking the smoothies too? That doesn’t make any sense. Why would she drink them if she were using them to poison her husband?