At first she was unsure who had done it. But it soon became apparent to her that she’d been right about Simon. He was cheating on Kate, and he was only out for himself. Once Carter and Gordon had filled in the picture for her—a man with money problems and a wandering eye—she put it all together. When she discovered that Lily had known about Sabrina, had actually called Simon about Sabrina, she knew he was the one. But she couldn’t prove it. That’s when she modified her plan.

At first, seeing Kate slowly break down as she received message after message had been gratifying. It had been so easy to make it look like the killer was after Kate as well. But after spending time with her and seeing that their bond was as strong as ever, Blaire realized she wanted Kate back. Blaire might not have a mother, but she had a sister, after all. So she’d made Kate depend on her again. Helped her to see that Simon was guilty. And this time, Kate would choose Blaire over him.

If Simon hadn’t come on the scene, she’d have never lost Kate and Lily in the first place. Kate was still responsible for taking Blaire’s ability to have children from her, but now that Blaire was back, she’d share Annabelle with Kate. With Simon in jail, it would be like Annabelle belonged to both of them. She’d bet that Kate would even let Blaire take her to New York for some weekends. But now they were all suspicious of her.

Heavy footsteps stopped outside the curtains, and she heard the familiar voice of Detective Anderson call in.

“May I come in and talk to you, Ms. Barrington?”

“Yes,” she answered.

He looked serious as he came in and pulled up a chair, notepad in hand. “Ms. Barrington, I’d like to ask you about the fire.” His eyes were cold as he cleared his throat. “Can you tell me what happened today?”

“As you know, I’ve been staying with Kate. Harrison and Annabelle were away, and Kate needed me to go to CVS to pick up some Tylenol. When I got back, there was smoke pouring out of the chimney, and all the alarms were going off. I knew Kate was still inside, and I ran in to find her passed out, and pulled her out. Thank God I got back in time.” Blaire studied Anderson’s face, but he remained impassive.

“I see. Did you pick up any more prepaid Visa cards while you were at CVS?” He sat back and crossed his leg, a slight smile playing on his lips.

“Why would I need a prepaid Visa? I have excellent credit,” she said calmly.