Mental fog, physical danger, and a general ignorance of which direction the next blow is coming from, and who is behind it, have kept suspicions of her stepson on a subconscious level, a level where Rose experienced an aversion to calling him, letting him know what she was up to. The aversion has not been fully or logically addressed. Until now. Now Rose knows part of her suspects Mel’s dad of getting her out of the way after his father died.

Possibly Longwood did phone him about her attempted escape, had been phoning him all along, keeping him apprised of her movements. Maybe Flynn is conveniently out of town for nine days so the window of opportunity for the unfortunate demise of his father’s second wife will be wide open and Flynn will have an alibi. Flynn could have purchased a used truck and had it delivered to Goodman’s.

Rose stays on her back, eyes closed.

“You think it is Daddy, don’t you?” Mel asks in a small flat voice.

Daddy. Mel hasn’t called Flynn Daddy in several years. Except when the child’s heart in her teenaged breast is wounded.

Is Rose accusing Harley’s son, Izzy’s husband, Mel’s father, of conspiring to murder her? What possible reason could Flynn have for wanting her dead? Is Nancy, Harley’s ex, right? After Harley died, in her grief, did Rose lean too hard on Mel, become a burden on a family already touched by tragedy?

That might be motive enough to get Flynn to tell her to go home, but not to kill her.

Money.

Rose hasn’t been able to follow the money. Now she realizes she is the money. She is worth twelve million, give or take a million. Her paintings bring in a lot of money, and Harley had a genius for investing. Between them, they’d done very well for themselves.

Or for their heirs.

Daniel? Daniel stands to gain as much as his brother, and Daniel is underemployed, making little more than minimum wage, where Flynn brings in between one hundred fifty and two hundred fifty thousand a year. Rose doesn’t know Daniel as well as she does Flynn, but he strikes her as the sort of guy whose idea of an evil deed is blowing dandelion fluff in the direction of his neighbor’s lawn.

On Harley’s death all the money comes to Rose. When Rose dies, the bulk is to be divided between Harley’s sons, Daniel and Flynn.

Why kill her? Why not just wait until she kicks the bucket naturally?

Because, alive, she can change the will.

She can’t see either Daniel or Flynn plotting and scheming to kill her for money. Of course, because she cannot see a thing doesn’t mean it isn’t there.