The birthday party was unnaturally quiet.
The conversation between Claudia and Ann echoed clearly for everyone to hear:
Claudia asked, "Ann, that check you took from the elder Mr. Ferguson six years ago… were you really robbed?"
Ann replied, "I'd never seen so much money in my life. How could I possibly let someone rob me?"
Claudia continued, "Who is Ethan James's father?"
Ann said, "Don't even mention that bastard Lamont Delaney. If I had known his family was going bankrupt, I never would have bothered climbing into his bed."
Claudia asked, "Ann, you had no quarrel with Thorne. Why did you kill him?"
Ann replied, "You can blame that old fool from the Ferguson family. He threatened to give the family inheritance to that illegitimate son if York Ferguson dared to be with me. Why should he get it?"
"So you arranged his murder?" Claudia asked.
Ann: "I didn't kill him. I just gave Virgil Stone half a million dollars to move a warning sign at the ski resort so that the bastard would have an 'accidental' death. That's all."
...
The recording of Claudia and Ann's conversation continued to play, but the room had already erupted into chaos.
Ann's mother, Laurel, nervously pulled her son and daughter-in-law out of the crowd, and the three of them began whispering amongst themselves.
Rock clicked his tongue. "I never thought this ugly thing was so rotten to the core. Truly terrifying."
Peter Louis gave Darleen Ferguson a meaningful look.
Darleen quietly went to comfort her mother, Wendy.
Across the crowd, York and Claudia's eyes met for a moment before they both looked away.
Ann's mind went blank with a deafening roar. For a moment, she forgot how to react.
How could this be!

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