As for why Will had brought it with him—he’d run into Evelyn Triskell just as he was leaving the house. She’d stopped her car while passing his place, and yelled out a “Yoohoo!”
It turned out she’d gone for an early morning coffee-and-croissants run to Josie’s. But what she’d wanted to tell Will was that, on her way back, she’d glimpsed a hoodie-clad figure cross the road in the distance, moving from the hillside bush track to a track that Will knew led to the cliffs.
“The one he came from, it’s no doubt a messy track to run at the moment,” Evelyn had said. “Rain always turns it into a bog for at least a week, usually causes a rockfall or two along the way.” Pursed lips. “It’s probably one of the local boys wanting a challenge, but you really should do something about blocking off that track while it’s unsafe.”
Will’s instincts had kicked in.
“I memorized the track routes during the search for Miriama,” he’d said afterward, his eyes like chips of slate. “I knew the track Evelyn was complaining about started at the Baker property. I figured it had to be Kyle. I could see him setting the fire to get back at me—and I knew that’s where you must’ve gone.”
“I thought I’d be safe in bright daylight.”
Will had nodded. “Evelyn’s sighting was why I parked on the road and walked in through the trees. I didn’t want my presence to provoke the asshole into doing something stupid if he’d just come to admire his handiwork.”
He’d taken the gun because he knew both Vincent and Kyle had a firearms license and Evelyn hadn’t been able to tell him if the jogger she’d seen had been holding anything.
Anahera owed her life, at least partially, to the town gossip.
Anahera, too, had been trapped in an endless loop of police interviews. She hadn’t balked, not even when she was asked to repeat details for what felt like the ten billionth time. She’d do anything in her power to keep the world safe from Vincent.
Now, at long last, the two of them sat naked in Will’s bed, having stripped off each other’s clothes the instant after walking in the door. Anahera didn’t need to be a psychologist to know it was the need to celebrate life that had driven them to the most primal sex she’d ever experienced.
Limbs heavy in the aftermath, she sat with the sheet tucked up over her breasts while she bit chunks off a family-size bar of chocolate she’d dug out from Will’s pantry. It was apparently courtesy of an elderly townswoman who thought he was too thin. He, in turn, was halfway through a cup of coffee so dark she’d worry it’d keep him up all night except that they were both so exhausted that sleep would come whether they wanted it or not.
“I didn’t delay helping you just to get more damning footage,” Will said.
“I know.” He wasn’t built that way. “I’d still be thanking you even if you had. Vincent needs to be locked up forever.”
Will rested his free hand on her sheet-covered thigh. “He was so calm. I needed him unbalanced enough that he’d fall for a noise in the bushes and you would have time to get out of range—then you said that about Miriama being missed.”
“I think his calmness through it all is what I’m having the hardest time handling.” Closing her own hand over his, she ran the pad of her thumb over his knuckle. “It’s as if his actions had no real impact on him.”
“I’m sure the prison shrinks will have a field day with him.” Will absently stroked her thigh. “They found Kyle’s body in the trunk of Kyle’s own car—Vincent told us he intended to bury his brother far from Golden Cove, in another isolated section of bush.”
“Is he still insisting he had nothing to do with Miriama’s death?”
Nodding, Will said, “Shrinks are convinced he’s lying to himself because he killed the woman he loved—as much as someone like Vincent can love.”
“You don’t agree?” Anahera put the unfinished chocolate bar on the side table.
“I don’t know.” Folding his arms behind his head, Will stared at the opposite wall. “He’s open about his other crimes to the point of bragging. Didn’t blink when walking me through how he pulled off his parents’ murder—or how he slit Kyle’s throat. But he becomes enraged if I so much as mention Miriama in connection with his