He grabbed her and held her firmly. “I do care, honestly I do. But we’re too late. He’s dead.”

She lost her strength and sagged in his arms. “This is my fault. I could’ve stopped this. I should have stopped this.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I wanted to give you a chance to redeem yourself.”

“I don’t understand.”

She lowered her head and sighed. “I need a few minutes.”

They sat across from each other. He felt it prudent to save his flashlight batteries. The night was black enough to see the outline of their souls. Kelly wept quietly and Matt could not think up a single thing to cheer her. It was not as if he could reminisce with her about what a great guy David had been. But the fact of his death, so near to where they sat, began to sink in. Matt feared he had no place to put his hate. He was afraid it might turn onto Amy.

He could not believe what she had done.

He realized most of his disguise had washed off in the water.

Eventually Kelly began to talk. She told about being called out on the kidnapping case, meeting Amy and David, the long wait for the ransom demands. It fascinated him to hear what the FBI had gone through the day he snatched the money out from under their noses. It made him feel both guilty and absurdly pleased.

But there were gaps in Kelly’s narrative. She explained how she figured out how he was still alive, but went to great lengths to hide other aspects of her investigation. He wondered if it had anything to do with the injuries she had sustained. He was not sure how the timing of all these events overlapped.

“I didn’t get to Catalina until nine o’clock,” she concluded. “I had a hell of a time finding you. Finally I spotted you hanging out at the old casino. I considered stopping you right then. But I wanted to see what you’d do.” She gestured to the sea. “Because of that decision, David died.”

“David died because Amy killed him. But I gave her the knowledge to kill him. I’m more to blame than you.”

Kelly shook her head. “I’m a law enforcement officer. If I had upheld the law, he would still be alive.”

“Why was it so important for you to see what I would do next?”

“I told you, I care about you. I moved into the apartment complex to understand you better. My husband dumped me. Amy dumped you. You’re a wanted kidnapper, but in a strange way, I sympathized with your plight. I didn’t want to just put you in jail.”

“You went to a lot of trouble for a stranger,” he said.