Tish’s eyes were wild. “She never told me.”

“Oh, but she would have told you eventually,” Rikke said. “I don’t blame her. I don’t blame Finn, either. We could all have worked it out if it weren’t for you. You’re the one who destroyed us. Now it’s my turn.”

Rikke let the car keys dangle from her finger in front of Tish’s face.

“This is the end for both of us.”

As Tish screamed, Rikke casually flicked the keys out over the side of the bridge, where they fell in a silver flash.

49
___________

As Stride and Serena drew closer to the glowing white arch of the Blatnik Bridge, brake lights turned red, and traffic around them ground to a dead stop. The bridge lights over their heads were bathed in fog. Ahead of them, horns blared in a singsong whine as cars trickled forward, slowly merging into a convoy over the span. He lowered the window of his truck and leaned out to study the highway, but he couldn’t make out the summit of the bridge through the white cloud.

“Is it an accident?” Serena asked.

“I don’t know. Every time the fog rolls in, people start running into each other.”

Serena peered over the edge. “Long way down.”

“One hundred and twenty feet to the water.”

On the opposite side of the center barrier, traffic streamed toward them out of the haze. In the westbound lane, people jostled for position and cut each other off as they merged. He didn’t like the speed or impatience of the other drivers. He reached behind his seat for an emergency flasher and slapped it magnetically to the top of his Expedition. The red light turned and shot a beam around them. He turned on his four-ways and shut off the engine.

“You want to come?” he said to Serena.

“Out on the bridge?”

“You can stay here if you want.”

“Hell, no, I’m with you.”

He opened the door and stepped out onto the bridge deck. Serena did the same on the other side of the truck. She was closer to the edge, where the dirt and gravel of the narrow shoulder bumped against the concrete barrier.

“Be careful,” he said.

“Now you tell me.”

He waved his hands to alert drivers around him and walked up the highway, following the white paint marking the two lanes. Serena veered away from the shoulder and marched beside him. They could only see a few cars at a time in the swirling fog. On their right, steel girders sloped upward toward the semicircle of the bridge arch. Lights came and went over their heads as the mist drifted in pockets. He slapped the metal frame of each car they approached, so the driver knew they were there. He didn’t want anyone bolting across the lane as they came up from behind.

Inside his pocket, his phone rang. He flipped it up. “What’s up, Mags?”

“I’m at Rikke’s house. No sign of her here.”