Using my untraceable internet connection, I’d let myself google our situation the other morning and found a name for it: conspiracy to commit fraud. It didn’t even matter if it hadn’t worked. It was still illegal, still a crime. Besides …

‘It’s not like that at all,’ I said.

His eyebrows rose. ‘Then tell me what it is like. Because there’s a reason you lied about seeing him fall, and I will figure it out. Believe me.’

The secret rose in my throat like vomit. ‘I have nothing else to say to you.’

McKnight stared, waiting for me to change my mind.

Inside, I felt the hatch lift up, and my eyes sharpened as they met McKnight’s. ‘Do I need a lawyer?’ I asked. ‘Are you going to charge me with anything?’

He smiled ever so slightly, as if he appreciated my gumption just the tiniest bit. Then he made a show of checking his notes before looking back up at me. ‘Not yet, no.’

‘Then can I go?’ I scooted my chair back.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card. ‘You already have one of these, but here it is again, just in case you do decide to tell us the truth.’

‘I am telling you the truth.’ I stood and grabbed my purse from the back of the plastic chair. I reached for the door, eager to get out of the claustrophobic room.

‘Oh, and Miss King –’

I turned back.

‘In case you were still thinking about it, don’t leave the area.’

I took a quick breath, my heart already racing.

No, I thought. No no no.

‘That’s not a request, that’s an order. As long as the investigation is still in its early stages, we need you to stay right where you are.’

TWENTY-EIGHT

Outside, I sucked air into my lungs, breathing deep as I tried to slow my pulse, puzzle a way out of this clusterfuck. I walked to the car, shut the door, and stared through the windshield, hazy. My hands hovered over the wheel, and I felt it, that need – in my gut – to run. It was all-encompassing, overwhelming, as much a part of me as my fingers and toes.

I had to get out of here, that much had been clear since the day I ran into Ellie. How different would things be now if I hadn’t gone to Schoolhouse when I had, if I hadn’t grabbed a seat at the bar the very same hour that Ellie had wandered into town for a beer? Would we have gone on that hike at all? We certainly wouldn’t have pulled the plan together so quickly. Vera and John would have had time to dot their i’s, cross their t’s. Make it foolproof. Christ, would John even be dead?

I blinked slowly, trying to sort my thoughts.

It didn’t matter. He was dead, and I was trapped.