Dean cries out in pain. She pictures the twins at the cemetery with Mary laying flowers on two graves. Hold on, Dean, she pleads. Hold on.

The front door closes with a thud, and Nathan smiles.

Bowman nods. ‘We don’t have much time.’

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

BOWMAN LEVELS THE GUN AT OLI. HE LOOKS TIRED AND DISHEVELLED, but there’s a disconcerting hardness to his gaze. A grim determination. Oli pictures him arriving at the Paradise Street house. Sitting at the back of the ambulance after the fire up in Crystalbrook. Walking away from her after they met at the pub. Crying at Isabelle’s funeral.

They lock eyes. ‘I did tell you to drop it,’ he says reasonably. ‘You and your friend. He was very keen to alert the uni about the pornography ring that he thought was being run under their noses. He had a very vivid imagination—and, I suspect, a little too much to prove to his new colleague.’

‘Cooper,’ Oli murmurs.

‘I told your boss involving him in all this was a bad idea weeks ago. It’s a damn shame that a violent meth-head liked the look of his jacket.’

Boss? Is Bowman talking about Dawn or Joosten, or someone else? All of Oli’s senses are in overdrive—she can smell the slightly foul odour of stale water from the vase, while the white of the tiles burns her eyes, her heartbeat shuddering through her limbs. The storm has settled into steady, relentless rain. Her brain shuffles the facts like a deck of cards. Bowman knew how to kill Evelyn and make it look like Alex did it. He knew how to make someone disappear. He knows how to get away with killing Oli. With killing Dean.

‘Isabelle,’ Oli says slowly. ‘She told you her theory about the housemates generating child pornography. She linked it to the uni. You knew she wouldn’t rest until she brought the whole thing crashing down.’

Dean flinches but doesn’t look up. His face has turned a disturbing grey.

She edges slightly closer to the wall. Bowman adjusts his hold on the gun, and she freezes. Lily, Oli thinks suddenly, Lily is expecting me. She will know something is wrong, and she will … what? Call? Come over? A slow sinking feeling takes over. Lily will just figure that Oli has worked things out with Dean, not believing that she will actually leave. Oli pleads silently, just like she used to. Please, Lily, please. Help me.

‘I had a huge amount of respect for Isabelle,’ Bowman says bluntly. ‘She was smart and she deserved better.’ He glares at Dean, who glowers at him through his agony. ‘It was clear she was throwing herself into work to avoid problems in her marriage.’

‘How far does this go?’ Oli asks weakly.

‘Quite far,’ replies Nathan. He could be talking about the weather.