Knowing where Nicole is has done something to her mind. A crack has appeared in its darkest corner, and it’s slowly splitting open. Memories are fluttering out like bats. They invade her dreams and have started to appear everywhere—on the bus, at work. She is remembering. Finally, the black hole is being filled with colour: she was pulled out of bed, the knife pressed into her hand. Heavy footsteps on the floorboards. The man’s whispers. The threats.

And once she started to remember, it unlocked something in the universe. A reporter found her on Twitter and asked her to do an interview for a newspaper radio show. For the first time, the urge to talk is stronger than the urge to stay silent.

The following day Miles crossed the road in front of her in the city last week, just walked right past talking into his phone. His voice sounded exactly the same. She tracked him down at work. Called him and told him she’s finally going to speak. That she wants to speak to him first.

Then the death threats came: one to her work, two to her Twitter account. Alex is used to being hated, but this isn’t crazed vitriol. It isn’t preachy or accusatory. Someone wants her to stay silent; someone knows she’s planning to talk.

They are coming after her. She doesn’t have long. But this time she’s not scared. She has nothing to lose.

In the end, it’s easy to track down Nicole. A few phone calls, some pretending to be Natalie Maslan, and she has Nicole’s address: the cottage house on Laker Drive, Crystalbrook.

Alex gets on the bus in the city and sits near the driver, clutching her handbag. Her mouth is dry, but there’s heat under her arms. Nicole’s old ID is in there; it was in Alex’s purse the night of the murder, and it was still there along with her belongings when she got out of gaol. She brought the death threats too, tucked inside her bag.

She looks at the other people on the bus. Teenagers, the elderly. A young mother with two little kids. Probably on their way to friends’ houses, appointments. Going on adventures. Alex looks out the window as the bus groans slowly up the mountain. Admires all the green. It’s so pretty out here, unlike the grey shades of her life in the city. Maybe one day she’ll move to a place like this. Live among the trees.

Alex hesitates. Maybe Nicole has found peace in the hills. Maybe she doesn’t want what Alex wants. She might be happy to let the past be, for justice to remain out of reach.