BooksBarbecue
Back The Last Guests
Chapters (54)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART ONE
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. DEADLY SAS RAID IN AFGHANISTAN UNDER SCRUTINY
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. PART TWO
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. DANIEL MOORE: ‘A SINGLE BLOKE, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, A BIT OF A DUNCE BUT WITH A GOOD HEART,’ BEST FRIEND SAYS.
  38. THIRTY
  39. THIRTY-ONE
  40. THIRTY-TWO
  41. THIRTY-THREE
  42. THIRTY-FOUR
  43. THIRTY-FIVE
  44. BREAKING: POLICE CONFIRM DANIEL MOORE ACTED ALONE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. SECOND ARREST MADE IN WESTAY HIDDEN CAMERAS CASE
  50. EPILOGUE
  51. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  52. Discover More
  53. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  54. Also by J. P. Pomare

‘I asked you a question. Are you sure?’

‘Yes,’ I say. ‘I took a test.’

A long pause, he studies me.

‘I’m the father… I’m going to be a dad.’

He rises suddenly and heads back up to the bedroom. I can hear him moving around up there. Then a moment later he returns.

‘This place is different since last time I was here,’ he says. ‘Or maybe it’s just a bit different during the day, it seems cleaner, nicer somehow.’

He’s been here before. Of course he has. He drugged the wine. He got inside, he must have changed the code to the lock. Rain pounds the roof. Even through the mask, I see a bead of sweat running down into his eye. But it’s not hot in here. He’s nervous.

‘Let me ask you something,’ he says, sitting on the couch. He rests his feet on the table near the keys for the handcuff. ‘Why did you choose me?’

‘What?’

‘Why did you choose me, on the dating app? My tattoos? My looks? What was it?’

I swallow. ‘Why do you want to know?’

‘Because I want the truth. Because I am a fucking caveman, Lina. That’s why. Now answer the question.’

‘It was supposed to be one night,’ I say. ‘I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.’

‘Was I not good enough for you?’

I take a breath. ‘Please take this off? Then we can talk properly.’ I raise my cuffed hand so the chain is taut.

‘No. Tell me why you chose me, explain to me why you ghosted me afterwards.’

‘Because you seemed normal, you had a good job, you were young.’

‘What’s that got to do with it?’

‘There was less chance we would have friends in common. You said you were a country boy but I didn’t think you meant Rotorua. I never would have –’

‘You thought you had gotten away scot-free, you’d never see me again.’

‘I did.’

‘So it was just sex?’

‘No,’ I say, without thinking. I hesitate. ‘Well, I guess it was.’ I need to keep him onside.

‘Oh, Lina, you’re going to have to give me a little more than that. Do you love your husband?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then why were you cheating on him?’

‘It’s complicated.’

‘We’ve got time.’

I lean up against the fireplace, my shoulder and hips ache from sitting in this awkward position but I can’t turn from him. I don’t have the mettle to look away from his eyes even for a moment.