“So, no,” Villanueva concludes. “You are no longer considered a suspect in Phoebe’s murder.”
Her words fly through me with giddy elation, mixing noxiously with grief and shame. But Villanueva’s eyes grow hard once more.
“I do have one more question for you though.”
I feel my breath catch.
“The accident. The crash with the car Mr. McBride had stolen.” I found out shortly after the explosion that Josh hadn’t borrowed the car as he’d claimed but had broken into one of the houses in downtown Jagged Rock and stolen the keys.
“It doesn’t seem likely that Mr. McBride just ran off the road,” Villanueva continues. “What happened?”
The real question hangs silently between us.What did you do?
I can’t tell her the truth. That I yanked the wheel, took Josh by surprise, just like Phoebe did to her brother all those years ago. I’m sure they would consider that a crime.
Then I think back to what Josh said about the police’s conclusion regarding Phoebe’s crash and her brother’s death. How Phoebe had told them her brother had swerved to avoid a deer.
“A kangaroo,” I say before I can think better of it. “It hopped in front of the car. Josh swerved to avoid it.”
“Ah.” Villanueva raises an eyebrow, one side of her lip lifted. “Exactly what I thought.”
Somehow, somewhere, I feel Phoebe smile.
“Well, that’s all I have for you for now. When you’re released from hospital, I suggest you return to Sydney for a few days. The wildfires have largely been contained, so you shouldn’t have any more issues with your flights. But stick around for a bit until we clear you to leave the country.”
I nod, but she’s already standing, walking away from the bed. Just as she reaches the door, she turns back, that mischievous smile still on her face.
“Oh and, Claire, I think it’s probably best if you don’t return to Jagged Rock after this.”
I can’t help but smile back. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
I’ll never come back here again.
50
Claire
Now
“I can’t believe you guys are really leaving,” Kyan says as he stands, his arms open as he leans in to give me a hug. We’re back in the kitchen of his Sydney house, where we’ve been staying the last few days, and which seems to look even more grandiose following our accommodations in Jagged Rock. “It’s been so nice having you here, even with everything that’s happened.”
“Come on, Kyan.” Adrien walks over, blocking our hug and pressing her hand on his shoulder, lightly pushing him back into his wheelchair. “You know you shouldn’t be standing. You’ll rip out your stitches.”
As fate would have it, Kyan was recovering from his stab wound in the same hospital that I was rushed to following the crash. Or maybe it wasn’t fate as much as it was the biggest/only hospital within two hundred miles of Jagged Rock.
It had been touch and go, he explained to us later. He’d lost a lot of blood during the ambulance ride to the hospital and had been rushed into surgery immediately upon arrival. Randy’s knife had punctured one of his kidneys, which the doctors had removed before they’d sewn him up. Life would be a bit different, they’d advised him. Less alcohol, healthier food, and more moderate exercise.
But he’d survive.
He recounted the stabbing to the others in the hospital, which Declan then passed onto me. Kyan had gone to the parking lot to take a call when he spotted the slashed tires on our rental cars—the ones Josh was responsible for. Unfortunately, at that same time, Randy had come out for a smoke break. Kyan launched himself on him, accusing him of slashing the tires. One thing led to another, and Randy retaliated, screaming at Kyan about how privileged and arrogant we all were, how we’d ruined his life. And before Kyan knew what was happening, before he had a chance to defend himself, Randy pulled out a pocketknife and shoved it into Kyan’s stomach. Randy fled immediately after that, leaving Kyan to bleed out.
Declan also relayed how Luke, Ellery, and Adrien had received the wildfire evacuation notice early on the morning I’d gotten in the car with Josh. With no other choice for transportation, they’d decided to pile into Luke’s beat-up hatchback with only a prayer that it would make it to Tilloborra, where they could be in relative safety and visit Kyan in the hospital. Just as they were coming to our rooms to wake us, Declan burst through the doors of the Royal Hotel, explaining how I’d left the Inn with Josh in a car he didn’trecognize, heading to God knows where. Declan knew something was wrong, call it intuition or whatever, but it was enough to convince the others.
When Declan told me this part in the story, I couldn’t help but tear up, thinking of how they chose to save me even after everything.
There were so many directions Josh and I could have headed in, but they figured we would be heading away from the wildfires, so they scanned the windows for any sign of me or Josh as they drove. They stopped at the same gas station we had to check if there had been any sightings. They spoke to the cashier, who pointed them in the direction we had headed. It only took a few more minutes for them to come across the wrecked car, to spot Josh’s hands around my throat.
Thankfully, Luke wasn’t burned in the explosion; the force of the blast propelled him away. But he broke his wrist in the fall. A small injury in the scheme of things, but one I’ll never be able to fully repay him for.
