“We could climb it,” Ellery says.
“Climb it?” Kyan says, clearly eyeing the height of the gate.
“Oh, come on. Where’s the adventurous Kyan from ten years ago? What if I dared you?” Ellery jokes, nudging him in the side before grabbing on to the gate, pulling her right leg up.
And then I see him.
“Ellery, stop!” I yell, pointing to the hulking man walking towards us from over a hill beyond the gate. He must have heard our cars pull up.
Ellery’s still climbing back down when he gets close enough for me to hear it. A sound I’ve only heard in movies. A soft, stomach-clenching click. The safety gauge of a gun coming unclasped.
“Get down from there.” The words are a familiar growl. Nick Gould looks the same as he did years ago: bulky, intimidating, with fiery red hair. Only this time, he’s carrying a rifle.
“Nick, we’re just here to talk,” Josh says, taking on the tone of a hostage negotiator, hands raised.
Nick’s eyes narrow as he comes closer. After a moment, recognition blooms in his eyes.
“The hell are yous doing here?”
He doesn’t bother to hide his shock. Thankfully, the surprise seems to have made him forget the rifle, which he now holds limply by his side.
“We came to ask you some questions,” I pipe up, fumbling.
“Can we come in?” Ellery adds.
“We can do whatever talking yous want right here.”
“Sure,” Kyan says, too agreeably. “We know you and Hari were still in touch—”
“What about it?” Nick says gruffly, before Kyan can finish. I note that he doesn’t deny it.
“Well, she’s dead.”
The news seems to wash over Nick in waves. Shock, then grief, then total and utter devastation. A look I’ve never seen on his—or any grown man’s—face. For a startling moment, I think he may weep or crumple to the ground. Or both.
“No,” he says instead, clearing his throat and regaining some control. “She can’t be.”
“It was an overdose,” Adrien says.
“You’re wrong.” Nick’s voice is stronger now, and I notice white peeking out from his knuckles as he wraps his fingers tighter around the rifle. “She was clean.”
It’s the same thing Kyan had said.
“We think it may have been—”
But Adrien doesn’t let Declan finish. “When was the last time you saw her?” she asks Nick.
“Er…a couple months ago, I think.”
“So, you didn’t see her earlier this week?”
His bushy eyebrows form a sharp V as he stares at her. “No.”
“You were here, at the ranch, all week?” she continues, her voice cool, as if she’s in a courtroom.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” I notice a flash of something unidentifiable in Nick’s eyes, before the grief in his expression begins to harden. “Wait a minute. What are you playing at?”
“What about the night Phoebe went missing in Jagged Rock?” Adrien deftly changes the topic. “What exactly were you doing after the dinner that night?”
