Chapter 34

"You left her to die, Will. Tell me I'm wrong about this. I think she might even have been able to make it if you had called for help when it happened. There are scratch marks on the floor where she was lying that you weren't able to erase. She was still alive, wasn't she? You were so coldhearted thatyou went back to bed and waited until someone else found her. Your own son had to find his mother on the floor in a pool of blood. Imagine what that does to a young boy. How do you live with yourself?"

"Enough!" Will's voice boomed through the cabin, his desperation palpable.

"You pushed her," I declared, each word a nail in their coffin of lies. "You finally had enough, and you decided just to get rid of her so you could be with the woman you love. Didn't you?"

"Shut up!" Will roared, lunging toward me, driven by fear and guilt.

Diane reached out, her hands clawing at the air. "Please!"

My instincts flared, honed from years of rigorous training and fieldwork. A twist of my hips, a pivot on the balls of my feet, and I evaded Will's outstretched arms, his fingers grazing the fabric of my soaked shirt. Diane swung next, her desperation giving strength to her blow, but it was graceless, untrained. I ducked and felt the whoosh of air as her hand passed over my head.

"My guess is that you wanted to wait until a few years after Angela's death to really be together. You didn't want your relationship to seem suspicious. And you almost made it. Three years had passed, and so far, no one suspected a thing. But then came Carol, the neighbor, and she ruined everything. When she told her lie, instigated by Detective Larson, fueled by her anger toward you for not wanting her, you ended up in jail. Where you both belonged. You two murdered her. Your own daughter, Diane."

"Stop!" Diane's plea was sharp, a knife-edge of panic. "Stop talking."

"Can't do that," I shot back, voice even, breath measured.

Will lunged at me again. The cabin's cramped space turned into a battleground of shadows and flickering light, every move calculated, every breath a measure of life or death. I feinted left and dodged right, putting precious inches between us. Will's heavy breathing filled the room, a bull snorting steam, ready to charge again. But I had my gun, and as I raised it, they finally backed off.

"Think about this!" I warned them, the agent in me still seeking resolution over violence. "It's not too late to surrender."

"Never," Will spat and lunged again.

I caught his wrist, twisted—hard—and heard the grunt of pain as he recoiled. Diane hesitated, torn between aiding Will and fleeing. I pushed Will back, not wanting to hurt him, then lifted the gun again. I grabbed my phone, wanting to call for help. I managed to dial 911, but in that moment I looked away, Diane was the one who made a fatal decision. She grabbed the fire poker and swung it at me. Pain shot through my head, and the fall to the wooden floors made me drop my gun. For a few seconds, all I saw were stars, and as I rose up on my arms, trying to steady myself, Diane was holding my gun, pointing it at me.

"Think of it," she said, addressed to Will. "She's the only one who knows. I bet she came all this way alone without telling anyone where she was going. I say we kill her now and bury her in the woods."

Will hesitated, then said, "They'll be able to trace her phone."

"You're right. We'll take it with us when we leave and drop it somewhere else, far away from here. They might track it to this place eventually, but no one knows we were even here, and we'll be in California by then."

"Okay," Will said with a nod. "Do it."

Diane pointed the gun at my head, then hesitated for a second. That was all I needed.

A surge of adrenaline propelled me forward. I bolted for the door, heart pounding. Will and Diane screamed behind me, and the gun went off, the bullet hitting the doorframe next to me.

It shocked me, yes, but I didn't stop.

The cold slap of rain hit my face as I burst outside, freedom just strides away. Behind me, I heard the crash of a chair hitting the floor, Diane's cursing, and Will's enraged shout. But I was already moving, sprinting down the muddy path, determined to end this, to get out of there alive.