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Leah’s always cheerful face pinches. “Right. But please don’t talk about the fire when you meet him. I know you want to know everything but… it’s not the time or place.”
“Are you going to go to the police and report the true story about how you ended up in that river?”
Leah glares mutinously at me and I glare right back. We’re at a stalemate.
Hayley shakes her head and walks out. Still not making any promises, I escort them out to Hayley’s SUV and watch, fascinated, as Hayley straps Hunter into a car seat with enough buckles that it looks like it could be used for space travel. I give the little guy a fist bump and tuck his blanket tighter around his tiny legs.
“If you guys are done with this ambush, I’m going for a run.” I should be gone by now. Natalie could already have left her house and depending on where she’s going, I might not be able to find her.
“Where are you going? Maybe I’ll come with you. I keep meaning to go out for a jog.” Leah hates jogging. She’s making a point. She knows I’m not out running just for pleasure.
“Not sure yet, wherever the wind takes me. There are so many options around here.” Evasive and vague, and with an obviously fake smile plastered on my face, I hope that’s enough of a hint she’s not welcome. Checking my watch again, I close Leah’s door and step back, waving goodbye before Hayley has even turned the key in the ignition.
“The wind, eh?” Leah teases. She couldn’t know I’m following Natalie, could she? Natalie hasn’t done anything to indicate she knows I’m trailing her on her runs. I’m pretty certain she’d have something to say about it if she did. How would Leah know?
“Well tell the wind she’s invited, too, if you manage to catch up to her.”
Shit. I guess Mason was telling the truth. There’s no sneaking up on Natalie.
Maybe I’ll hold off and speak to her at the barbeque. Public place. Lots of witnesses. Far less chance of me freaking out about her leaving trapped in bear territory and tearing anything to shreds. This seems like a good plan.
CHAPTER 22
CHASE
As I get dressed for the barbeque, my buzzing phone pulls my focus away from obsessions with Natalie for all of two seconds.
She’s not the reason I finally agreed to go, this is about spending time with my sisters. Right? Except, I’ve been watching the red dot constantly like the stalker I’ve become.
As I unlock my device, I see a cryptic email from Van titled NOTGOOD. Staring at the message, I hesitate. I’m not sure I want to know, especially if it concerns Natalie.
Preparing myself for bad news, I open the mail he sent and curse, repeatedly, as I pour over what he’s found. Angrily, I dial his number.
“What the hell is this?” I demand, all but shouting down the phone at Van. Shooting the messenger is exactly what I’m doing, but he takes it in stride.
“What does it look like?” he asks with a patience I know I would not possess if our roles were reversed.
With one hand clawing at the back of my neck and the other gripping my phone, I stare in disbelief at the words on the screen. It’s a download of previously encrypted messages between Leon Lennox with some references to a fire, the fire, to some guy called Toby whose address Van has traced to a nearby town. As I scroll through the messages, it becomes clear Toby was paying Leon to terrorise the Jones’s over some failed business deal.
This guy’s a dead man. Wherever he is, I’m going to find him and tear him limb from limb.
“Natalie’s father helped with the attack on Leah and the arson.” Van states the obvious, a hint of uncertainty in his voice as he breaks the news.
“Find out everything you can about this Toby guy. Including where he is right now.” I should be delighted to have gotten a breakthrough like this, but I’m not.
This is a mess. I know Natalie’s not her father, that supposedly she has carved out a different life, but she was back in Black River only yesterday picking up another mysterious cardboard box. What a shitty hand to be dealt having a father like this to deal with. Is it really possible to get away completely? To cut all ties?
“I’m sorry, man.” Van sounds genuinely disappointed for me. I open the next document and scan the messages Van has pulled between Natalie and her father and sigh. It shouldn’t be a shock yet I’m still disappointed when I see what I hoped wouldn’t be true, messages that suggest she’s been helping her father in the background all along.
NATALIE: Just tell me what I need to do and I’ll do it
NATALIE: Don’t call me on this phone, Marcus can’t know we’re talking
NATALIE: Meet me at the usual spot. Don’t worry, I won’t tell Marcus I’m meeting you
“But Marcus almost died. Natalie saved him. Her and Marcus are not involved,” I argue, trying to slot the pieces of the puzzle together. It complicates things, things that I’m only realising I want now that it seems I can’t have them. Natalie. A relationship. A future.
“Marcus wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near the fire. He wasn’t working that night. Maybe she only intervened because he got himself involved…” Van’s throwing me a bone here but his theory makes sense. But that would mean Natalie was involved in setting the fire, or at least knew it was going to happen. That can’t be.
