“What is it? Is it Graham? Have you heard something? Did you identify the asshole that shot him?”
“No. Just… sit down, please.” He gestured to the armchair in the foyer.
I sat, my heart pounding hard against my ribcage.
“Maggie, we’ve found Hunter Devereaux’s car at Dissolution Point.” Nettles sat on the footstool in front of me while his officer stood by the door.
I blinked. “Where’s that?”
“That’s not important. What’s important is that we found this note.” Nettles pulled out the note Katie and I had fabricated. It was sealed in an evidence bag and had clearly been read over multiple times. “We believe Hunter jumped off the point.”
I brought my hand to my mouth.
Shit.
Either this was going to go exactly as planned, or I was fucked.
“We found a boot wedged between the rocks on the coast.” He showed me a picture of a very beat-up, very weathered, hiking boot. “Is this his?”
I took the picture, my other hand still over my mouth, and nodded.
“We also found a sizable engagement ring. There’s an inscription.‘A chuisle mo chróí?—’”
“I know what it says.”I said, cutting him off.
The officer handed it to me.
“Maggie, I’m sorry. Hunter was most likely killed on impact,” Nettles said, his voice broken.
I turned away, clutching the ring, my heart pounding with each word he spoke, eyes welling.
Sun rays faded in through the stained-glass window in the door,casting long, bright-colored shapes across the wooden floor, amplifying the silence.
“We’ll keep watch for his body.” Nettles paused. “But there is a good chance we’ll never find it. The rough tide will have taken him out to sea by now.”
“That point is known for shark activity,” the officer added.
Nettles grunted. “We’ll let you know if we find him.”
A sickening heat swelled in my body, sending pin pricks to my arms, raising goosebumps. The back of my neck broke out in a cold sweat and my shoulders spasmed with every shaky breath.
“Does he have any next of kin we should notify?”
“I-I don’t know.” I shook my head. “Hunter told me his parents died when he was young, and that he was an only child put into the UK foster system after their deaths.”
The silence in the room weighed the air.
“One more question, Maggie. Why didn’t you file a missing persons?”
“What? Um… I thought Hunter was away on a scouting trip.” The lie landed bitter on my tongue—or maybe it was the bile that rose with every breath. I shook my head, my hand over my mouth attempting to shove it back down. “He would leave for a few days at a time sometimes…”
Nettles exchanged a look with his officer, then leaned forward. “Maggie, I need to tell you something else. We believe Hunter Devereaux was responsible for the deaths of the women found along the coast. The ones that resembled you. The press coined the name ‘The Pretty Girl Killer’.
The air left my lungs.
“Hunter killed all those women? The ones like me?”
Nettles paused for a moment, nodding. “It appears that way.”
