Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2)(87)

‘That wasn’t your fault.’

‘It was.’

‘No, that was my fault. But this –’ Beth stepped back, slipping her arm from her sister’s grasp. ‘This is so bad, Bree. Why would you do this?’

‘You know why.’ Bree reached out again, her fingertips snatching at thin air. ‘Of course you do. Because you’re my sister! We’re family.’

‘But you don’t trust me at all.’ Beth took another step back. ‘You honestly think I could do something like this?’

Outside, Falk saw movement as a police car pulled up on the gravel. King climbed out.

‘But what else am I supposed to think? How am I supposed to trust you, after everything you’ve done?’ Bree was crying now, her face blotchy and flushed. ‘I can’t believe you’re standing there lying. Tell them! Please, Beth. For me. Tell them the truth!’

‘Bree –’ Beth stopped. She opened her mouth as though about to say something more, then closed it, and without another word, turned her back.

Bree reached out, her good hand scrabbling and her cries echoing around the room as Sergeant King opened the lounge door.

‘You are a lying bitch! I hate you, Beth! I hate you for this! Tell them the truth!’ Bree was struggling to speak through her tears. ‘I did this for you.’

With their faces twisted and angry with betrayal, Falk had never seen the twins look more alike.





Day 4: Sunday Morning


Alice Russell had stopped dead.

She was just visible a short way ahead on the northbound trail, the moonlight pooling around her. The cabin was well out of sight now, tucked away behind the trees.

Alice’s head was bowed, and her backpack was on the ground, leaning against a large rock. She had one hand pressed to her ear. Even from a distance, it was clear from the phone’s blue-white glow that her hand was shaking.





Chapter 26



The twins were taken away in separate police cars.

Falk and Carmen watched from the entrance hall. Lauren and Jill stood in the reception area, their mouths slack with disbelief, until Sergeant King instructed them to wait in the lounge. An officer would call them into the lodge office one at a time to refresh their statements, he said. They should be prepared to come down to the station in town if it was deemed necessary. They nodded wordlessly as he drove away.

Lauren was called to the office first, her face sunken and pale as she crossed the floor. Falk and Carmen stayed in the lounge with Jill. She seemed like a shrunken version of the woman they had met a few days earlier.

‘I told Alice it would serve her right if she died in a ditch,’ Jill said out of nowhere. She was staring into the fire. ‘I meant it. At the time.’

Through the door, they could hear Margot Russell howling. The liaison officer’s voice barely cut through the sound. Jill turned her head away, a pained look on her face.

‘When did you know your nephew had photos of Margot?’ Carmen said.

‘Not until too late.’ Jill looked down at her hands. ‘Daniel finally told me the whole story on Tuesday, but only because the photos were out in public by then. But he should have told me long before that. If he’d been honest on that first night when he came to our campsite, maybe none of this would have happened. I would have let Alice leave when she asked.’

‘How much did Daniel tell you that night?’ Falk said.

‘Only that his wife had caught Joel with some photos and that’s why Daniel had been late getting to the retreat. Maybe I should have put two and two together, but it honestly did not even occur to me that the photos could be of Margot.’ She shook her head. ‘Things were a lot different when I was at school.’

Through the door, the sound of crying was still audible. Jill sighed.

‘I wish Alice had told me herself. I would have let her go back after the first night if I’d known. Of course I would have.’ It sounded a little like Jill was trying to convince herself. ‘And Joel is a stupid boy. He won’t be able to fix this with an apology. He’s a lot like Daniel was when he was young; does whatever he wants, never thinking more than an hour into the future. Kids don’t understand though, do they? They just live in the moment. They don’t realise what they do at that age can still haunt them years later.’

She fell silent, but her hands shook as she clasped them in her lap. There was a knock and the lounge door opened. Lauren peered in, pale and hollow-cheeked.

‘It’s your turn,’ she said to Jill.

‘What did they ask?’

‘Same as before. They wanted to know what happened.’

‘And what did you tell them?’

‘I told them I couldn’t believe Alice hadn’t walked away.’ Lauren looked at Jill, then down at the ground. ‘I’m going to bed. I can’t face this.’ Without waiting for a response, she withdrew, shutting the door behind her.

Jill stared at the closed door for a long moment then, with a heavy sigh, stood. She opened the door and walked out, with the sound of Margot’s cries echoing all around her.





Day 4: Sunday Morning


Alice was almost shouting into the phone. Her cheek glowed blue in the light of the screen as her words floated along the path.