My fingers ached as I dug deeper into the tree bark, desperately straining to see who Juliet had spoken to. My heart thundered in my ears, but not so loud I couldn’t hear snapping twigs and rustling leaves as someone moved closer to the clearing.
‘What are you doing here?’ Leo had swapped shock for horrified outrage. ‘Did you kill Melanie?’
Leo’s reaction didn’t give me much to go on. He would have said the same to any of our suspects.
Leaning far out to the left, keeping my feet planted to avoid making a sound, I could discern the silhouette of whoever we’d lured into the forest. They were tall, which ruled out Dunlow. The shape of their body was bulked out by a heavy coat. The half-light of the rising sun leeched all colour from their hair and clothes.
‘Get behind me, Leo,’ Juliet ordered. ‘And you. Stay there.’
They stopped moving. I controlled my breathing, willing away the clouds of vapour released with each exhalation. Leo looked mutinous, but he allowed Juliet to place herself between him and the newcomer.
‘Where’s the other one?’
My heart shoved other organs out of the way in an attempt to sink several inches. I knew that voice. The Yorkshire lilt was unmistakable. The green of his worn coat became clear, the hair sticking out under a bobble hat tangled and mane-like.
‘The other what?’ Juliet asked.
‘The other detective,’ Karl said, as calmly as every other time we’d talked to him. Like he hadn’t come to this hillside to finish what he’d started the night he killed Melanie.
Jordan hadn’t killed his girlfriend in a jealous fury. Terence hadn’t murdered Melanie to silence her. Dunlow hadn’t shot a girl he deemed inappropriate for his son. Leo hadn’t killed Melanie in a spurned rage.
Karl Biss shot Melanie Pirt. His appearance here couldn’t mean anything else.
‘She’s unwell.’
I exhaled slowly. I wasn’t sure why Juliet had lied, but it gave me options. Karl didn’t look like a threat, but that could easily change.
I’d gotten everything wrong about him. He’d never been a victim, he wasn’t anything like me. He was no bystander, but the villain.
‘Sorry to hear that.’ Karl shuffled, the fluffy ball on top of his hat bobbing. ‘I didn’t expect to see you here.’
‘Why are you here?’ Juliet matched Karl’s gentle tone.
‘To talk to Leo. I saw his Instagram post last night.’
The flash of triumph that my plan had worked was drowned by a rising flood of self-flagellation. We’d caught Karl, but it was a close thing. If I’d trusted my gut, a murderer would have gotten away.
‘I’ve been hanging around, waiting for Leo.’ Karl’s head swivelled, but not far enough to see me. ‘I saw you arrive. You didn’t hear me call your name, so I followed you up here.’
‘What do you want to talk to me about?’ Leo said over Juliet’s shoulder, his voice nasal. I’d been so fixated on Karl that I’d not noticed Leo breaking into tears behind Juliet.
‘I wanted to warn you,’ Karl said, taking a step closer. He was largely hidden in the shadows of trees, the yellow wool of his hat brightening as the sun rose.
‘What did you want to warn him about?’ Juliet asked.
‘Someone’s trying to hurt him, and the other Dunlows.’
My heart, which had taken up residence beneath my stomach, leapt back to its rightful place. Maybe Karl appearing here was like when he’d stumbled on the bodies. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Karl couldn’t have known Leo’s post was designed to lure out a killer; he thought he would be able to catch Leo on his own to impart a warning.
Maybe I hadn’t read him all wrong. He was like me; someone who couldn’t help their past. He couldn’t help how others would judge him because of it.
But that meant Melanie’s killer could be on their way. I listened to the sounds of the forest.
Nothing. Yet.
‘How do you know that?’ Juliet asked. Behind her, Leo wiped his streaming eyes on the cuffs of his coat.
‘Because I saw them.’ Karl took another step forward. ‘I didn’t go far when I left, stayed on the estate. There’s someone lurking in the forest. They’ve been putting out traps and stuff. They must know the Dunlows will be back to look after the dogs.’
Karl had seen someone who intended to hurt the Dunlows. That cleared his name, but it meant these woods weren’t safe. We needed to re-establish contact with the armed response team. I needed to tell them Dunlow was roaming around nearby. They needed to know that one suspect was out of the picture, but whoever might appear on this hillside next was vindictive and highly dangerous.
I pulled myself towards the tree, fingers cramping when I released them from the craggy bark. Karl was as innocent as I’d thought. My judgement wasn’t skewed by my past, but we were no closer to finding Melanie’s killer. Hopefully, they had been lured out of hiding as well. This morning would see us freeing an innocent man from blame and bringing a guilty one to justice.
Just visible around the tree I’d clung to, Karl took another step forward. The movement brought him out of the forest’s shadow. Light from the new day’s sun revealed what had been impossible to make out while he was drenched in darkness.
His shape wasn’t hard to discern because of his coat. He held himself awkwardly, one arm behind his back. From that hidden hand, hung a long hunting rifle.
I slapped a palm over my mouth to stifle a gasp. Wrong. I’d gotten it wrong. Again.
‘You didn’t shoot Melanie?’ Leo asked.
Karl shook his head, the bobble on his hat swaying drunkenly. ‘Of course not. I don’t have it in me.’
His voice didn’t change. I was sure if I could see his face, that wouldn’t have betrayed a drop of guilt either. We thought the other suspects in this case were liars, but this man had them all trumped.
‘Stay there,’ Juliet snapped, when Karl took another step forward. How he was holding his arm must have looked odd. Juliet couldn’t tell what he was hiding, but she knew there was something.
There wouldn’t be much of a gap between Karl revealing the gun and using it. I needed to make a move before he got bored of pretending to be innocent. Juliet had a vest on, but a gun shot at close range would kill her. And there was Leo, mopping tears from his face.
‘I didn’t think it was you,’ he said wetly. ‘Dad was adamant, but I told him you were a good guy.’
It was galling that Dunlow had seen through Karl’s act, while I was duped along with his son. Too eager to believe Karl had darkness thrust onto him, I’d not seen his true nature.
Placing my feet carefully, I edged out from behind the tree. My clothes were close fitting to keep out the morning chill, so didn’t rustle as I crept over the forest floor. My enemies were brittle twigs and brown leaves.
‘Thank you, Leo.’ Karl took another step forward despite Juliet’s warning. I used his movement to mask my own. ‘You need to get away from here. Can I take you somewhere safe?’
My nostrils flared with the effort of keeping silent. I didn’t like to think what Karl would do to Leo if he got him somewhere alone. Karl didn’t seem particularly poetic, but he might like the symmetry of Leo and his lover being shot in the same woods.
‘The safest place for Leo is here with me,’ Juliet stated baldly.
Her eyes widened infinitesimally when she spotted me. I froze, sure Karl would notice her looking over his shoulder, but the moment was over in a split second. I clenched my teeth against the breath that threatened to whoosh out and took another measured step forward.
‘But maybe he should go with you,’ Juliet said, a line forming between her brows as she pretended to consider Karl’s offer. ‘Where would you take him?’
‘My car is just down the road.’ Karl gestured with his free hand in the direction we’d sent the team. A leaf crunched under my heel, masked by a bird’s shrill call. ‘I could take him to the station?’
‘That might work,’ Juliet mused, eyes trained on Karl. ‘Or maybe his hotel? Do you know where the Dunlows are staying?’
I was coming to the edge of the trees. Soon I’d be exposed, with no hope of hiding if Karl turned his head. Taking another step, I assessed his tall form. He was bigger than me, probably stronger, but all I had to do was disarm him. Then Juliet could spring into action.
She had a different plan.
‘Now,’ she commanded, running at Karl.
‘No,’ I cried out breathlessly. I slipped on a patch of leaves. Catching myself on my hands, I pushed back to standing.
Karl had swung the gun up, straight at a frozen Juliet.
I didn’t give him a chance to notice me. Or shoot.
Running full pelt, I closed the short distance between us. I shoved one hand into the side of his head, using the other to swing the gun out to the side.
The kickback as it went off knocked my hand away. Crying out, I smacked at Karl’s head again and shoved into him with my whole weight.
Maybe he was overbalanced by the force of the gun going off. Maybe it was the shock factor. I shouldn’t have been able to push over a man so much bigger and stronger than myself, but we both tumbled to the ground.
We landed in an uncomfortable heap. Despite my aching arm, I wrestled Karl’s hand away from the gun. He struggled beneath me, hat over his eyes. His teeth flashed in a snarl.
Acting on instinct honed by a lifetime of being the slightest person in any confrontation, I balled my hand into a fist and jabbed hard into his groin.
Karl’s snarl disappeared under a winded moan. His whole body cradled in on itself. I rolled off to the side.
‘Gabe?’ Juliet’s voice was almost unrecognisable. No coolness, no calm command, only a high note of panic. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine.’ I sat up. My heartbeat ratcheted as my gaze caught on the gun. ‘Are you two alright?’
‘The gun didn’t go off anywhere near us.’ Juliet eyed me as I stood.
I took a deep breath, Karl moaning on the ground. My arm hurt from where the gun had crashed into it, but not too badly. I’d have some scrapes and bruises, but nothing too severe to contend with.
‘You got some cuffs?’ Juliet asked.
I looked over at Leo after I’d passed them to her. ‘You alright?’
The young man didn’t take his eyes off Karl, who sat gingerly while Juliet clipped the cuffs around his wrists.
‘Did he try to kill us?’ Leo asked.
I licked my lips. It was a question I didn’t have an immediate answer to. With the adrenaline of the last few minutes fading, nothing seemed as clear cut as it had in those breathless moments.
Karl coming here with a gun was highly suspect, but he hadn’t seemed inclined to use it until Juliet startled him. He said he was here to warn Leo. What if he was so scared of whoever was out to get the Dunlows that he’d brought a weapon to protect himself?
Or was I making excuses for him again? As Juliet recited his rights, I examined Karl’s face. When his eyes met mine, there was no tinge of guilt. He was unchanged from when we’d met him on that first day.
‘What the fuck’s going on?’ Dev burst out of the forest, gun held ready. He lowered it once he clocked Karl, cuffed and subdued. He cocked an eyebrow under his helmet. ‘Having a party without us?’
‘Leo?’ A hoarse shout had Dev raising his gun again, but even a barrel pointed at him didn’t stop Dunlow from running over to his son. He dragged him into his arms.
‘Why were you both here?’ Juliet snapped the tender moment. ‘We told you to stay away.’
Dunlow pulled away from his son. ‘Someone had to look after the dogs.’ His eyes swept across the clearing. ‘What’s he doing here?’
Karl had stood while the Dunlows embraced, one elbow in Dev’s tight grip. He scowled at his former employer. ‘Trying to keep your son safe. Unlike you.’
Dunlow flinched, and satisfaction flashed across Karl’s face.
‘Can you take him to the station?’ I asked Dev. He saluted, then marched Karl towards the armed response van.
‘We need to find the rest of the team.’ Juliet eyed Dunlow like he was a scuttling creature she’d like to stamp under her boot. ‘Can you go and ask them to search for Karl’s car?’
‘We need to make sure no one else has turned up as well.’
Juliet gave me a sharp look, but I turned and walked into the forest. She clearly wasn’t inclined to explain away Karl’s appearance. The gun was going to be hard to justify, even if he’d only intended to protect himself. But he was holding to his story, even when arrested and faced with the man he could have been trying to hurt.
I came out of the forest and hopped down onto the road. Following the narrow lane, I rubbed my hands over my face. I didn’t know which way this was going to go. If Karl talked his way out of this, then we were no closer to finding Melanie’s killer. If he didn’t, I’d have to face the fact I’d been taken in by him.
I’d take finding Melanie’s killer over feeling good about myself, but I wished the two didn’t have to sit at opposite ends of the spectrum.