Cole flipped a line of burgers on the grill in Gia’s backyard, then tossed one from the platter next to him to Thor.
Thor snatched it from midair.
“Nice catch, boy.” Hunt slung his arm around Gia, pulled her tight against his side. “But if you ask me, they should be feeding you a porterhouse.”
“Let’s not spoil him too much now.” Gia petted his head where he stood against her leg. Only a few days had passed since the incident with Wade, and Thor still stuck close. As much as she loved having him at her side, she still felt bad he’d been forced to defend her. Tears threatened.
“Hey.” Hunt pulled her even closer, kissed her temple, then twined his fingers with hers on Thor’s head. “He’s fine, Gia.”
She nodded, struggling to regain control of her emotions.
Cole clanged the cowbell beside the grill. “Come and get it!”
Cole, Cybil, Trevor, Zoe, Alfie, Savannah, Leo, Hunt, and Gia gathered around the picnic table and settled down to eat. Thor lay at Gia’s feet.
Leo bent and kissed the top of Gia’s head. “I figured you’d want to know Wade Erickson is going to be okay. He had surgery on his arm this morning, and the doctor said he’ll be fine.”
Gia only nodded, glad to hear Thor hadn’t done any permanent damage to him.
He squeezed her shoulder then, opened the cooler and handed out sodas before rounding the table to sit beside Savannah.
Hunt passed her a bowl of coleslaw. “And we spoke to him before he went in, and he made a full confession.”
Which made sense. There was no sense denying it when he’d already told Gia everything. But it was a relief to know she wouldn’t be called to testify, wouldn’t have to relive the moment of terror when Thor lunged at him while he was still armed. Not that she didn’t relive it every time she closed her eyes anyway. “And he was working alone? No one else was involved?”
“Seems that way,” Hunt said.
“That’s good to know.”
“And Brynleigh has been relieved of her position on the zoning commission. The cyber crimes unit is in the process of tracing the payment Amanda made to a secret account of hers. We expect to make an arrest within the week.”
Gia filled her plate with coleslaw and potato salad, added a hamburger. “What about Amanda?”
“I feel kind of bad.” Savannah lowered her burger to her plate. “I really thought it was her.”
Hunt shrugged. “You always have to look at the spouse.”
“I guess, but still.” She sulked for a minute, then frowned. “What about Ariyah? Does anyone know if she’s okay?”
“Yeah, we found her.” Leo squeezed her hand. “She won’t have to testify, since we already have Wade’s confession, but she did witness the murder. She’d followed Rusty into the forest because she didn’t believe him that he was meeting up with Cole. She thought he was heading out for a rendezvous with a new lover. She watched Wade shoot him but was too scared to come forward.”
Understandable. And Gia could relate because she’d been relieved not to have to testify as well. “But why did she point the finger at Amanda?”
Hunt shrugged. “She saw her in the woods that morning and thought she had something to do with Rusty’s murder. She figured if we picked her up, she’d give up Wade and Ariyah could be kept out of it.”
“Are you charging her with anything?”
“Nah.” He shook his head. “When we found her, she was terrified, but she eventually did cooperate, so we going to leave her be.”
“Any word on Amanda?”
“Caleb has been at her bedside since her surgery. Apparently, he’d been in the forest that day to keep an eye on her. The two of them are planning to get married. And apparently, they’re going to be your new neighbors. They’re planning to relocate to Boggy Creek and open the bakery.”
Gia laughed. She only hoped Caleb’s attitude would improve before they opened. “Okay, enough talk of murder. There has to be something else going on in Boggy Creek.”
“Not yet.” Trevor clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “But a little birdie told me Savannah and I are about to get to work planning a wedding.”