“You scared the hell out of me.”
I open my eyes and look up at the sound of Neil’s voice. The hospital’s fluorescent lights are blinding.
“Ditto,” I whisper hoarsely.
Neil’s sitting next to me on a chair that’s somehow too small for his body. Despite his concerned frown, there’s a hint of a smile playing around the corners of his mouth. “Can’t trust you to follow the rules, can I?”
I don’t remember Neil finding me in the kitchen that night. But now the memories come flooding back. Me and Deborah lying next to each other on the kitchen floor, the tiles glistening with crimson pools.
“What happens now?” I say.
“Your mum’s on the way,” Neil says. “She’ll be here in a day or two. Something about a visa holdup”
I clear my throat. “I should call her.”
My eyes flick to the door of my hospital door, searching for someone in uniform. The police, maybe. “What happens now?”
Neil runs a hand over his head. “When Deb gets out of hospital, she’ll be arrested and questioned. The police are getting a search warrant for the house.”
“To look in the garden?”
“Yes.”
I look up at the ceiling.
“You really did a number on her,” Neil says. “Didn’t know you had it in you.”
“So,” I look at my fingers, remnants of blood still crusted under my nails. “Did you tell the police why you’re in Gexta?”
He nods. “Had to. They were going to find the papers anyway. I told them I was doing a private investigation.”
“Are you in trouble?”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
I purse my lips. “Good. And me?”
He looks at me almost apologetically.
I shrug. “It’s okay. Someone was going to find out about InCheck at some point.”
Thinking about it now, everything started going pear-shaped the moment I got that Instagram message.
I know you’re a fraud, Alice.
Neil rubs at his chin. “I think the police are more worried about finding the phone right now. How did you get Deb to confess to that?”
My mind goes back to the scene in the kitchen. Deborah’s keys digging into my palm. The bead of sweat on her forehead.
“She was going to leave town. She heard me—or listened in, I guess—when I talked to you on the phone, and she got scared. She had cameras all over the house.”
For a moment, Neil looks surprised. “And then?”
“She told me there was a break-in at her office and she needed to go and check it out. But she had a folder with documents. Something just felt off. I had her keys, so she couldn’t leave. From there, I just improvised.”
“That’s one hell of an act,” he says.
I shift gingerly, trying not to move my abdomen too much. “It was worth a try. I’d just come back from…”
I hesitate for a moment. Then I continue. Neil will find out eventually.
“I’d just come back from talking to Sebastian. I confronted him. But you were right. He didn’t kill Lisa.”
Neil’s face is expressionless.
“I had nothing else to go on,” I say. “Then back at the house Deborah’s phone rang, and suddenly I remembered everything. Right before Lisa hung up on me that night, I heard that ringtone in the background. Deb was there. As soon as I connected the dots, I called you.”
Neil looks baffled.
“So you reckon we’ll find Lisa’s phone in the garden?” he asks.
I nod. “I think it’s buried under a pot plant. It’s probably broken, though.”
“Doesn’t matter. Finding it on Deb’s property is enough to reopen the police investigation. And with your statement, they’ll probably have enough to convict her. She’ll probably confess as well.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Well, she didn’t put up a fight when the paramedics took her away,” Neil says, sitting back in the tiny chair.
I almost feel a pang of sympathy for her. I think back to the night she hurt her knee. How terribly sad she seemed at the mistakes she had made. How desperate she was to cling to the only sense of control she felt she had.
But then I think of how she pushed Lisa off that dock, and any feelings of sympathy disappear like mist before the morning sun.
Neil stands up. “I feel like something sweet.”
“Like what?” I ask.
“Ice cream. Want some?”
It’s the best question I’ve heard in a long time. “Yes, please.”
As he reaches the door, he turns back for a moment.
“Kid,” he says. “Try to take it easy while I’m gone.”
I smile. But I hold my breath for what may come next.