| |
“You’re ganging up on me. You can’t do this.” Jet limped to the dining table and hauled out a chair. The legs dragged on the tiles, creating an ear-splitting screech.
“You owed him money, didn’t you?” Wiri persisted, remembering Hendricks’ comment about roulette. “You’re a gambler.”
“I’m not a gambler!” Jet rolled his eyes and Wiri caught Larry’s gaze and shrugged.
“I don’t know what to believe anymore.” He ran his right hand through his fringe and sighed.
Jet sat down with a heavy grunt. “Hendricks got most of his information by snooping. My father arrested him once for getting caught around the back of the schoolteacher’s house. He’d climbed onto a flat roof to peer in a bedroom window at her daughters. The magistrates refused to convict him, which means he probably knew something damaging about them, too. He got smarter after that and made sure he didn’t get caught.”
“So?” Wiri shrugged.
Larry exhaled. “So, he walked into the church and overheard me chatting to my alcohol sponsor on the phone.”
“And he knew I’d had mental health problems because he caught me playing Russian roulette not long after I moved here. He threatened to tell Tane and held it over me when I stopped him for speeding.”
Wiri blinked and glanced from Larry to Jet. “Real Russian roulette?” he demanded, his tone hushed. “With live ammo and a one in six chance of death.”
“Yes!” Jet fixed his gaze on the fridge and kept it there. “What other sort is there?”
Wiri frowned and considered the question. “Well, did you spin the barrel after firing or not? The odds change if you do that.”
Jet gaped at him. “Thanks to the mathematician in the corner! I warned you I had issues when you moved in. That’s why I wanted to live alone.”
“How do you catch someone playing a dumb-ass game like that?”
Jet’s colour intensified, creeping up his neck and flaring in his cheeks. “He wandered around all the time. Snooping. I had a bad day and decided I didn’t want to keep going. He found me sitting on the deck with my gun.” He glared at Wiri. “I wouldn’t have pulled the trigger.”
Larry frowned. “That’s a contradiction. You wanted to die but wouldn’t have pulled the trigger.” Pain made his irises sparkle. “What about Leilah? Or Vaughan?”
“What about them?” Jet swallowed and stared at his hands.
“Who do you think would clear up the mess? And poor Tane. Can you imagine his distress?”
“You don’t need to guilt trip me!” Jet’s voice rose.
“Where do you keep the gun?”
“It’s hidden.” Jet narrowed his eyes at him. “And don’t search for it!”
The men stood for a while, considering their own problems. Larry spoke first. “This doesn’t solve the issue of who wanted to hurt Vaughan and Wiremu.”
“Or who killed Hendricks and threw my shirt into the crime scene.”
“You beat me up for nothing.” Jet rubbed his ribs and winced. He glared at Larry. “And you conspired with the local vicar. I might arrest both of you for assault and conspiracy.”
“If you want.” Wiri shrugged. “For an army guy, you’re rubbish at keeping the bro’ code. I quite like your brother. He’d be interested to hear Hendricks kept a secret for him.” He grinned at Jet. “Which you actually didn’t need to mention. You could have just told us about the roulette and that would have explained his barbed comment.”
Jet grimaced. “You took me by surprise. I panicked. And anyway, Tane’s thing is way worse than mine.” He raised an eyebrow at Wiri. “Don’t stare at me like that. I’m not spilling my guts any more than I already did.”
Larry hissed through his teeth. “Is it something illegal?” he probed. “Or something unconscionable? I couldn’t lie straight in bed if he was a serial killer or worse.”
Wiri wondered what could be worse than a serial killer, but there were crimes beyond his understanding which ranked in that category. He joined his concern with Larry’s. “It’s not kids, is it?”
“No!” Jet rose and blew out a breath. He reached in the freezer section for an ice pack and pressed it against his ribs where Wiri had punched him. “It relates to his marriage and I’ll take it to my grave.” He winced as the ice numbed the ache from Wiri’s jab to his solar plexus.
“I didn’t realise we had that,” Wiri commented, eyeing the ice pack. “That would have been handy for my back. Or my head. Maybe even my finger.”
“We don’t have it,” Jet growled. “I do. Just like I own the coffee machine and the capsule you wasted.”
Wiri cocked his head. “You were the cop at the hospital, weren’t you? Why did you lie?”
“I dunno.” Jet exhaled and pressed the ice harder against his stomach. “My warrant card gets me into most places.”
Wiri shrugged. “My uncle Logan goes anywhere he likes. People let him.” He pictured his intimidating uncle and imagined someone trying to stop him.
“I didn’t mean to lie. It just slipped out.”
“Like my shirt kinda slipped from my bag and landed in the water tank with a dead body?” Wiri narrowed his eyes.
“I didn’t do that.” Jet sat back in the chair with a sigh. “I promise I didn’t kill anyone, and I didn’t frame you. Check the logs at work. Tane picked me up at seven-thirty and we went to work together. I stayed at the station doing paperwork until after Tane brought you in for questioning. The morning disappeared with statements and interviews. I didn’t hear about the body until I finished lodging that missing person’s report for Mrs Hubert’s son.”
“The woman with the magnifying glasses over her eyes?” Wiri frowned.
“The very same.” Jet shook his head.
“Is Dan Hubert missing?” Larry took a step forward, a frown creasing the corners of his eyes.
“Not any more. I’d loaded his description into the system about two minutes before she popped back in to tell me he’d arrived home after three weeks in Melbourne. He told her he’d left a note on the mantelpiece to say work had sent him there and he expected he’d be too busy to phone her. She says she didn’t remember the conversation. She’d also thrown away the four postcards he sent her because she couldn’t make out the signature.” Jet frowned and clicked his fingers. “Oh, I also helped Mari change her tyre. She picked up a nail and didn’t have a wrench” He exhaled. “Why did I come back here? I could have gone anywhere.”
Wiri’s phone vibrated in his pocket and he ignored it.
“Why did you come here?” Larry took the seat opposite and Jet fixed his gaze on a knot on the edge of the table. He traced its outline with his index finger.
“I thought I’d feel safe here,” he said, his voice little more than a whisper. “I hoped I’d find peace.”
Wiri barked out a laugh. “And then people started dying.”
