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“No!” Leilah’s hiss of dismay accompanied her jerking upright. She caught hold of Vaughan’s arm. “He’ll arrest her! She’ll go to prison.”
“Ah, you’re out of surgery. Good, good.” Larry poked his face through the open doorway and everyone froze. Then Leilah ran towards him and gripped his hand.
“We think Seline has Vaughan’s gun,” she gushed. Her head wobbled in a series of jerky movements. “I don’t want Tane to know.” Her voice broke, and Vaughan winced behind her.
“What sort of gun is it?” Logan spoke, his commanding tone causing Leilah to pause and wrap her arms around herself.
Vaughan sniffed. “Shotgun, Iver Johnson, break action twelve gauge. Belonged to my Uncle Horse. I keep it locked in a gun cupboard in the laundry.” He exhaled. “I’m assuming she’s taken it, but it might not be the case.”
“We’re jumping to conclusions!” Leilah’s eyes gained a wild quality, the irises sparkling like gems against her pale features. “I asked her to move the horse so we could put the mare in the paddock. She did it. Maybe she went for a ride in the bush.”
“The police have the gun that shot Wiremu.” Larry wrinkled his nose. “I think they might charge me for my stupidity.”
Jet appeared behind Larry, nudging him to move aside. “This is all my fault,” he admitted.
“And you are?” Logan cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. Jet introduced himself, offering an outstretched hand. His shoulders rounded with guilt beneath his uniform shirt as Logan shook hands with him. Phoenix used the opportunity to edge her way closer to Wiri. She eased herself onto the bed next to him, their elbows touching. The residue of the anaesthetic, combined with the pain medication, removed all sense of anxiety. It made him feel bomb proof. He slipped an arm around her waist despite the proximity of her father.
Wiri laid his head back against the pillows and closed his eyes as the adults argued in hushed voices. Phoenix rested her head against his shoulder. No one asked their opinion or sought their wisdom. Hana protested in favour of calling her son to seek advice. Jet got upset when he discovered Bodie’s rank, maintaining he could answer anything she needed to know. Self-preservation guided every syllable and at one point, Phoenix nudged him and shook her head in disgust.
When Hana glanced back and recognised Wiri’s defeated posture, she resumed her maternal authority and ushered everyone outside into the corridor. Larry offered him a feckless wave, and a mouthed apology as he followed the crowd. Hana closed the door after them and pulled the visitor’s chair closer to the bed. She sat with a sigh, pulling her red curls into a bundle at her right shoulder and performing a plait without looking. It hung down over her breast, faint lines of ash grey creating detail beneath the harsh hospital lighting. “Right,” she said, her tone gentle. “What do you want to do?”
Phoenix sighed. She reached for Wiri’s hand, the action natural because she’d done it for most of her life. He sensed the familiar flicker of rightness which he’d run from and then craved. “You’re the first person to ask us that, Mama,” she acknowledged. “All they want to do is save themselves.”
“Except your father.” Hana winced. “I could hear the cogs turning in his brain. We don’t want him making plans, do we?”
Wiri snorted. “He can take Seline out, I don’t mind. Save us all the bother.”
They explained their sorry tale to Hana, and she listened, beginning with Wiri’s arrival in the town and stretching beyond Phoenix’s appearance to their current predicament. She said nothing, absorbing the information in her measured way.
“I don’t want Jet to get into trouble for keeping the gun that shot me,” Wiri stressed. “He’s an idiot, but he needs help. And Larry knows nothing about guns. He took it for safe keeping and didn’t expect Ted to use it on me.”
Hana frowned. Her lips flattened into a bow. “The police are already interested,” she said. “They’ll trace the gun, reprimand Jet for not registering it and then press charges against your vicar for leaving it lying around on his desk. Short of concocting an elaborate tissue of lies, I don’t see how you can change any of that.”
Wiri groaned and tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. “I don’t know then.” His voice croaked with exhaustion. Phoenix gripped his hand harder.
“I’m not lying,” she stated. She studied him, her eyes round and fearful. “Lies got me into a gigantic mess in the summer. It’s wrong. I’m not doing it.”
The weight of responsibility bore down on Wiri. Their fate rested in his hands and it left him powerless to steer the best course of action.
“What about the girl with the other gun?” Hana asked. “Is she really planning to take out her father with a shotgun?”
Wiri blew out a breath. “I wouldn’t put it past her.”
Phoenix narrowed her eyes. “And yet she removed the lid from the tank and called for help?” She frowned. “Why would she do that if she wanted Vaughan dead? Bashing him over the head is quite hit and miss. His wife would have searched for him eventually, wouldn’t she? Unless Seline brained him, he was always going to survive.” Phoenix tucked a curl behind her ear and exhaled through her nose. “Why look for the gun after she’d hurt Vaughan? She knew it was there.”
“Maybe hurting him wasn’t enough. She wanted to finish the job.”
“It makes little sense.” Hana sat back in the chair, wincing as the plastic creaked. “Not when her father had an accessible shotgun. What if she felt under threat herself? Could she have needed the smaller gun for her own protection?”
“The face at the window!” Wiri shot upright with a groan. He almost pitched Phoenix off the side of the bed. “Larry saw them. We need to find out who watched us take the gun from under the floorboards.”
