CHAPTER 79

Gary’s lungs hammered, but he kept hold. No way was he letting the prick save him. If he was going down, it was this way, not to a cell.

He had loved Sal, but everything went wrong. He missed her, thought about her all the time.

Now Seb had ruined everything, just when he was getting back on top.

So why not keep hold of his hair and take him with him?

Would there be an afterlife? Bound to be. This couldn’t be the end of everything.

If there was, he might see Sal again! A fresh start. They could be together in the way he had always dreamed of.

But what if she was still upset that he had killed her? It was a long time ago. Time heals, surely. No need to hold grudges.

Seb was hitting his arm, trying to break his grip on his hair, but the water made his movements comically slow-mo and weak.

Gary smiled. He was going to see Sal again! He started to laugh, let out air, bubbles racing to the surface.

Time to die.

Seb had fucked everything up. But Sal had liked Seb. She wouldn’t like it if he killed him.

And if there was an afterlife, he didn’t want Seb to be in it to fuck everything up for him again.

He raised his middle finger in front of Seb’s face. Then he let him go. For Sal.

*

Barb sat next to Leanne, who was huddled inside a blanket, only her head visible, as the ferry motored back toward Bullford Point, towing Gary’s boat. Once Seb had been dragged on board and his breathing sounded a bit less like someone trying to blow out a fire while having an asthma attack, he and the captain had gone over to Gary’s boat, winched in the anchor, awkwardly hauled Gary’s body on board, and laid it on the deck.

Now Seb, also covered in a blanket on the other side of Barb, spoke. ‘After Joe died, Homicide told me that when a suspect commits suicide, it’s basically a confession. So I guess Gary confessed.’

‘It’s my fault,’ Leanne mumbled. ‘I gave him Sal’s address.’

‘No, no,’ said Barb. ‘If you hadn’t told him, he would have got it some other way. He was very clever. You said yourself, it’s not hard to find where someone lives.’

Leanne looked forlorn. ‘I miss Joe.’

Barb put her hand on her arm. ‘Me too.’