Jeremiah supplied details on Gigi. Had he been mistaken to focus for so many weeks on the people Alexis knew instead of the peopleheknew?
In less than five minutes, Jude came back on the line. “Gigi has never been arrested. She’s only received one speeding ticket for going forty-five in a thirty-five zone.”
“Clearly, she’s a killer,” Jeremiah said dryly.
“There’s another angle here.”
“I’m listening.”
“What if . . . you’re not the one Gigi was obsessed with? What if the one she was obsessed with was Alexis?”
Jeremiah processed that shift. It was true that a lot of Alexis’s followers had been very devoted to her. There’d been a huge outpouring of grief and adoration from them when Alexis died.
“In this scenario,” Jude continued, “Gigi had nothing to do with Alexis’s death. But what if Gigi was so wrecked by it that she got you to turn your attention to her just so she could punish you for Alexis’s death?”
A chill slithered between Jeremiah’s shoulder blades because the scenario made a sick kind of sense.
“It could be she thought that you killed Alexis?” Jude suggested. “Or that your neglect caused Alexis to commit suicide? Knocking you off was her way of getting payback for her idol.”
“So then she stowed away on my boat and beat me up?No wayshe beat me up.”
“You were hit on the back of the head. If she snuck up on you from behind with a bat, for example, she might have stunned you enough with a blow to your head to get in several blows to your ribs and push you overboard.”
Jeremiah tried to picture it, but it felt too far-fetched.
“The fact that your attacker didn’t succeed in killing you,” Jude said, “points to the fact that they might have been weaker than you.”
“Or an amateur at killing.”
“I think we should meet with Gigi, confront her, and gauge how she responds.”
Put your head down and finish the last ten minutes of work before the dinner alarm goes off, Remy told herself that evening.Focus, and you’ll soon have the reward of seeing Jeremiah.
For the first time in years, she found herself paying attention to the time of day while working. Why? Because her life had undergone a shift. She now loved what happened at the end of her workday more than she loved the actual work.
When she finally emerged from her studio, she found Jeremiah waiting for her, exactly as she’d hoped. He’d taken up his customary position—feet planted wide, leaning against her table, wearing a navy sweater and casual charcoal pants. However, something was slightly . . . off. He looked more tense than usual.
Remy stopped a few feet from him. “What’s happened?”
“Nothing to worry about. Just a potential new direction in the search regarding Alexis.” He straightened away from the table and extended a hand to her, asking without words if she wanted to hold it.
She took it and they stood facing each other. Freezing wind off the ocean whined against the outside walls of her cottage.
He explained the change in appearance Gigi had undergone and the theories he and his brother were kicking around. “I think,” he said, “I should return home. That way I can talk to Gigi. And now that I remember the people Alexis saw during her final days, I can also follow up with some of them in person.”
He's leaving. “Of course,” she said smoothly. His motivation for going was completely reasonable. The amount of loss twisting through her in response?Thatwas the unreasonable part.You knew he couldn’t stay forever, Remy! You knew all along that he would go.“You belong on the mainland.”
“I belong wherever you are,” he corrected.
“No. You don’t.”
His forehead lined. “Will you come with me to Groomsport?”
“No.”
“I’d like for you to come.”
“The last time I went with you there it was because you were sick. You had no memories. You needed my support then. This time you don’t need me.”
