“It’s not so much that I want to share it as I need to.” Shabina put down her fork and sank back in her chair as if the weight of her knowledge was too much of a burden to bear. “I’m going to have to give you a little background on what’s been going on.”
“I told them a little bit,” Raine volunteered. “But you’ll need to fill them in completely.”
“Two of the university students were being paid to trigger my PTSD. I think you know I was kidnapped when I was fifteen and held for a year and a half. I do suffer terrible episodes at times. To make a long story short, these men were sent items from the region where I was held by the man who paid them. They hadtaken several of the items to leave on a trail that they were told only I use.”
Shabina paused and shook her head, stroking trembling fingers down her throat revealing nerves. She’d learned to be a good actress in Saudi Arabia, and she called on those skills now.
“Go on,” Eve encouraged.
“They were on the trail with a box of the items when they heard you coming.” She had dropped her voice to a whisper. “They hid the box in the brush. You took the box containing the items and those items ended up on the altar beside Deacon Mulberry’s body.”
There was silence as the twins stared at one another and then turned their full attention back to Shabina.
“I had to tell you,” Shabina confessed. “I don’t know what he did, but it had to be something for you two to decide to kill him.” She ducked her head and stroked her throat nervously again. “If I’d had the ability to kill Scorpion and every single one of his men, I would have done so.”
Raine took over before either denied it. “I researched Deacon Mulberry because he seemed such an unlikely candidate for murder. He’s from Galaxy, Maine.”
Shabina nodded and pressed her forehead into her palm. “Galaxy is an unusual name for a town, and I remembered you said you were from Galaxy. It was obvious you knew him. I began to think about things you’d said about your sister and you two always doing the same things together. You knew what a highball was when referencing bouldering.”
“You gave me permission to look into your computer,” Raine added. “I did. You have the most beautiful photographs and videos of your hike on the Appalachian Trail. The Pacific Rim. Youthree hiked the John Muir Trail. This wasn’t your first or even second visit to Yosemite. You summited Whitney more than once, and you went up Half Dome. The three of you hiked the Alps together. You have so many climbing photographs and videos stored of the three of you. It must be so terrible not to have your sister with you. You clearly were very close.”
Raine paused and then sighed. “My father was murdered. I ended up being blamed for his death by my family. Not one member acknowledges I’m even alive. The loss of the people I love is with me every day. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I were a triplet, and I lost my sisters.”
Tears appeared in Felicity’s eyes. “I’m so sorry, Raine. Losing Freda feels as if part of our souls is gone. Maybe the best part.”
“Did Deacon have something to do with her death?” Shabina asked.
“He was Emilio’s little pet project,” Eve said. “Emilio made him out to be such an example of what social programs and help could do to turn disadvantaged youth around. Deacon didn’t come from a poor, needy family. He was a kid with all kinds of privileges. He had the means to hike all over and live like a bum, never contributing to society.”
“Emilio was like that. He had a record as well. He liked to get in front of the cameras and explain how these programs helped him,” Felicity added. “He lived in the spotlight with his great deeds. Everything was always about him. He didn’t want Freda to ever have any attention. Everything had to be his way.”
Eve carefully drank the last of her iced tea, set down the glass and gripped the fork so hard her knuckles turned white. “Emilio and Deacon practically controlled the articles coming out in our hometown about how great they were and all they accomplished.It was really Freda who did the most work with those troubled kids, but Emilio and Deacon just had to have all the credit and attention.”
“Freda knew far more than Emilio when it came to hiking. She’d been all over the world, but he never listened to her,” Felicity added. “Deacon told him all about Yosemite. Freda tried to tell him about trails that needed to be rehabilitated, but he refused to hear anything she said. I was right there. I heard him snapping at her, telling her he’d gotten maps from Deacon, that Deacon was going to eventually be a park ranger and that he knew what he was talking about.”
“The altar?” Raine interjected. “I saw on your computer where you had researched several different kinds of rituals that involved murders.”
Eve shrugged. “We decided to just make up our own based on three different rituals Felicity found. There was no real rhyme or reason, and we used whatever we found. I’m truly sorry you were dragged into this, Shabina. We had no idea the items in that box would throw suspicion on you.”
“We wouldn’t want to hurt you for the world,” Felicity affirmed. “We had no idea when we were bringing justice to Deacon that you would ever be accused.”
“What about the others?” Shabina murmured. “How were they connected?”
“All of them were criminals, just like Emilio and Deacon,” Felicity said firmly. “Every single one of them. They hurt people and got away with it.”
“Lucca Delgotto turned his life around. So had Lawyer,” Raine pointed out.
Eve and Felicity both bristled, shaking heads with identical expressions of hostility. It was Eve who spoke, her voice shakingwith anger. “Once a criminal, always one. They got away with it, and they’ll continue to think they can. Just like Emilio.”
Shabina stood up to clear the table, making certain to collect the silverware. “I might understand about Deacon, but I don’t agree with your assessment of Lucca and Lawyer.” She carried the dishes to the counter and returned for the glasses. “I’m very sorry for the loss of your sister and niece. Their deaths were such a tragedy.”
“And preventable if Emilio had just listened to Freda,” Felicity said, anger boiling over in her tone and into the expression she wore.
Shabina didn’t point out that Freda shouldn’t have followed her husband if she knew where they were going was dangerous. She had choices. She had taken her daughter into a bad situation whether Freda’s sisters wanted to blame her or not. She was every bit as responsible as Emilio was for their deaths, maybe more so since she knew much more about hiking.
After she was certain the table was clean, Shabina walked to the door and unlocked it. “I’m very sorry for both of you,” she said as two women followed her to the door. “Those other men were good men, at least I’m certain Lawyer is and Lucca was. I can’t condone their murders. I just can’t.”
Felicity and Eve stepped out the door onto the wide patio outside that held numerous tables and chairs beneath a canopy.
