Tilly stepped closer. “Pixie, I’mnotlying, and I’mnotgoing to turn on you. I have no reason to tell them the truth and every reason to go along with the story. I told you, Ineedmy father to pay. Thistownneeds my father to pay.”
The other woman’s eyes darted around the area.
“Pixie…if you kill me and run, they’ll look for a third person. They’ll look foryou.”
Pixie eyes were wide and wild. “I could just kill you…tell the police I had no choice—it was you or me.”
The beats of her heart stumbled over each other, but Tilly was careful to keep the fear off her face. “Pixie—”
“Wait…you had a phone in your hand when you stepped into the café, and the screen was on. Shit! I can’t believe I’m only just remembering. Were you talking to someone?”
Crap. “No. I was just searching for something on my phone.”
The excuse sounded as weak out loud as it did in her head.
Pixie stepped forward, gun once again raised. “You’re lying.”
“No, I—”
A branch snapped somewhere close by. Immediately, Pixie spun behind Tilly, grabbed her by the throat, and pressed the barrel of the gun to her temple. “Who was that?”
“I don’t know,” Tilly forced out.
“You do! Kayden knows about me, doesn’t he? That’s why when you stepped into the café you looked scared but not surprised. Is he here right now?”
“Please, I—”
“Put the gun down, Pixie.”
Tilly’s heart crashed into her ribs.Kayden?
He stepped out from behind a tree, gun in hand, and the air rushed out of Tilly’s chest so fast she almost sagged.
Pixie’s breath stuttered. “She told you about me.”
He shook his head. “No. Theo called Eastern. Said he lied about being your alibi, both during Macy’s murderandJake’s shooting.”
The arm around Tilly’s throat tightened. “But Tilly confirmed it was me.”
“It’s over, Pixie. Let Tilly go and turn yourself in. It’s the only way.”
A flicker of movement from Tilly’s left had her eyes shifting to the side.
Eastern? He sat behind some bushes—and had a gun aimed right at Pixie.
“None of this was meant to happen!” Pixie cried, hysteria in her voice. “I just meant to get out and live my life.”
Her chest heaved behind Tilly, her arm still tight around her throat. When she tugged Tilly back a step, her skin chilled as she whispered, “Pixie, stop. We’re too close to the edge.”
“If I can’t get out, what’s the point in any of this? I don’t want to rot in a cell!”
What was she saying? That she was going to jump?
“Let her go,” Kayden growled, a bit of fear lacing into his words now, “and you can do whatever you want.”
“But I can’t, can I? I’ll either go to prison, or get sick, or live in poverty my entire life. And if I can’t get out, I may as well take the woman who took my chance at freedom down with me.”
“No!” Kayden shouted.
