“Goddamn it, Tess,” Gil’s voice was barely a whisper.“How could you do that to Eddie?”
“I didn’t mean to hurt him.I… I tried to help him.”She was sobbing openly now.“I tried to stop the bleeding.But there was so much blood and he wasn’t responding, and I panicked.I wiped the GPS because Eddie had followed the coordinates that you’d been fishing.I knew when they found Eddie, if they saw the GPS, they might figure out about the poaching.”
“And then what?”Declan urged.
She blinked at him.“I dragged Eddie to the wheelhouse so it would look like he fell and tried to get back to port.”She winced.“I should have just left him where he was.That was dumb of me.But I was panicked and not thinking straight.”
“No, what you should have done was call for help,” Gil shouted, his shoulders shaking as tears streamed down his face.“Why didn’t you call for help?Maybe Eddie could have been saved.”
She looked stricken.“No, Gil.It was too late.”
Gil’s arms fell limply at his sides.“Put the gun down, Tess.It’s over.Please, just stop this.I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
She stared at him in disbelief.“But they’ll arrest me.”
He hung his head.“We’re both going to jail, Tess.You for murder and me for poaching.It’s time to stop.I can’t take this anymore.”
She watched him, wide-eyed, face flushed and tear-stained.Her face changed as it sank in that Gil had no intention of running away with her.He didn’t care if she was arrested or that he was also going to jail.Her eyes became dead.Hollow.And for one awful moment, I feared she’d just start shooting.
But she didn’t start shooting.Instead, she crumpled, dropping the gun on the bar top with a dull thunk.Declan moved fast, securing the gun and then rounding the bar to grab Tess.Bree advanced, holstering her weapon as Declan pulled Tess’s hands behind her back to cuff her, and read her rights.
Bree escorted a sobbing Tess out of the Rusty Anchor, and Declan stayed behind.The bar was empty now except for me and Gil and the mess of overturned chairs and abandoned drinks.
Gil sank onto a barstool.He looked gutted.I felt sorry for him.Yes, he’d cheated at fishing and messed with a married woman, but he didn’t deserve the hell he was now going through.The woman he had loved killed his best friend to protect him, and he was going to carry that for the rest of his life.
Declan walked over to me, but he didn’t touch me.“You good?”
“Yeah.I think so.”To be honest, I wasn’t good, but what was Declan going to do about that?My body ached and I was in shock.My plan was to go home and have a stiff drink.I couldn’t believe what had just happened.I’d almost been killed for the second time in a week.
“I’m going to need a full statement from you, but not tonight.”He studied me.“You’re in no shape for that.I’ll come by your house tomorrow or the next day, okay?”
“Okay.”
He turned to Gil.“I’m going to need you to come to the station, Gil.”Declan’s voice was compassionate, as if he too felt sorry for Gil.“The poaching charges are separate from what Tess just confessed to.But we need to sort it out tonight.”
Gil nodded.“I know.”He stood slowly, like a man going to the gallows.“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.All of it.I’m done hiding.”
Declan walked him outside.Gil didn’t resist, didn’t argue, didn’t ask for a lawyer.He just went.Once Declan had Gil in the patrol car, he came over to me as I was climbing into my Honda.
“I’m sorry I didn’t text you back about dinner.”He grimaced.“I was busy getting ready to come over here to deal with Gil.”
“It’s fine.I knew you showing up was a long shot.”
He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t.He gave a funny little smile and stepped back.I closed the door, started the car, and pulled out onto the road.I expected him to walk to his patrol car, but he didn’t.
Instead he stood watching me until I was out of sight.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Declan
Tess Barlow sat across from me in the interview room, her face sallow, mascara streaked.Her hair had come loose from its ponytail, and she looked a decade older than she actually was.She’d stopped crying, which was almost worse.She looked like a woman who’d lost everything, which was exactly what she had.
I’d offered her a lawyer.She’d refused.I’d offered her water.She’d taken it but hadn’t drunk any.She’d asked at least five times if she could see Gil.I’d told her no, but she kept asking.Maybe if she hadn’t tried to shoot Spencer, I would have felt more empathy for her, but she had, and I didn’t.
I started with what I already knew, walking her back through the night Eddie died.She repeated the broad strokes of what she’d said at the bar: she’d taken a skiff out to find Eddie, confronted him about the poaching, pushed him when he refused to back down.Eddie hit his head on the gunwale.She panicked, wiped the GPS, staged the scene, and took the skiff back to the harbor.
“Let’s talk about Craig,” I said.“You told him the affair was with Eddie, not Gil.”
