“I don’t believe it,” I say. “I saw you die. No one could survive that fall.”
“Nonsense. Local kids used to jump from that bridge years ago, until the authorities decided to take away their fun. It’s a thirty-foot drop, more or less. There are rocks all around, but there’s actually a deep pool at the bottom of the waterfall. Bradley was just ignorant.”
She looks at Jesse and laughs.
“I waited near the waterfall for hours, expecting one of you to come down and check that he’d finished the job. But you never did! Can you imagine a man more determined to take shortcuts? Story of his life.”
“You’ve had stitches,” I say. “You must have gone to the hospital.”
“These weren’t done by a doctor, unfortunately. Just Don.”
“The hermit?”
“I told you once not to call him that. He just chooses not to live an ordinary life. It’s difficult for most people to understand. He’s a brilliant man.”
“Bradley said he moved your body, though,” I say. “It was burned in the wildfires.”
“I don’t know who that person was,” she says. She is losing patience with my questions.
“They never actually successfully identified the body,” Neil explains. “The remains they found were too far gone. That fire was over 2000 degrees. It could have been anyone. Bradley’s testimony was the only real reason anyone thought it could be her. And his testimony was the only reason the police were treating her death as suspicious.”
“But if he thought her body was in the river, he must have known it would surface at some point.”
“He needed a presumptive death certificate,” Jesse explains. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t get access to her money. And if and when the real body turned up, he’d planted enough evidence for the police to charge you with murder.”
I stare at Grace in the torchlight. I’ve been wearing her clothes, sleeping with her husband. I was planning to spend her money. There must be a reason I’m still alive.
“Call the police,” I tell Neil.
“It’s not as simple as that,” Grace says. She’s trying to retain her cool, but I can tell my presence infuriates her. “You’re not innocent here. If I tell the truth about what happened, Bradley won’t be the only one going to prison.”
“But she’s not going to do that,” Neil interrupts. “Because we all want the same thing. Including Brie.”
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“It means you’re going to help me get revenge,” Grace replies. “I can’t do it on my own. I’m too famous, now more than ever.”
“I don’t know—” I begin, looking around the shades on the assembled faces. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to kill him, if that’s what you want.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t let you take that away from me. You’re just bait. Prey to tempt the predator. After it’s done, I’ll announce my reincarnation. The same thing happened to Agatha Christie, you know. She disappeared, and people thought she had been murdered. Front-page stories all over England. Butthen she was spotted in a pub and returned to her old life. As will I.”
“And when she does, you’ll be free,” Neil adds. “The police will leave you alone.”
“How?” I ask. “I mean, the… killing?”
“There are details to be worked out,” Jesse says. “Our only problem is that we don’t know where he is. Even the lawyer here can’t find him. Bradley has access to Grace’s trust fund, which means he could be anywhere in the world.”
It’s true. Bradley almost certainly won’t stay in the city any longer than necessary.
“He won’t meet me,” I say. “If that’s what you’re thinking. I’m the last person he wants to see.”
“That’s not the plan.”
I pause. I feel like Grace, standing on the bridge, the roar of the waterfall in my ears. It’s time to jump, before I’m pushed. “But I can find him. I have his computer in my car.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
Grace wrote it all like scenes from a novel. The dress, the novel, the letter. There were more scenes planned, but Bradley fought back sooner than expected.
