Page 150 of Hard Heart

“For what?”

“For everything. For believing in me, for not giving up, for pulling off a miracle. Thanks to both of you.”

“I’ll send my bill in the mail,” Raelene said. “Don’t worry, I’m joking. Even if I wasn’t working for the Justice Project, I would’ve taken this one pro bono. Wildest case I ever worked on, and I say this as a woman who once prosecuted a guy for stealing his ex-wife’s dildo collection.”

“Wouldn’t a normal person just plead guilty and avoid the public humiliation?” I asked.

“His defence was that she burned his toupees. Revenge is a powerful motivator.”

Revenge… Burning… That set off a thought, one I’d tucked to the side for the past month as my world imploded and then reassembled itself.

“Do you remember a woman named Harriet Tamblay?” I asked Levi.

“Harriet? What does she have to do with any of this? Is she a part of the whole conspiracy? Because she seemed reasonably normal at first, and she sure was academically gifted, but then she became convinced the government was controlling us through electromagnetic waves.”

“Did she have much interaction with Professor Groveland?”

“He encouraged her to talk with someone about her worries.” Levi’s eyes saucered. “Are you saying…Harriet? No way. She was batshit crazy, but she’d never hurt anyone.”

“Not her. Her son.”

“She has a son?”

“Apparently so. Would you be willing to talk to Ari about her?”

Levi considered the question for a long moment. “Truthfully, I never thought I’d speak with anyone connected to Blackstone House again. And I never wanted to. But the people who killed Ruby fucked with all of us, not just me.”

“We couldn’t have done this last part without them.”

“I know.”

“So is that a ‘yes’?”

“Yeah, I’ll speak with her.”

After we dropped Raelene off in Richmond, the atmosphere in the helicopter changed. Levi’s hand moved farther up my leg. His fingers slipped under the hem of my skirt. His lips grazed my forehead. I pressed my thighs together in an attempt to get some relief, but it didn’t help much.

Chase had made the travel arrangements, and we landed in an empty pasture beside Nancy’s house. Which wouldn’t have been a problem if all the podcasters who had set up camp outside Justin’s home during the Carlson case hadn’t decided to take a trip to Blackstone Bluff. Local cops had corralled them into a taped-off area, but we still had to run the gauntlet.

“Fuck my life,” Levi said. “Don’t these folks have anything better to do?”

“You’re a big deal, Sykes. I should have gone to the hairdresser instead of getting a pedicure.”

He groaned. “Thanks for that visual. Now my cock is going to be front-page news.”

“Ready?”

“Get it over with.”

He took my hand, and we ran across the road. The gates of Blackstone House swung shut behind us, and finally, finally, this horrible chapter in our lives was over with. A new one was beginning. I’d had the locks changed, and we were home.

But Levi barely looked at the freshly painted foyer. He only had eyes for me.

“Just for reference, do you want candlelight and rose petals or absolutely feral?”

“Do you have any rose petals?”

“I’m sure there’s a gas station open somewhere.”