Page 72 of Bay of Plenty

He faced Mum, his eyes flicking wildly, his breath shallow. “This diary has been in our garage for twenty years, and you didn’t tell me?”

Mum turned to him, her eyes pleading. “I never knew what was inside.”

Dad shuffled to the kitchen island and poured a glass of water, waving off offers of help.

The senior officer stepped toward me. “You are a person of interest at this stage. We will be sending this diary to the lab to be analyzed. We are also permitted to tell you that next, we will visit Mr.Saunders, your next-door neighbor.”

Mum and I exchanged glances. I saw both sadness and horror in her expression. I felt sweat on my forehead, though I didn’t know which way to feel. Mr.Saunders was going to find out about the diary through the police. He’d realize why we hadn’t told him—because we suspected he could be Janey’s creeper. If he wasn’t, he’d be devastated. A small, unspoken cry scoured my throat.

“This is an outrage.” Dad shuffled back to us, red-faced. “Hasn’t Isla suffered enough?” He was so emotional he stumbled. Declan and I lunged for him, steadied him, and sat him down. Dad’s breathing quickened. He gasped, clutched at his heart.

“Oh my God,” I said. “Dad? Dad? Is he having another heart attack?”

Mum and I dropped next to him. Declan took his pulse while checking the time on his watch. “Do you have pain in your arms, chest, or legs?” he asked.

“Here,” Dad said, his hand on his chest.

“We have to get him to the hospital.” I glared up at the officers, my entire body rigid. “Now.”

Chapter Forty-Seven

The senior officergrabbed the phone from his belt to call an ambulance.

“It’s quicker if I take him.” Declan scooped Dad up. “Officers, can you drive in front of us with your siren on?”

Before we all hurried out the front door, the senior officer, severe-faced, raised a finger to me. “We’ll continue this discussion later.”

For the next hour, we waited in the hallway outside Dad’s room at the hospital while they put him through a battery of tests. I kept an eye on the two policemen as we talked about Dad, what it could be, and what had happened. It was stress piled on more stress, and neither Mum nor I was calm.

“We’re going to work this out,” Declan said. “Concentrate on your dad for now.”

I texted Kui and also Bevan, who was finding me the best lawyer for my case. I was shocked I was going to need one and relieved I had someone to make that connection for me.

The doctors returned with an all-clear, though they were going to observe Dad for another hour. “Oh, thank God,” I said, watching the police. Sooner rather than later they were going to stride up the hallway and ask what the status was. Mum, Declan, and I had a group hug. Only one of us wasallowed to visit Dad, so Mum went in. If the police found out, they could take me home now and ask more questions.

Declan went to the café for teas so the police would think it was going to be a while. I got a call from Kui. She sounded breathless. “Isla, I’m terrified. I’ve sent you a Department of Conservation email. Work starts next week to restore two defunct Te Urewera huts. Onehasto be Kingi’s.”

Panic tore through me. “Holy shit.” I checked my emails.

My brain convulsed with every word. I faced away from the end of the hall where the police were seated.

“Someone has to warn him,” I said, my breathing shallow. “By the time DOC arrives on Monday, he’s not going to be able to make a run for it. They will have to report him.” That meant he would be arrested for skipping parole. And if Kui was right, the police would also use it as an opportunity to question him about the pub brawl he had nothing to do with and pressure him for information about other people they wanted put away. “Rangi has to go.”

“Snow gave Rangi the long weekend off,” Kui said, her voice rising. “He’s hours away, up the coast surfing somewhere, and cell reception is bad up there. Sometimes they hit two surf spots in a day. It might take me the whole weekend to find him.”

“What about you, Kui?”

“Physically, I couldn’t do it.”

“But you seem so fit,” I said, thinking of the yoga lessons.

“I got into yoga because of my back,” she said. “It could give out any time on that sort of hike.” I remembered that Sarge had been concerned about her back after the pipi collecting. She took a deep, juddering breath.“I need you to do it. Kingi needs you to do it.”

The force of her emotion knocked the air out of me. Thecampground auction was tomorrow. Rosemary’s client, who was Snow’s business partner, was going to bid for the whole campground, all eight luxury homes. Though we didn’t knowiforhowthe campground was linked to the heroin investigation, it was the largest land sale ever in the area and a line of inquiry we couldn’t afford to drop or ignore. And how would I even get to the trailhead? My stomach turned to acid. I swiveled around to the other threat. The police hovered at the end of the hallway, waiting to question me.

“It’s you or no one does it.” Kui’s voice was panic-stricken. “Even though he’s innocent, he might be arrested, sent back to prison, and he’ll spiral down again. He needs to stay up there for his sobriety. Please—do it for me and Kingi.”

Her frantic pleas fired up something primal in me. My heart pumped faster and faster. She was right. I couldn’t turn her down. I was going.

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