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“It’s the wealthiest city in the country in the most prosperous state,” Josie said.

“Some people say it is like a country, all independent-like,” she laughed uneasily.

“I’ll call again in a couple of days,” I said, ending the call.

My last phone call was to Jack. He didn’t pick up.

I simply sent a text: I love you x

Then I headed off the highway and into mountain country. It had been a long time since I had been back here but everything still looked so much the same. When I came to live in the town, I still sometimes went back by myself, but it was never the same. There were so many memories here. I found the dirt track that led to Sheriff and Aunt Stephanie’s place and had to slow down because the track had become so bad, full of boulders and ditches that could wreck the car. I parked my truck out of sight in a grove of trees behind the house.

Then I headed to their place to see what was left of it.

It was a ruin, though.

The roof had fallen in. Most of the furniture was gone and what was left had rotted through or fallen apart. There were signs of animal habitation and there were insects everywhere. I carefully walked around the place, not wanting to step through a hole. My room had been the little space at the back, not so much a room as a kind of closet space but it had been big enough for a bed. There was nothing here now.

I remembered the red crocheted bed spread that Aunt Stephanie had made for me and the bright curtains she’d hung here. She had tried so hard to create a happy space for me and it had worked. It was all because of her that I had managed to turn out not completely messed up.

I headed back outside, heaving a heavy pack onto my back.

Then I headed into the mountains, via a track that had completely overgrown in the years since I’d been there last. I had a tent with me and some provisions, not a lot, because I wanted to stay sharp and focused. It was cold but there was no snow and I fell into a fast rhythm, walking up and around the ridge, through the valley. I made a campsite next to the river and slept by the fire, holding the occillite all night long. It was warm in my hand, like a living thing.

The next day, I crossed the river, holding the pack over my head, losing my footing once and getting completely drenched in the process. But I kept walking and at the end of the day, I was on the slopes of what my father used to call Second Peak.

Home.

I looked for any sign of our shack but there was nothing. I knew the view from the front porch and kept turning around every so often to compare my memory to what was there, but I couldn’t seem to find the place. Finally, I realized that the trees must have grown in the twenty odd years since I’d been there last. I needed to go down and to my left, and that was when I found it. Our little cabin or what remained of it.

Like Sheriff’s house, it was pretty much ruined but the walls still stood and the porch was sound. My mother used to sit here peeling potatoes while my brother played in the dirt and I made little dolls of grass.

I put down my pack and walked around, immersing myself in my memories. Things came back to me, like my father chopping wood and giving me the axe, showing me how to split the logs, telling me that girls were as strong as boys were.

It felt like I was walking on hallowed ground.

I walked inside and saw the walls were blackened from the smoke of the fire. Twenty years later, the memories of that night could still be seen seared into the walls. Had our attacker set our house on fire or was it the stove that had fallen over? I couldn’t remember but everything had been burnt.

I went outside to look for a good place to camp. I set up my tent and got wood for a fire. Then I made coffee.

“I am here,” I said out loud. “I am back.”

“Talk to me.”

Chapter 26

Jack

It was quiet on the castle grounds.

After I burned the body, I called Zoran and summoned my security detail to meet me at my car. I established who was inside. Ulrika along with two guests and three bodyguards. I told my guards to go inside and get rid of the guards as quietly as possible. Zoran and one of the others were to come with me.

I caught expressions of surprise on their faces.

They weren’t used to me as a man of action, of violence but I had been reasonable and sensible for long enough. The time had come for me to be ruthless and face my enemies. They were coming for Kaya and I was not going to sit back and let it all happen to us.

I entered the living room and as soon as Ulrika saw me she jumped up. The expression of shock on her face was unmistakable.

“Where is Simon?” she gasped.