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The senior officer grabbed 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 was allowed 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. One has to 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.

The campground 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 know if or how the 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.

I took a screen shot of the DOC map that showed the two huts. Kui gave me instructions to meet her cousin down the street. My pulse seized, my breathing on edge thinking about it.

Declan turned up with our teas. I checked to ensure the police officers were talking, opened a few doors, then steered Declan into a cleaning closet and told him what had happened.

“I can’t let Kingi be arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.

” I looked at him, pleading. “And he can help our case in so many ways. I promise I’ll be back in time for the campground auction tomorrow at three.

Kingi might have seen or noticed something about Snow.

Outside his usual environment, and maybe with his guard down, Snow might have let something slip about the winery or heroin.

Even if Kingi is best friends with Snow, his brother comes first. No way would Kingi allow Rangi to be swept up in the arrests of a heroin ring.

“And he was there the night Janey met someone. He must have seen who Janey was talking to, even though he insisted at the time he hadn’t. His memories might help if the police want to identify me as the person Janey met that night.”

“Okay.” Declan gave a huge sigh and ran his hand through his hair. “You are quite literally the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever worked with, and I’ve worked with some award winners.” He shook his head. “I should have my head read that I’m letting you wander off into the bush by yourself.”

I was the biggest pain in the ass ever. Even better, his ass. I liked thinking about his ass. Especially in his washed-out jeans, which had everyone checking him out. I felt irrationally, idiotically happy, as if the sun had beamed into my chest and lit up the sparkles inside.

He kissed me passionately. Then, the sweetest kiss ever. “Come back to me,” he whispered in my ear.