Page 104 of Last Breath

‘Well, it’s not for sex,’ Jett said, ‘so it must be the other thing she’s done for the Barbaranis.’

‘Bribing Sophie to write a story about how the Barbaranis all sing with the birds in the morning and save drowning kittens from wells is not going to be enough for a judge to dismiss the La Marcas’ case.’

‘He’s desperate.’

‘Tom’s not the one you need to be worried about now, Jett.’

He could feel it. And he was not going to let it.

‘She needs you.’

‘No. She doesn’t.’ He couldn’t get Raphael’s words out of his brain; they were niggling their way in like maggots.

‘Jett.’

‘No, Grey, listen. This isn’t a coincidence, Tom being followed, Avery’s fiancée getting hit, Clarkson – there’s a pattern, there’s something familiar ...’

‘What are you ... Look, how far away are you? I can swing by and—’

‘Listen to me.’ There must have been something in his tone because Grey went quiet. ‘Stay by your phone. I need to check something.’ Before Grey could answer, Jett hung up and scrolled to his newest added contact.

‘Avery speaking.’

‘It’s Jett Randall, the Barbaranis’ driver.’

‘I know. I’ve got your number saved under my Suicide Watch list.’

‘Avery, listen, your girlfriend ... on the night she fell onto the road, you said you guys were in the Bindi Tavern just before, right?’

‘Yeah, we were, but Randall, can this wait? Hazel’s just got out of hospital and I—’

‘Who did she speak to? At the bar, before she left. Who was she talking to?’

Avery’s deep sigh sent a shot of anger through Jett, but he was too wired to absorb it.

‘I thought you would have heard – she had an argument with Nella Barbarani. Look, Hazel wasn’t in the best place and she provoked Nella but—’

Eliza’s words from that night slammed into him.There was a real dressing down. She’d told him something had happened between Hazel and Nella. Why hadn’t he registered the connection then?

Because you were thinking with something else besides your head at the time ...

‘They argued? Right before she got hurt?’

‘Yeah, that’s what I said. What are you insinuating, Randall?’

Jett ended the call without speaking.

Hazel. Ariana. Clarkson. Accidents, illness, death. And now Tom, possibly in danger.

Clarkson was the only one who didn’t fit. To Jett’s knowledge, he and Nella hadn’t argued.

But there’d been conflict, hadn’t there? The Barbaranis (except Tom) wanted Nella to take the case, but with Clarkson there, that wasn’t going to happen. Or was it as Nella had always thought, and Clarkson had discovered something that they didn’t want coming out?

The evidence in the Lake Orta house had cleared the La Marcas of Clarkson’s death as far as Jett was concerned. Unless Clarkson had found something else ... something hidden in his Boogie Board notes ...

‘Grey.’ The ex-fixer picked up on the second ring, diligently waiting as he’d been instructed. ‘What the hell’s going on?’

‘I need you to check something for me.’ Jett explained what he needed.