Page 22 of Last Breath

‘So that’s why Tomaso hired Clarkson? Because he knew you would refuse to take the lawsuit?’

‘I think Tom honestly thought Clarkson would be better than me. He’s annoyed I’ve been AWOL after the gala.’

Avery’s eyes crinkled again. ‘I can’t say I blame you.’

Stop trying to get me to like you. We’ll never be on the same side.Avery was a good boy. A superman, Captain America, fighting for the cause. She was Maleficent, Cruella de Vil. The blood running through her veins was poison. And Avery knew that; he’d been hunting her family since he’d first made detective in Bindi Bindi Cove. She was very familiar with Avery types – they usually made it quite a way up her list, passing all the challenges. But they would never respect her.

‘What was the last interaction you had with Clarkson, Nella?’

Nella sipped the liquid crime he’d put in front of her, which tasted like wet bark, as she thought back to that morning. She’d been too fired up at Tom and the rest of her family, and Jett for dragging her back in the first place, to really pay attention to what Clarkson had said.

‘He needed a place to go, to make some calls,’ she told Avery. ‘I offered him my file room as a temporary office.’

‘Did he say who he was calling?’

Nella tried to recall the scent of Daisy’s anti-dandruff shampoo to bring back that moment, when her paralegal had her in a vice-grip and Clarkson was mumbling through the door of the room. ‘He said there was some inconsistency.’ She chewed her lip. She’d been so wrapped up in herself that she hadn’t bothered to push Clarkson on that. ‘If you show me his notes, then I can help you with the shorthand.’

Avery raised a freckled eyebrow. ‘Because a lowly detective like me wouldn’t be able to decipher something as complex as a lawyer’s to-do list?’

‘Just trying to be helpful.’

He assessed her like he was weighing something up. Could he trust her? Or was she just another wolfish Barbarani in designer sheep’s clothing?

‘Did you hear him mention someone called Abby?’

So, he’d chosen trustworthy. Interesting. Or it was a trap? ‘No. Why?’

‘That’s all we found with him. A post-it-note withAbbywritten on it.’

‘Can I see it?’

‘No. It’s evidence.’And you’re a suspect.

‘There’ll be more information in his—’

‘Notebook, yes. Like I told you, there were no other notes in your file room or with Clarkson’s body.’

‘But ...’ Nella closed her eyes. Dandruff shampoo, the clink of Pearl’s jewellery, the tap of Ian’s keys. ‘He had a notebook or a journal with him – he kept a record of everything that was going on when you lot came to our property. And he was writing in it when he was in the file room. Green. It was green!’

Avery blinked. ‘There was nothing like that at the crime scene.’

‘Who handled the evidence?’ The pit of her stomach frothed.

‘My officers.’

‘Well, someone fucked up, didn’t they? Or you’ve tampered with—’

BAM!

His fist slammed on the table. Black drops of coffee jumped out of the Styrofoam. ‘Don’t you dare!’ he said. She’d trained herself to not react to these kinds of things, but she hadn’t been prepared this time.‘Especiallyafter—’

After I dragged you out of the bloodbath your family started. After I gave the murderer the antidote you screamed at me to administer even though they’d tried to kill you.

Did Avery think she was in his debt?

She hadn’t made up Clarkson’s green notebook. If it wasn’t in her file room, and if Avery’s officers weren’t crooked (which she wasn’t completely ruling out), then she had to find it.

‘I’m sorry.’ Avery dragged a hand over his face again. ‘It’s been a long day. I didn’t mean to lose control like that.’