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‘I don’t know, Dad,’ Billy said, voice quiet, finding Jet’s eyes in the hall. Because Billy didn’t really like watching football, only pretended for his dad, so he had someone to watch it with after Billy’s mom left. Or because that Patriots game was scheduled for the day Jet would die.

But Jack must not have gotten all of that from Billy’s eyes, couldn’t read them like Jet. He cleared his throat, dropped his hand, and walked on through.

Jet’s mom fussed over her as they crossed the threshold, touching the limp arm on purpose, like she was checking, waiting for a reaction.

Too many people inside this small apartment, boxed in, nudging shoulders.

‘Sit down, Jet,’ Mom said, guiding Jet to the couch, settling in beside her, almost on top of her. Dad took the other end, leaving her a bit more breathing space.

‘Does anyone want a coffee or …’ Billy offered, hovering by the kitchen.

‘Not now, Billy,’ Dianne hushed him. ‘The detective has important news.’

Ecker had taken the seat opposite, the chief and Jack arranged behind him, a tableau of cop, their mouths set, eyes serious.

‘Who died?’ Jet said, trying to lighten the mood. Didn’t work, only got heavier, pressing down on her chest.

Ecker steepled his fingers, two pointing up, pressed them to his lips, like a gun made of flesh and bone.

‘Jet,’ he said, voice too loud, echoing between her ears. ‘We’ve arrested JJ Lim for your assault.’

Jet sat forward, Mom clinging to her, rubbing her back.

‘JJ?’ she said. ‘You found him?’

‘He came back to town a few hours ago.’ Ecker dismantled his finger gun, hands dropping to his lap. ‘He says his brother texted him, explained about your situation. That’s why he came back.’

‘You’ve spoken to him? JJ?’

‘We’ve interviewed him once already, after his arrest, yes.’

‘And?’ Jet lowered her voice. ‘What’s he saying?’

Ecker swallowed. ‘Well, he’s denying everything at the moment. But we had enough evidence for an arrest warrant.’

‘Evidence?’ Jet asked.

Ecker nodded. ‘The red synthetic hair at the scene was a match for the wig JJ wore at Halloween.’

‘Right, but you said it could have transferred?’

‘There’s his Sorry text to you, after the time of the attack. And that he has no alibi and left town in a hurry that night.’

‘But why would JJ want to kill me? You don’t know him like I do.’

‘There’s more,’ Ecker said. ‘We have a theory on motive. We are told you turned down his proposal a few months ago.’

‘Yeah,’ Jet sniffed. ‘Because we weren’t right for each other. That’s not enough of a reason for –’

‘– Men have hurt women for far less,’ Ecker spoke over her.

‘And that’s not our only potential motive.

’ He pulled something out of his pocket, the letter Jet had given him, from that loan company.

‘This loan for thirty thousand dollars, taken out in your name, secured against your truck. The bank account it was paid into belongs to JJ.’

Jet’s breath stalled, caught in her throat.

‘It was JJ?’ she said, more to herself.

‘He committed identity fraud, cashed the money in your name. He’d already taken out several loans in his own name previously, tanked his credit score.

Then he couldn’t afford the monthly repayments on this loan.

’ Ecker shook the page. ‘Defaulted on them. Our theory is that he panicked when he realized you were going to find out what he did, that he felt he had no other choice but to …’

‘Kill me?’

Ecker didn’t answer, not directly. ‘The prosecutor wants us to hold him a little longer, see if we can get a confession. But this is a strong circumstantial case, Jet, enough to proceed with charges.’

Jet didn’t know what to say. Looked like, maybe, her murder had just solved itself. So, what the fuck was she supposed to do now?

‘I want to reassure you,’ Ecker continued, ‘that the charges … after you … when you –’

‘– When I die,’ she finished for him.

Ecker inclined his head. ‘The charges against JJ will be amended to first-degree murder. I know it was important to you, to have the answer before … well, now you do.’

Something tightened in Jet’s gut, twisted.

She was supposed to find her killer, not the police.

That was the whole point. She needed this, her final chance to actually do something, see it through to the end.

And now they were sitting over there, telling her the end was already here?

Offering her the easy way out. Jet had always taken the easy way out, quit when things got too hard.

But it was supposed to be different this time – she wasn’t supposed to give up.

And for some reason, accepting it was JJ felt like giving up, didn’t feel right.

Her gut agreed, and so did her broken head.

‘What about the hammer?’ She leaned forward. ‘Does JJ own the rest of that Coleby tool set? It’s a sixty-piece set. Are the other fifty-nine tools at his house?’

Jack cleared his throat. ‘We’ve conducted a search of JJ’s residence. Nothing has turned up yet.’

‘Well, it’s a small house,’ Jet said. ‘It’s not going to turn up if you didn’t find it already. So how do you know he owned that hammer?’

‘Well, we don’t,’ Ecker said. ‘In a case like this, you aren’t always able to tie up all the loose ends.’

‘Well, excuse me for being picky, but if I’m going to die, I’d kind of like all those ends to be tied up. Real fucking tight.’

‘As I said, we are hoping to press JJ for a confe –’

‘– What about the foundations on North Street?’ Jet said, staring down that easy way out, right there, in between the cops, taking no steps toward it. ‘How could JJ have known the concrete was being poured the next morning? He had no connection to that place. Are you telling me he just got lucky?’

‘He might have passed that way when leaving town. Spotted the construction and took a chance.’

‘So, what?’ Jet’s voice rose now. ‘You’re done? You aren’t investigating anymore?’

Ecker shook his head. ‘We are investigating. We will be shoring up the case against JJ so the prosecutor –’

‘– And if it wasn’t JJ?’

‘Dad,’ Billy spoke up. ‘I think you should listen to –’

‘– Jet,’ Mom interrupted, turning to her, face too close. ‘It was JJ. They wouldn’t have arrested him if they didn’t have a reason to. It’s over, sweetie.’

It wasn’t over. Not for Jet. She still had time, and she was not going to let it go to waste. She’d wasted enough already, her whole life. This was a test, and she wasn’t going to fail, not this time, not even with one working arm.

‘OK, sure,’ she said bluntly. ‘Thanks so much for your service, officers. Give JJ my best.’

‘I know this is hard for you, Jet,’ Jack said, running a finger over his stubble. ‘But now we’ve got him, at least you can enjoy the time you have left.’

‘Terrific.’ Jet grinned, too many teeth. ‘Yeah, I think I might rewatch Stranger Things. Maybe knit a scarf. Try get some abs?’

‘Jet, please come home.’ Mom sniffed. ‘We should be together, as a family.’

Jet could go home. She’d done it before when things got too hard, the last time her body turned against her. She could, you know. She could.

But she’d made one hard choice, and now she made another.

‘Sorry, I can’t,’ Jet said. ‘There’s just too much to do. And I need to enjoy the time I have left. Cops’ orders.’

Mom’s lip twitched.

‘We’ll leave you to it, then,’ Detective Ecker said, chair creaking as he stood. ‘Let us know if you have any questions. And we’ll inform you when JJ has been officially charged.’

Jet nodded, following him with her eyes.

Ecker paused, turned to Jet’s dad. ‘Scott, are you able to meet us back at the site on North Street? We have a few more questions to run through.’

Jet’s dad clapped his hands to his knees. ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘We’ll be right behind you. Dianne?’

Mom stood up, stopped herself. Bent down to place one kiss to the top of Jet’s head. It hurt, everywhere hurt. But that knot in her gut had loosened, finally let go.

The chief nodded by the door, and Jack left with a sad smile, first for Jet, then for Billy. Ecker was the last to leave, behind Jet’s parents, closing the door with a click.

Billy followed, peered through the peephole, watching them all leave, voices fading down the stairs.

He turned back, a new glint in his eye, saved just for her.

‘We don’t think it was JJ, do we?’ he said, head back against the door, voice hovering somewhere between resigned and excited.

Jet smiled, a real one, just the right amount of teeth.

‘No, we don’t,’ she agreed. ‘I’m not saying it’s not JJ, but I want to have answers to all of my questions before I can die happy.

I’m not half-assing this one, Billy. I’m not dying a half-asser, you know that,’ she said.

‘Did JJ have access to that hammer brand, and where are the rest of the tools, then? How could he have known about the concrete going in on North Street, if he did? Who else had contact with JJ and Andrew at the fair, could have transferred that red hair? Could it have been Andrew Smith? Why is JJ’s brother pretending he never worked for Mason Construction?

And why are people in my family lying to me about the day I died?

’ She cracked her neck. ‘Let’s start with Sophia. ’

Billy nodded, a sideways smile. ‘You never even thought about stopping, did you?’

‘Maybe for a second,’ Jet said, meeting his eyes.

‘But I need to do this. I’ve got like three and a half days to live, and I need to be the one to find my killer.

Anyway, do you want to stop? Smashing shit with sledgehammers, pissing Luke off, being an asshole because I’m dying and I’m allowed to be, having guns waved in our faces. I’m having fun, aren’t you?’