Page 71 of On the Edge

‘You have to let yourself off the hook.’

She nodded as her tears spilled over and ran down her cheeks.She wiped them away with her other hand and shook her head.

‘God, why am I crying?’she said, half-laughing.

He held her gaze as he started to stroke her hand with his fingers.The air felt suddenly charged.Something stirred deep inside her.She swallowed.What was he doing?No, this wasn’t what she needed.Things were complicated enough right now, without this.

She moved her hand away and picked up her glass.She sat back and took a sip of her beer.

‘I’m no good for you, Jimmy.’

He looked away, rubbing his stubbled cheek, then looked back again.‘Why not?’

‘I told you.I’m no good at relationships.It wouldn’t work out and then everything would be, I don’t know … weird and awkward.’A pause.‘Kind of like now,’ she added with a smile, trying to lighten the moment.

But his expression remained serious.‘You can’t live like this, Nel.Never trusting anyone.’

She thought of her conversation with Trent.‘What aboutyou?’

He narrowed his eyes.‘What do you mean?’

‘You haven’t been honest with me!You haven’t told me what you did in Wollongong.’

He looked at her for a long time.‘It’s none of your business what happened in Wollongong.’

She shook her head and reached for her bag.‘And you wonder why I don’t trust you.’

Chapter 43

Nel sat on her surfboard and squinted towards the horizon, searching for a sign of the next wave.The rising sun was low in the sky and she had the break all to herself.There wasn’t a breath of wind, but there wasn’t much swell either.

She’d felt off-balance ever since the awkward situation with Jimmy the night before, her emotions swinging from frustration to regret.He was the closest friend she had, and he had to go and ruin it.What was he thinking?She’d replayed their conversation over and over, and each time when she reached the part where she accused him of hiding things and stormed out, she was racked with self-loathing.She’d managed to make an already awkward situation even worse.

The sound of voices carried across the water and Nel looked over to see two guys paddling out.She moved away to give them space.In an effort to put Jimmy out of her mind, she turned her thoughts to Maddie.What did theyactuallyknow?And what did it mean?One by one, she ran through what they knew for sure.

Five days before she died, Maddie was pregnant and she knew it.That was a fact.

She’d confided in Harry, who had seen Maddie and Ryan in the dunes the night of the bonfire party.And she was in hiscar the day before she disappeared, even though they’d broken up months before.Nel was bluffing when she accused her of it, but Maddie didn’t deny it.She decided she could count that as a fact too.

Then there was the ring.She pictured the strange, old-fashioned ring with its ominous black stone.For the past sixteen years, in the absence of anything else, she’d always come back to that.It went missing sometime between eight o’clock on Wednesday night and early Sunday morning when Maddie’s body was found on a desolate stretch of sand at Jacksons Beach.The police insinuated she was mistaken—or lying—when they brought her in to question her, interrogate her, yet again.

*

‘Thanks for coming back in,’ O’Neill said, his face grim.He had a daughter too, he told Rob.

‘We need to ask you a few more questions.’Frisk narrowed his pale blue eyes.‘There’s an inconsistency in your statement.’

Nel frowned.‘An inconsistency?’

He opened a file and took out the statement she’d signed after the first interview, then ran his finger down the page.‘When we spoke on Thursday, you said Maddie was wearing a ring.’

‘Yes.’Nel nodded.‘She was.’

‘How can you be sure?’

‘Because I saw it.I told you, we fought about it.’

O’Neill leaned in.‘By the time Maddie’s body was found, the ring was gone.Why would that be?’