Dalton has the plane ready. He gru
mbles when we walk in late, and April lights into him, starting up all over again about Kenny. Dalton arches his brows and tries taking her bag, but she wrests it from him, stalks over to the open hatch, and throws it through.
“Huh,” Dalton murmurs to me. “Actual emotion. That’s a switch.”
“Hmm.” I raise my voice. “April? Would you like to sit up front? It’s a better view.”
“I don’t want a view. The sooner I’m out of this godforsaken forest, the better.”
She starts climbing into the rear seats.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” says a voice behind us.
We turn to see Phil.
“Fucking hell,” Dalton mutters as he bears down on Phil.
I step between the two men. “Hey, Phil. You’re up. Good. I went by your house to talk to you, but it was dark. Not surprising at four in the morning. We’re running April to Dawson, and then we’re going to do a bit of online—”
“No, you are not.”
“We’ll be quick,” I say. “We just need to look up a few things—”
“You know that’s not what I mean, Detective. You are not taking your sister home.”
“We’ve discussed this,” I say. “I promised she’d be back in Vancouver for work tomorrow. She’s been fully debriefed, just like any departing resident.”
“Your sister is a suspect in this crime.”
“That is ridiculous,” April says, getting out of the plane. “I was in the clinic with witnesses at the time we received word that Casey was bringing Marshal Garcia, wounded. I followed the first responders and arrived on the scene with them.”
“After them,” he corrected. “You arrived shortly after them. Even if you were not the shooter, that doesn’t address the allegation that you led Marshal Garcia here. That he was following you.”
April starts to sputter.
“The possibility of that is extremely low,” I say.
“Low?” April says. “I am not a criminal—”
“Extremely low,” I repeat. “How Mark Garcia arrived here is something we plan to investigate in Dawson. Eric has a theory.”
“As long as there is any chance your sister led him here, she cannot leave.”
“If she led him here, why would she want to leave?” I say. “If she was somehow, very coincidentally, in danger when I just happened to offer her safe haven, why would she leave now?”
“She is not leaving,” Phil says. “Until the council agrees to her departure, she must remain in Rockton. That is the price you pay for bringing her in behind their backs. They are not letting her leave the same way. They warned me to watch for this, and when I saw you both heading toward the hangar at daybreak, I knew what you were doing.”
“Great,” I say. “So you tried to stop us and failed. Tell them whatever story you want. We will fully support it. This is entirely our fault. You did the right thing. We’re the ones who disobeyed. Now, we’ll be back before sundown—”
Phil pulls a gun from his pocket and points it at Dalton. Dalton’s eyes narrow, and he advances on Phil.
“Is that how we’re playing things?” Dalton says. “Every time you want us to do something, you’re going to pull that fucking gun? Is that how you do it down south, Phil?”
“I—”
“No, it’s not. You wouldn’t dare. Down south people deserve basic respect. Up here we’re just a bunch of savages who need a gun waved in our faces before we’ll listen to you.”
I’m holding myself still, heart slamming into my ribs, barely able to hear Dalton’s words as he walks straight toward that gun.