needing a little violence. If he’d been closer, she might have slugged him.
As it was, Leese held her back when she started to lunge forward.
Fine. She still had her voice, and by God, no one would rob her of that. “She agreed to sex with one man. She said no to others joining them, and she obviously said no to being a sideshow. And no, as far as I’m concerned, always means no.”
Eyebrows shooting up, Justice said, “I agree one hundred percent, honey, so spew the venom elsewhere. Rapists are at the top of my list of scum of the earth, right up there with child abusers. I was just going for clarification. How do you know what happened? Were you there?”
“Oh God, no.” She shook her head hard. If she had her way, that damned island would be blown to pieces. “I know Georgia refused, because that’s what they said.” The turbulent mix of anger and panic descended on her again. “They joked, laughing over how she wanted to leave but saying it was already too late for that and they couldn’t let her, so they...they killed her.” She squeezed her eyes shut, horrified anew at the blasé discussion of cold-blooded murder.
They’d talked about ending an eighteen-year-old girl with the same lack of empathy they’d have given to an annoying fly.
“Shh.” Leese turned her into his embrace and his big hands moved up and down her back. “Take it easy.”
Until he soothed her, she hadn’t realized how badly she trembled.
No one spoke and by the second she felt more like a wimp. She knew Sahara watched them with wide-eyed incredulity, and that Justice was confused by his friend’s familiarity. By letting Leese comfort her, she was putting his job at risk. He couldn’t get in trouble over her.
Somehow she had to get it together.
But it was a struggle. Georgia Bell had been gone for months now, but for Cat, the horror was fresh, as if it had happened just yesterday. The cut felt raw and still far too painful.
A steadying breath helped a little. Trying to compose herself, she levered away from Leese’s comfort. If this was her time of confession, she needed to get through it.
Leese kept his hands on her upper arms and dipped down a bit to look her in the eye. “How do you know all this?”
In the quietest of whispers, she confessed, “I overheard it all.”
Leese’s hands tightened. “And the killers know it?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“See,” Justice said, his hands out, “this is what I was trying to get to, the deets on how you know what you know.” He grumbled low to himself, “Accusin’ me of supporting abuse. That’s bullshit.”
He looked a little wrecked that she’d ever misunderstood, so Cat gave him an apologetic nod. “They were all in Webb’s boathouse, only I didn’t expect to find anyone there.”
Leese barely breathed. “Webb too?”
She nodded. “It was too late in the season to take out the boat and it’s not like Webb or his buddies like to fish. But we’d gotten that early freeze and I wanted to capture everything in photos to paint it later, maybe even to use as a project for the class, to show them how the ice sparkled and...” Dumb. So very, very dumb. None of that mattered now. “Anyway, when I got close I heard people talking. That didn’t make any sense to me because no one used the boathouse in the winter. At first I listened, trying to figure out who was there. I was going to report them.” To Webb, who she’d figured would run them off. She’d been such a fool.
“That’s what most people would do,” Leese assured her.
“If only it had been vandals, or someone just trespassing. But it wasn’t. By the time I understood what they were talking about, it was too late.” Over and over they’d said her name, Georgia Bell, a young lady who’d been used, and then murdered.
As if she was no one important, as if her death didn’t matter.
To them, she’d been an expendable girl, easily discarded.
“I was standing there, I guess almost in shock, when they stepped out and...saw me.”
Leese tightened his jaw.
“There was no place to hide. I was in my black coat, jeans and boots, standing in the white snow. It’s not like they could have missed me. I tried to bluff, like I hadn’t caught anything important. I tried to act surprised to see them, but welcoming.” As usual, because she knew them all, had met them many times. Closing her eyes, she said, “But I guess they could still tell. They looked at each other as if coming to some silent agreement.”
Hand to her throat, Sahara asked, “An agreement for what?”
“To get rid of me too. To remove the possibility of me telling anyone what I’d heard.”
Gently, Leese said, “You can’t know that for sure.”
But she did. “Webb looked...” Devastated. Destroyed. But still resigned. “I could tell he wouldn’t defend me. Or maybe it’s that he couldn’t. I’m not sure.”
“Because you don’t know for sure if he’s involved,” Justice said.
“I would never have believed it if I hadn’t heard them all talking. They admitted having Georgia killed, her throat cut—” What level of horror had that young girl faced? “—her body disposed of on the island. When asked, Webb agreed to help provide alibis for them. The plan was that he’d claim they’d been with him, at his home, the weekend Georgia went to the island.” Believable, since the men had been to his home before. “I’d say that makes him pretty damned guilty.”
Leese nodded. “Agreed.”
“But how would that cover all their tracks?” Justice asked. “They had to get to the island somehow, right? There must be records...”
Sahara answered. “For enough money, the helicopter pilots would keep silent, bury the paperwork—and do whatever was asked. The super wealthy always have those who will cover for them.”
Cat drew a shuddering breath.“The way those men all looked at me...” She couldn’t forget how Tesh had slowly smiled, his visible anticipation for what he probably saw as an opportunity.
For too many years that lech had wanted her and he’d seen this, her giant faux pas, as his best bet to get his hands on her.
“Cat?”
She met Leese’s gaze.
“You keep saying ‘them.’ Who are we talking about?”
If she told the truth, would they even believe her? Cat had her doubts, so she hedged. “It was Webb and another man meeting, plus two personal guards.”
“So four men, total?” Sahara asked.
“Yes. Tesh was one of them.”
“He’s associated with your stepfather?” Sahara clarified.
“Yes.”
Leese glanced back at Sahara. “You knew he was her stepfather, not her dad?”
“Yes, but to me he seemed as concerned and genuine as any father could be. He said Cat was out on her own, and he wanted her protected because she’d lived such a pampered life. He was afraid her naïveté would get her into trouble.” She frowned. “I hate that I was apparently duped.”
Leese came back around to Cat. “Tesh works for Webb?”
“For the other man, actually. But Webb has known him for a long time. Since I was...” That invisible fist closed on her throat again. “Eighteen.”
Because he didn’t miss much, Leese muttered, “The same age as Georgia.”
She nodded. “Webb considered him trustworthy, so there were times