Page 128 of Love Me Dangerous

Hearing his steady voice again brings Alaska that much closer. His brother Evan and the McCabes were my safe landing when everything went to hell with Kristov. Evan’s wife, Tasha, helped me craft a temporary custody agreement that would keep William safe while I went into hiding.

While I want to ask Hunter about William, my deposition is not the place.

“Hey,” I reply, and give him a quick glance.

Brian gives me a nod of support—one I can practically feel through the comm line. Back when I first ended up in foster care, Brian looked out for me. At one time, I thought I’d become a firefighter like him. But that was before Kristov and the arson fire that destroyed my dad’s vet clinic. I had to distance myself from Brian after that. Does he understand my motivations, and that’s why he’s here? Or is he fishing for information that will tie me to Kristov’s crimes?

“All right.” State Attorney Thompson turns the top page of the stack in front of him, bringing us back to our purpose. “Please describe your relationship with the defendant, Kristov Stoll.”

My fingers start tingling, so I flex and release them under the table. “He married my mom about four years ago. We had been in foster care before that. There wasn’t—” I have to pause as the memories flood through my mind “—enough to eat. And William kept getting into fights at school.” I had been trying so hard to pull my family through that time. Working two jobs, trying to get mom to stop drinking, but things just got worse.

“Kristov and Mom visited us at the OCS home in McKenzie. That’s where he met Terrilynn Silva.”

“What was your relationship to Ms. Silva?” State Attorney Thompson asks, sending me a shrewd look.

“She was my friend.”

“Were you in a sexual relationship with her?”

Shit. They’re coming in hard. “No.”

“You claim Terrilynn was working for Kristov. Did you witness this?”

I explain how Kristov befriended her. Gave her compliments. Bought her things. At first, I didn’t understand. I didn’t know him well enough yet. “Terrilynn was desperate to get out of Alaska. Kristov lured her into prostitution. Then he got her to help him set fire to my dad’s clinic. She tried to run, but they caught her.”

From the screen, Brian Ambrose grimaces. “State Attorney Thompson, may I?” He waits for permission, then asks me, “How did Terrilynn assist with the arson fire at the clinic?”

“I think she got a key from the desk.”

“How did this come about?”

I heave a full breath as the memory unspools. “I hadn’t seen Terrilynn in a little while. I was at the clinic like I always was in the early evening, cleaning up. The business was holding on by a thread. I needed to turn things around, but my mom kept changing her mind, and I couldn’t do anything on my own. I was about to inherit the clinic, so I was doing everything I could to keep it afloat.

“Terrilynn came by and we talked. She confessed that she’d made a mistake trusting Kristov. He’d gotten her pregnant, and she wanted to keep the baby. She wanted a fresh start. I was proud of her, actually. She sounded like she’d figured some things out. By no means was she choosing the easy path, but I remember feeling hopeful. Maybe things would work out for both of us.

“A few days later, the spare keys in the reception desk were missing. I didn’t even think about Terrilynn’s visit until she was found in Porcupine Creek. A lot of things came together then. I think Kristov used her to get a key to the clinic, and then he murdered her.”

A heavy silence hangs in the air.

I force in a cooling breath. In the middle of the table are several plastic water bottles. I lean forward and reach for one. Cracking the lid, I bring it to my lips. The water is warm, but it helps settle my thoughts.

“Stoll is accusing you of arson,” Brian says.

“Yeah, how does that work when he’s the one who got the money?”

Attorney Thompson raises a palm. “You’ve stated before that you didn’t know he’d married your mom. Maybe the idea of running theclinic was too much. You said it yourself, Zach. The business was on the brink of bankruptcy. Anyone would understand what you were up against. Your mother had turned to drugs. She wasn’t able to care for William or you. You weren’t even out of high school. Running a large animal veterinary clinic is a big job. Even selling it would have been complicated, and certainly not a guarantee. The insurance money would have helped you through a really tough time.”

It takes everything I have not to crush this water bottle in my fist. “I would never do that to my dad. I was weeks away from inheriting the clinic. I could have turned everything around.”

Brian nods, his mouth set in a grim line.

“Let’s talk about your relationship with Stoll,” State Attorney Thompson says.

My fingers start tingling again. Sofie told me it’s a kind of nervous system activation, a sign of stress when someone is reliving a bad experience. I breathe in and out slowly once, twice, focusing on the feel of the chair under me and the ground beneath my feet. Slowly, the tingles subside.

“He was abusive.”

State Attorney Thompson grimaces while Hunter clenches his eyes shut for a moment. “To you, or William, or both?”

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