Page 133 of Last Shot

‘But you think it’s suspicious?’ Max prompted as the guard took them into a room lined with monitors showing each angle of the prison. She felt a little sick knowing that she’d once been one of those amorphous shapes dotted on the screen, her movements catalogued while a guard sat in one of these chairs eating reheated chicken curry. That was the future Frankie Barbarani had to look forward to – a future she would already be getting a taste for in remand at Bandyup Women’s Prison while she awaited her trial.

‘We can’t rule anything out,’ Alexandra said. ‘Especially as she had no known medical concerns. She didn’t appear lethargic and there was nothing out of the order mentally. If anything, she seemed in higher spirits than normal.’

Because no one had broken the news to her yet that the Barbaranis were still alive.

‘The body’s with the coroner,’ she continued. ‘We won’t have the full report for a while.’

‘I know Frankie Barbarani visited Libby five times within the year,’ Grey said, ‘and I also know that Frankie’s mentor, Esme Gold, was stuck in the same block as Libby and Max.’

‘You always were a know-it-all.’ Alexandra lowered her eyes. ‘You know I wasn’t at liberty to tell you any of that. Should have guessed you’d find another way to get the information. But I didn’t know about the connection between Francesca and Esme, I just knew that Francesca had been to see Libby. Obviously, if I had, I—’

‘I’m not blamingyou,’ Grey said.

I am. A bit, Max thought.

‘Did anyone visit Libby these past few days, since we were here?’ Grey asked.

Alexandra was already clicking through the security footage as though she’d anticipated his question. ‘I know exactly what time stamp to look for,’ Alexandra said, clicking furiously, ‘because she died a minute after he left.’

He.The second visitor Alexandra had mentioned.

‘She just collapsed in the hall outside the visitors’ room. No wound or anything. We couldn’t find a pulse. It was silent, like the Grim Reaper had just floated past and snatched her soul.’

‘No wound?’ Max said.

Alexandra pursed her lips as she brought up a clip stamped 1.30 p.m. the day before. Libby sat in the visitors’ room, facing away from the camera, but her slim shoulders and scraggly hair swept up in a thick ponytail showed it was unmistakably her.

They waited in silence as the tape played the last few minutes of Libby’s life.

If it wasn’t for the movements of the other inmates hugging and laughing and fighting with their loved ones around her, Max would have sworn the tape was paused. Libby stayed perfectly still, like a lion waiting for its prey. Eventually, a tall, lean figure with blond hair sat down in front of her. The camera was blurry and the angle cut off most of his identifying features but Max had watched footage of him getting thrown to the ground by Luca Barbarani on many grainy and opportune screens from the night Rocky Road died.

This visitor’s face was the last one she’d seen before she lost Grey and the others at the gala. Even in a black beanie and gloves, she wasn’t going to forget Forrest Valentine in a hurry.

‘Hepoisoned the wine.’ Grey dragged a hand down his jaw. ‘The walk, the way he leans slightly too far to the left with every second step. And the height. That’s the guy from the CCTV in Liquor Paradise.’

‘Forrest Valentine?’ Max said. ‘Working withLibby?’ She watched as Forrest reached out a gloved hand, brushing his thumb against Libby’s bare skin.

Just a scratch. Enough to kill you three hundred times over.

Ice crystallised over her lungs.

‘Tell the coroner to test her for etorphine,’ Max said. ‘It won’t be on the list of drugs she’ll look for. It’s a buffalo sedative, used by wildlife vets.’

‘But Quinton’s in custody,’ Grey said.

‘His satchel was missing, he said, down in the passageway. Forrest must have stolen it before he ran.’ Max pointed to the frozen shot of Forrest holding Libby’s hand. ‘He put etorphine on his glove, just like he put the rat poison in the Barbarani Sangue.’

Frankie’s voice rang in her ears like the after-effects of an explosion.They’ve done it before.

‘The boating accident,’ Max said, ‘where all of Forrest’s family died. What if it wasn’t an accident? What if it was ETR? Didn’t Frankie say Forrest’s brother was a member?’

‘You thinkCallumValentine made the same promise to ETR that Frankie did? They kill his family so he becomes the sole heir to the mining fortune?’

‘Did they look similar?’ Max asked. ‘Forrest and Callum? They were twins, right?’

‘Identical.’

‘So what if ETR made a mistake?’ Max tucked her shaking hands into her jeans. ‘And the wrong brother drowned? Forrest wasn’t supposed to survive the accident, Callum was.’

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