Page 52 of Last Shot

‘And you’re so desperate for this to be a massive murder conspiracy so you can save the day and beg the commissioner for your badge back! Have you already worked out which actress will play you in the TV adaptation?’

They were inches from each other, eyes burning, chests heaving. Grey felt like he was getting ready to psych himself up to jump off a cliff, or a plane.

He waited. It was her turn to yell. He really didn’t know what else to say.

He was exhausted.

‘Well, then, I guess we’ll even each other out,’ she finally said.

‘Guess so.’ Was the fight over? He didn’t have the strength to pick up his sword again. She could win.

‘What’s Luca’s deal?’ Max turned towards the house as though expecting to see the Barbaranis watching from the windows like nosy ghouls.

Grey clamped his jaw. He could admit that she was right – he did need someone with an outside perspective. But still, he had to be careful with what he gave away. ‘He’s in love.’

‘No, really, what’s his problem?’

‘He’s in love,’ Greyson repeated, this time with a sigh. ‘With Ariana La Marca.’

Max’s eyebrows disappeared into the thick wisps of hair hanging from her loose bun.

‘But I don’t think Luca knows it himself,’ Grey continued.

‘Butyouknow?’

‘It’s my job to know.’

‘Is that why he beat up Forrest Valentine in Perth last year?’

Grey saw the look on Max’s face –entitled rich prick, she was thinking. ‘I wasn’t there but I know Luca and he must have been provoked somehow. And not just by seeing Forrest with Ariana.’

Max shook her head. ‘And they’re invited to this gala that Giovanni refuses to cancel?’

Grey nodded. Would the fight with Luca be enough for Forrest to organise a deadly sabotage? Say the wine was deliberately poisoned in order to destroy the Barbaranis’ reputation, but then Poppy Raven dies unexpectedly. Would the person responsible want to remove all traces of evidence by blowing up the barrels of wine? That would make Gio right about the bomb – it wasn’t meant to kill anyone.

But how could someone have snuck into the property and not been seen? It was impossible.

Well, except for the short, dark-haired impossibility standing in front of him.

Max was looking up at the house. ‘He thinks he’s invincible, doesn’t he?’

‘Luca?’

‘Giovanni.’

‘His entire life, his father’s legacy – it’s all been one enormous risk. He will never back down. It’s simply not an option for him.’

‘Even when his entire family almost blew up, and him along with them?’

‘You don’t understand,’ Grey said. ‘The unknown consequences, no matter how dire, do not exist to people like Giovanni. Normal people make decisions by weighing up the good and the bad that could occur. Giovanni doesn’t do that – and neither did his father. There only exists what needs to be done. They do what needs to be done.’

‘I understand.’ The expression on her face caught Grey off guard. And the way she said it wasn’t in that typical move-the-conversation-along way. Her face said it all. She’d done something like that before. She’d done what needed to be done. And damned the consequences. ‘So ...’ She rocked back on her heels. The shoelace of her left boot was undone. ‘We need to go to the city?’

Grey nodded. He was secretly glad she’d assumed she was coming too. Meant he didn’t have to ask her. Grey didn’t ask for help. ‘I need to work out what happened to Poppy Raven. And I think it’s time I paid Libby Johnston a visit.’

Her eyebrows disappeared again. ‘She won’t talk to you.’

‘I know,’ Grey said. ‘But she’ll talk to you.’

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