Page 117 of The Boathouse By the Loch

Sean nodded. ‘All right, Joe. Just come fetch me when you’re done.’

Joe was about to close the door, when Sean said, ‘Oh – does she know where the real Robyn Parker is?’

Bonnie heard that, as did everyone else in the room.

‘We’ll get on to that, I’m sure.’

Bonnie caught Sean looking her way. ‘Are you okay to answer Joe’s questions without a chaperone?’

Bonnie was about to say that she was fine, and didn’t need a chaperone; that she was among friends. But she wasn’t among friends. They were the friends she’d made masquerading as Robyn, albeit unintentionally. But that didn’t excuse what she’d done in her past – hooking up with a criminal and accompanying him to the boathouse. Did it make her an accessory? She hadn’t committed a crime herself, but wondered if she was guilty of something by association.

She tried to keep her emotions in check when she realised that when her friends all walked out of this room, they’d probably walk out of her life, and she’d never see them again.

Bonnie nodded. She wanted to get it all over with. ‘I’m fine, Sean.’ She wasn’t, but she imagined nobody in the room cared one bit.

Chapter 42

Joe shut the door and swiftly turned around. ‘David – what the hell …?’

David wasn’t looking at Joe, but staring at Bonnie. ‘You were outside my house with Logan?’

She wasn’t surprised in the least by his reaction.

‘I swear I didn’t know what we were doing at the boathouse – I still don’t, apart from him collecting money off you.’

Duncan was now on his feet. ‘David, I want to know why you handed over that money to Logan right now!’

Bonnie caught David glancing Annie’s way before he said, ‘I can’t tell you.’

‘What do you mean – you can’t tell me? You mean you won’t,’ Duncan shouted at him.

Bonnie was staring at Annie when suddenly she knew what Logan meant when he’d said,I’m collecting what I’m owed.Logan had been there when his brother had been shot. Had he seen who had pulled the trigger? If he had, why hadn’t he told the police? Because he’d hatched a plan instead to blackmail David, who had taken the fall for Annie. David had paid for Logan’s silence.

But Joe didn’t know. He was a police officer. That was his job.Neither David nor Annie wanted him to know that it was Annie who had pulled the trigger and shot Logan’s brother. Ultimately, they were both protecting Joe from the truth.

And so was Bonnie, when she said, ‘Isn’t it obvious?’

David shot her a look.

She continued, ‘Logan had read in the paper about David being arrested for shooting his brother. He wanted payback for that. He wanted what he felt was owed to him – compensation for losing his brother.’

It was a load of rubbish what she’d just said. Logan and his brother hadn’t got along. He had just used the situation to blackmail David.

Joe looked at David. ‘Is this true?’

Before he had a chance to answer, Duncan said, ‘Why pay him? Why didn’t you go straight to Joe and tell him what was going on? Logan would have been arrested again.’

Bonnie saw David steal another glance at Annie before looking at Joe. ‘He lost a brother. I felt guilty.’

‘But it wasn’t your fault,’ said Joe in exasperation. ‘They attempted to burgle Dad’s store, and brought a gun. Logan had to live with the consequences.’

Bonnie stepped in again. ‘Well, he handed over the money, so it’s all water under the bridge now, isn’t it?’

Duncan sat down. ‘I suppose that’s true.’

Bonnie sighed in relief until she caught Melissa staring at David, her expression suggesting she might have guessed there was more to it than that. Bonnie thought,please, please don’t start thinking of digging around, Melissa.She’d already told Melissa she didn’t want her looking into what had happened with David and his knee injury any further. Now she wished she hadn’t called herfrom the police station.

‘Besides, he knew where I lived,’ David explained. ‘I was … I was afraid of what might happen if I didn’t hand over the money. I didn’t know what he was capable of.’

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