Chapter 38
“We’re in uncharted territory now.”
Detective Layla Washington sits in that same stiff hospital chair. Now the curtains are open, the monitoring machines are
off, and Tess’s bed is empty. The Starbucks cup sits on the tray table, untouched and long cold.
She hears the lieutenant sigh over the phone, a staticky crackle.
Whatever happened next at the Devil’s Staircase is known only by Tess and Allie. The truth is often a secret shared by killer
and victim. But Washington has a theory.
“I think Allie kept the memory card,” she says.
“Clever.”
“This would have put Tess in one hell of a dilemma. She’d taken care of Jacob and Ethan already, and she had Allie trapped
at the bottom. She was so close to winning, but she couldn’t take that final step. If she started the engine, she’d seal the memory card down there with
Allie’s body for us to find. This left her with one choice.”
She hears a smile in the lieutenant’s voice as it comes together. “To rope down into the Chimney herself.”
“Yes.”
“And fight Allie.”
She nods. “Hand to hand.”
No more hiding behind Jacob. No more lies.
Tess DeWater is an intelligent and cold-blooded creature.
She would have reasoned that Allie’s last bullet was spent and the gun was no longer a threat.
She would have armed herself with whatever weapons she had available.
Jacob’s steel KA-BAR knife? Most logically.
And her map. Plus her headlamp, her flashlight, and any borrowed climbing gear she had left.
She’d been forced into the very situation she’d fought so hard to avoid: a direct confrontation. She might have planned to
watch from the sidelines and let her accomplice do the throat cutting, but Jacob Herman never stood a chance against gritty,
determined Allie. Maybe this final battle was always inevitable. It certainly feels like it’s all coming full circle, back
to the clear red morning Tess had first described hours ago.
Two best friends visited a cave.
One returned.
And now, we know who the real heroine is.
“Whoever won the fight,” Washington says, “would tell us the story.”
“And Allie lost.”
She looks to the empty bed and says nothing.