Page 108 of Death of a Grill Master

“Whoa—stop! It’s me!”

Zane.

Wet-haired, stubbled, eyes wide with panic and exhaustion. He froze with his hands in the air, wincing as if expecting to be tackled.

Hayley staggered backward, clutching her flashlight like a weapon.

“Zane?” she breathed.

“I thought you were the cops,” he said, shoulders sagging. “Or worse.”

“Worse than the cops?” Hannah said, breathless. “Like who, the Coast Guard?”

Hayley scanned him. “You look terrible.”

“Thanks. Been living off gas station jerky and rainwater. I can’t go home. They think I did it.”

Hayley’s eyes were still locked on Zane. He looked like hell—like he hadn’t slept in days, with a week’s worth of beard and eyes like a cornered animal. His clothes were damp, his hair was clumped, and a fine red mark ran along the edge of his jaw, like he’d been scraped or struck.

“Explain. Now,” she said.

“I’ve been hiding out here,” he said simply. “Waiting for things to cool down, for the cops to finally realize I didn’t kill anyone.”

Hayley narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t clear out the cave before the cops came?”

He shook his head. “No, that wasn’t me. I came back after. I figured I was safer here than anywhere else.”

“‘Safer’?” Hannah echoed.

“Yeah, I was reasonably confident the person trying to set me up for two murders wouldn’t think to come here looking for me, especially after the cops searched it.”

Hayley braced herself. “What person are we talking about?”

“I know who did it,” Zane said. “I’ve known all along. But I can’t prove it.”

Hayley crouched down, scanning the area again. She spotted something partly buried under a granola bar wrapper—a crumpled slip of paper. She tugged it free.

A marine supply invoice.

She flipped it over.

The initials at the bottom: PB.

Her stomach dropped. “Peter Baird rented this gear?”

Zane nodded grimly. “He asked me to help him get equipment a few weeks ago. Said he wanted to dive solo, do some underwater photography. I didn’t think anything of it—he was Tina’s colleague at COA.”

Hayley’s voice dropped. “And when the gear turned up behind Drinks Like A Fish?”

“I knew,” Zane said. “I knew I was being framed.”

“What happened when you confronted him?”

Zane looked at her, then Hannah. “He said that if I talked, I’d end up like Tina.”

They were silent a long moment.

Then Hannah stepped forward, softly. “I was worried about you.”