Do I look that exhausted?

Probably worse.

She self-consciously touched the chopped side of her hair. A good cut and new short style would even it out, but she hadn’t found the energy to make the appointment.

Ava asked him in and they sat in the living room. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes and offered him a drink, which he refused. He sat stiffly on the edge of the chair, and she wondered what news he had.

“Where’s Mason?” he asked.

“I can hear him talking to the dog,” she said. “They must be out back.”

Zander sat silently for a minute, his hands twisting.

“What’s happened? What’s wrong?” Panic crawled up her spine.

“Nothing.” His eyes widened and he raised his hands. “Calm down. Nothing’s happened.”

“Oh.” She leaned back against the couch in relief. “You looked so uncomfortable. I was certain you had bad news.”

“No. It’s just . . . I mean . . . seeing you like this . . .” His words stumbled over themselves. “I was worried about you.”

Ava’s vision cleared. He has feelings for me. And she’d had no clue. She took a closer look at Zander Wells, liking everything she saw. Why didn’t I see it?

Bingo rushed into the room and plunged his head into Zander’s lap. Zander laughed and scratched his ears, a smile breaking across his face. Ava looked in the direction Bingo had come from and her heart did a double beat at the sight of the man standing there.

That’s why.

She’d been waiting all along for this man. Fate had kept her blind to any others, knowing they weren’t right. She and Mason fit perfectly.

“Hey, Zander,” said Mason. “Bingo told me someone was here.” He met Ava’s gaze and a question passed through his eyes as he sat next to her on the couch.

She shrugged her good shoulder at him.

She didn’t know why Zander was here. Mason had taken time off to help her recover and neither of them had spoken much to the FBI except to deliver statements about what had happened on the bridge that night. Both had avoided the news channels. She knew Mason had spoken with Ray, but she hadn’t asked any questions. She hadn’t wanted to hear about Troy Beadle.

Until now.

“Dr. Rutledge sent over the autopsy on Troy Beadle,” Zander started. He raised a brow at Ava, and she nodded at him to continue. She was ready.

“Cause of death was drowning.”

No surprises there.

“He had a huge tumor in his brain. Checking with his doctors confirmed what he’d told you, that he wouldn’t live out the year. But it wasn’t untreatable. They’d given him several treatment options. He’d chosen to do none of them. They weren’t great options but they would have given him a few more years.”

“Could the tumor have affected his behavior? Made him do what he did?” Mason asked.

“Hard to say,” Zander answered. “His recent medical history says he had vision and speech issues. I don’t think doctors could say for certain if the tumor affected his recent actions. It’s possible, but too hard to quantify.”

Ava exhaled. “Why? Why would he pass up help for his tumor?” She immediately answered her own question. “He thought he was supposed to die. He chose it as penance for his role in Colleen’s death.” She shuddered. It’d be years . . . if ever . . . before the terror of three days ago subsided.

She could still feel him cutting her hair, smell the rusty blood in the carpet, and hear Derrick’s screams. In the shed, she’d believed she was to be his next victim.

And I almost drowned.

Water. Dark. Troy.

Mason’s arm slid around her; she was shaking.

Zander nodded. “You’re probably right. We’ve been in contact with her parents. They’re relieved to have some answers after all these years. I don’t know how much it helped. Their daughter still died in a horrible way. That hasn’t changed.

“The Bridge Killer’s victims’ families are glad to have some answers. None of them appeared to know about the murder these men committed years ago. These men truly took their secret to their graves.”

“I don’t know how someone could function with a secret like that,” said Mason. “How could Carson Scott move into politics knowing what he’d done in the past? I guess everyone handles it differently. Aaron King obviously had anger issues, and Joe Upton curled up and hid his face from the world.”

“While Derrick Snyder continued to ruin other people’s lives,” added Ava.

“He’ll be paying for some of it now,” Mason said. “Yamhill County is putting together a case against him for Colleen’s death, and he has to answer to the Portland police for a dozen different crimes. I predict he’ll be locked up for the rest of his life.”

“Troy Beadle’s van had a pulley system welded into the frame. Our theory was right about how he hung Joe Upton by himself,” said Zander.

Ava remembered the beam she’d felt with her feet across the bottom of the van. In the dark. In the water. A quake shot through her nerves.

“We found Carson Scott’s Explorer and Aaron King’s truck parked in the woods on Troy Beadle’s acreage,” added Zander. “Their cell phones were in the house along with some of their clothing items. And Euzent was right on the money with Troy Beadle being a neat freak. I’ve never seen a guy’s house that clean. Even the cans of food were in neat rows.”