Lily’s voice was white-knuckled calm. “Breathe.”
“I can’t believe this,” Walter babbled. “Everything was so crazy and chaotic and… I can’t believe—”
“Wait,” she cut in, gut locking up. The last few moments before Terry’s fall were a confusing snarl of dust and limbs and shouting. “Did someone push him?”
Walter pointed and stammered out, “Bradley did.”
“It was an accident!” Bradley screamed. “Why would you say that?”
“She asked!” Walter screamed back. “I didn’t want to be rude!”
“He had a gun!” Bradley cried. “What the fuck was he doing with a gun?”
“You’re the only one who wanted him to come!”
“I didn’t! But he—”
“Everyone, shut up!” Lily almost couldn’t consider what had led up to this moment—Terry with Duke’s journal, planning to take it and Nicole with him into the desert. The only thing she could think about was the way he’d been there one second, suspended in air, and gone the next. There was no way he’d survived. “I can’t even hear myself think.”
“Okay, okay. Okay,” Bradley babbled. “We can handle this. Here’s what’s going to happen. We’re all going to just turn around and go home, right? Terry took off. Terry left us. He’s been saying this whole time that he doesn’t need us to survive out here. What if he left? What if he left and we have no idea? It’s possible, right?”
“Oh, that is not happening,” Nicole warned him. “You want me to lie to the police and say Terry’s still alive somewhere? Boy, I’d have to give myself back to God before I could do that.”
“Bradley,” Leo said soothingly, “it’s going to be okay. Come on. We’ll tell the cops exactly what happened. Terry had a gun. He held it to Nicole’s head. We were all scrapping and it was confusing. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“The hell he didn’t!” Nicole shouted frantically. “If Walt says Bradley pushed him, then that’s good enough for me. The rest of us are not taking the fall for him. Case closed!”
Lily bent at the waist, roughly pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes. This was bad. It was so bad. She was never getting out of this hole. A wrongful death suit was coming, maybe criminal negligence charges. Even if they all said Terry held them at gunpoint, she was supposed to ensure all the guests’ safety. That meant no firearms, no illegal substances. It had never been an issue; she’d stopped searching bags ages ago. What the fuck was she going to do? Aside from dude ranching and bartending, this was all she knew. Lily had wanted to quit before, but that wouldn’t even be an option now. How on earth would she survive?
But, she thought darkly, making ends meet is a best-case scenario. Maybe I’ll be in prison.
The arguing around her seemed to grow in volume, but before she registered what was happening, a hand wrapped around her elbow and she was pulled to Leo’s side.
“Bradley?” Leo’s voice carried a rare waver beside her. “Bradley, what are you doing, man?”
The gun shook wildly in Bradley’s trembling hand as he pointed it at Nicole, Lily, then back to Nic again. “That’s not what happened, Nicole.”
“Bradley.” Now Leo’s words were steely and low. “Think this through.”
Awareness came at her like a train as the barrel swung her way again. “But I didn’t push him!” Bradley yelled.
“Yeah, you’re acting real innocent, aren’t you,” Nicole growled.
“Nic,” Lily murmured, “you’re not helping.”
A handful of yards away, Walter bent, clutching his midsection and groaning. “Oh God, I’m gonna shit my pants.”
Lily took a step closer, palms down. “Bradley. Put the gun down.”
“It was an accident,” he said, voice high and panicked.
“And we all know that!” Leo said. “Don’t make this worse.”
“Just let me think!” Bradley cried. “Holy shit, let me think.”
“We start by calming down, man,” Leo said slowly. “Calm down and put the gun on the ground. This isn’t who you are.”
“Do you even know how to use a gun?” Walter asked.
“Of course I know how to use a gun!”
Walter frowned. “The safety is on, though.”
There was a tiny click followed by Walter’s quiet “Oops,” and Lily watched as Nic unsheathed her knife and, to Lily’s horror, stepped up behind Leo to press it against his Adam’s apple.