Bradley turned with wild, hysterical eyes and, as if his emergency glass case had been shattered, yelled, “TERRY WENT OVER THE FUCKING CLIFF!”
Butter in a frying pan, Lily’s thoughts melted away. Nic’s face, Leo’s face, Bradley, Walter… they all told the same story. They’d really seen Terry fall over the edge into the canyon.
Her ass hit the dirt. Dread filled her like the cold, violent rush of ocean water into a cave, and something broke loose in the group. Chaos erupted: Bradley was still yelling. Leo yelled at Bradley to stop yelling. Walter yelled that his lower intestines were very sensitive to stress. Nic started yelling at all of them to shut the hell up and calm the hell down. Each one peered and gestured over the edge of the cliff.
But to Lily, all of it sounded like it was happening many, many miles away. White noise roared in her ears. This wasn’t falling off a horse or breaking a leg. A person had died on one of her tours. A man was dead.
Get it together, Wilder. Fucking get up.
She scrambled to her feet, crossing the last few paces and jerking them all back from the ledge. When she hurled him away, Bradley rolled, coming to a stop on his side. He shoved a hand into his hair and groaned. “Holy shit, holy shit, I’ve never seen someone die before.”
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.”