“Now, you’re to turn off your work phone, do you hear me?”

Sasha chuckled. “Yes, boss.”

She could hear Stephen sigh at the other end of the phone. “It’s been five days, Sasha, and the station hasn’t burnt to the ground just because you’re away.”

Hearing the note of rebuke in his voice, Sasha cringed inwardly. “Yes, I know, she replied, her stomach twisting. “I just had to know what’s been going on.”

There was a brief pause. “Everything’s under control. All the paperwork’s been released, the family have been informed and the body was released to them a couple of days ago.”

Sasha bit her lip. “Did they take the news well?”

“What do you think?” The wry response told Sasha more than his words ever could.

“I’m sorry,” she replied. “Not that it’s unexpected, of course, but I know that must have been hard for whoever broke the news.”

“I did it myself,” Stephen answered. “Thought it would be best coming from me.”

Sasha nodded slowly, chewing on her bottom lip. She had, of course, needed to break some devastating news to families before, but it never got easier. In fact, it only got more and more difficult. She’d been shouted at, cried on, and sometimes even ordered to leave. To find out that your brother was dead was one thing, but to discover that he was a murderer, was quite another. She didn’t envy Stephen.

“Now,” Stephen said, briskly. “I’ve looked at your hospital records and I’ve decided that you’re taking the entire month off.”

Sasha gasped down the phone.

“And don’t argue with me either,” Stephen warned, as though he could see her preparing to disagree with him. “You need to heal, so I’m adding two weeks onto your leave. Two weeks of recovery, and then two weeks of holiday. You need it Sasha.”

“I’m fine.”

He laughed. “Tell me the truth, Sasha. And don’t forget, I know when you’re lying.”

She sighed heavily, aware that her body was still aching with pain. “I’m sore still but that doesn’t mean I can’t work.”

“I’m aware of that,” he said, gently, “but you’re not one to take time off, Sasha, and I think this is important for you, both physically and mentally. What you’ve been through is emotionally draining and I need you to take the time to recover. Do you understand?”

Sasha wanted to argue, wanted to make her case, but his reasoning was fair. “I guess so.”

“Good,” he replied, evidently grinning from the lightness of his tone. “And will you promise me to turn off your work phone now, please?”

“I promise,” Sasha mumbled, rolling her eyes.

“Excellent,” Stephen returned. “Okay, I’d better go. Take it easy and see you in a few weeks’ time!”

“Bye,” Sasha muttered, hanging up the phone and, before she could change her mind, turned it off. The blank screen seemed to mock her, teasing her for being so antsy about being so disconnected from work.

“I suppose I have to try and take that time, like he said,” she mumbled to herself, laughing aloud when Bramble came running over to her, jumping up at her leg.

“More time to spend with you, huh?” she chuckled, bending down to rub Bramble’s belly. “Okay, how about we go for a walk?”

Bramble barked and ran off towards the direction of the front door. Sasha grinned and went to pull on her boots, pausing only to pick up the newspaper that had been pushed through the door.

The news about the killer’s capture and death was headline news, and Sasha’s name had been mentioned several times. There had been the interview with the coffee shop owner, just like Sasha had expected, although not much was said. In this quiet spot in the Highlands, news like this spread quickly, with everyone wanting as many details as possible.

Of course, it was wonderful news that the killer had been finally taken out, although Sasha’s couldn’t help but feel sorry for the family of the killer. The McBain’s ran a good business and she hoped things wouldn’t be badly affected. Shrugging on her coat, she shook her head to herself, knowing that on many occasions, sales went up after something like this. It was as though people wanted to be associated with the terrible situation, in whatever way they could. It was pretty morbid.

Shuddering, Sasha shoved her hat on her head, before struggling to zip up her coat. It was difficult with one hand, although she could at least move the fingers of her strapped up arm without too much difficulty. Eventually, after multiple tries and a few frustrated exclamations, Sasha managed to zip it up and made her way out the front door.

She didn’t need to keep Bramble on the lead since she had such good recall, as well as the fact that there was no one else around these parts. She hadn’t heard another car in the four days she’d been at home. Locking the front door, Sasha slipped the keys into her pocket and walked down the path towards the forest at the back of her property.

“Come on, Bramble!” she called, turning left towards the trees. “This way!”

Bramble came at once, running as fast as she could. Sasha laughed as, together, they made their way into the woods.

The paths were so familiar that Sasha walked without thinking, hardly aware of where she was going. Lost in thought, she made her way through the trees, across two small streams and towards the very center of the forest. It was a cold, crisp day and the fresh air brought a tinge of red to Sasha’s cheeks.

The sharp retort of a branch cracking made her pause. She was all alone as far as she knew, but that had sounded like someone walking somewhere nearby. Looking all round her, Sasha saw that the paths were clear, but that didn’t mean that someone wasn’t walking in between the trees. Bramble, who evidently sensed that something was wrong, barked once before lapsing into silence, coming to stand next to Sasha.

Another snap had her jumping with surprise, her skin rippling with tension.

“Is someone there?” she called, her voice making its way through the trees. “Hello?”

Silence.

Slowly, Sasha drew in one long, deep breath, telling herself that she was being ridiculous. She’d been walking in these woods for months now and had never had anyone try to attack her. In fact, the only other people she’d met had either been dog walkers or cyclists. Why was she so tense all of a sudden? It didn’t make sense.

“Come on, Bramble,” she muttered, giving herself a mental shake before following after her dog. The sound had probably just been a deer.

Sasha walked for another mile or so, her ears still alert for any kind of strange sound. Seeing the small wooden bird hide in front of her, which alerted her to the fact that she was now right in the middle of the forest, Sasha headed right for it. She was tired and sore, her body still aching from her fight against Thomas Clifford. Maybe she shouldn’t have walked so far.

Finding an old tree stump, Sasha sat down carefully, glad to have some time to rest. Laughing, she watched as Bramble ran, full tilt, towards a pond.

“You’re the one who shot my brother.”

Sasha screamed aloud, jerking so violently that she fell off her tree stump. Scrambling to her feet as best she could, she stared up at the large, angry looking man in front of her.

“I – I’m sorry?” she repeated, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. “What did you say?”

His lip curled, his dark brown eyes flashing. “I said, you’re the one who killed my brother.”

She didn’t understand what he was saying, the shock and surprise of his presence clouding her mind.

“You shot an innocent man.”

Sasha backed away, holding her one good hand up in front of her. She hadn’t brought her gun with her, or any kind of weapon, which meant that already, this situation was pretty dangerous.

“You need to stay out of this,” she said, firmly, wishing that Bramble would stop barking so incessantly. “You’re only going to add to your burden if you come after me.”

Her mind scrambled to work out what he was saying, slowly realizing that this was the other McBain brother. Torin, if she remembered right. He was tall and broad across the shoulders like his brother, with a strong jaw, a shock of jet black hair and a fair amount of stubble. He only wore a t-shirt, leaving no doubt about his strength since she could plainly see the outline of slabs of muscle that formed his chest, shoulders and stomach. This wasn’t a man to be trifled with.

“It’s Torin, isn’t it?” she asked, softly, hoping that the fire in his eyes didn’t mean that he was going to do something stupid. “Thomas was your brother.”

“You shot an innocent man,” he spat, his hands curling into fists.

She shook her head, a surge of sympathy in her chest. “He wasn’t innocent, I promise you. I know how difficult this must be to take but all the evidence –”

“Don’t tell me that you know anything about what I’m going through!” he shouted, his voice echoing through the forest as he slowly advanced on her. “Have you ever had the police at your door, ready to tell you that, not only is your brother dead but they believe he was a serial killer?” His face was contorted with anger and, for the first time since he’d appeared beside her, Sasha felt true fear.

What should she do? She couldn’t reason with him, not when he was so angry. And, even if she did, chances were that he wouldn’t listen to her anyway and it might push him towards violence. Sasha could tell from his stance alone that he was right on the cusp of losing his already tenuous hold on his temper.

“You’re right,” she said, honestly. “I haven’t been there. I don’t know what that’s like, but you can’t blame me for his death. I had to protect myself. I gave him ample warning, but he kept coming.” The memory of everything he had shouted at her, everything he had threatened, forced its way back to her mind, making her shudder. “I can’t imagine how difficult this must be for you, but I swear to you that I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You took his life,” he hissed, his eyes narrowing. “That was wrong.”

Sasha was about to reply, but to her surprise, she saw that his eyes had begun to glitter with the same shade of gold that she had seen with Thomas when she’d been fighting for her life. She’d never seen anyone’s eyes do that before. There was something uncanny about it, something almost mystical or otherworldly.

“I can’t let you get away with what you did,” he said, eventually moving closer until her back was at the wooden hut. “You’re going to pay for taking his life, Sasha.”

Sasha frowned, keeping her stance strong. The last thing she wanted was to show fear in this situation because that would give him the advantage.

“You’re not going to lay a finger on me, Torin,” she said, firmly. “This isn’t right and you know it.”

“What you did wasn’t right!” he cried, throwing his hands up in frustration. “You killed my brother! You put the blame for all those other deaths at his feet, just so you could tie up your investigation with a neat little bow!”

Sasha’s heart picked up its pace as he neared her. She had nothing to fight him with, especially not with her arm strapped up like it was. What did he intend to do in order to ‘make her pay’?

“Your boss Stephen told me everything,” Torin continued, his voice dropping to a low, silky tone. “All about how many months you’ve been working on it, how desperate you’ve been to find the killer and how hard this was for you.” He shook his head, practically snarling at her. “You shot first and asked questions later. How convenient for you!”

“You think this is convenient?” Sasha retorted, pointing to her strapped up arm. “Do you really think all these cuts and bruises came from nothing?”

He shrugged. “My brother probably tried to get away but you were determined to stop him, weren’t you? He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you chose him to be your scapegoat.”

A sense of spiraling hopelessness centered itself in Sasha’s chest. She wasn’t going to get through to him. He was clearly determined to believe that she was the one in the wrong and that his brother had been innocent. Nothing she could say or do was going to change that.

The only chance she had to get away from him was to run.

He must have sensed what she was going to do, because he strode towards her and, as she attempted to dodge to one side, he grabbed her bodily around the waist, making her cry out in pain as her arm jarred.

“I told you that you were going to pay,” he growled, slamming her back, hard, against the wall of the wooden hut. “You’re no match for me.”

“My colleagues will wonder where I am,” she bluffed, lifting her chin in defiance. “They’ll come looking for me.”

He chuckled, mirthlessly. “No they won’t. A month off, isn’t it?” He tilted his head as her words of retort died on her lips, stunned at what he knew. How had he gotten that kind of information? Who would have given it to him? She didn’t think Stephen would have been so transparent.

Bramble was still barking, but edging away from Torin. Sasha prayed desperately that the dog would run away, head back home and somehow, raise the alarm.

“Now,” Torin said, with a cool calmness that made her skin crawl. “You’re going to come with me. Move.” He grabbed her arm and forced her to walk beside him, her feet stumbling through the damp grass. A hard shove sent her flying, but, as she righted herself, she realized he was gone from her side. Without even looking where he had gone, she attempted to run, but his fingers wound through her hair, making a fist and pulling her up short.

“Now,” he said, twisting his fingers cruelly even more until she was forced to bend backwards. “Don’t try that again, or it’ll be all the worse for you.”

Managing to look back at him, Sasha saw that he held Bramble in the crook of his arm. Bramble was cowering and Sasha’s heart broke.

“Please, let me carry her,” she begged, reaching for her dog – but Torin only grabbed her arm again and continued to march her towards her fate.