“Did I do it? Of course I didn’t. What do you take me for? It was James and Oscar. You remember them.”
Amber stared at him. It took her more than a few moments to place the names. “Those two rich assholes you were hanging about with? At the restaurant? Why? I don’t understand.” A memory floated in her mind. Saying the exact same words to Billy’s father, a few days earlier.
“Billy, you need to explain.”
“I am explaining, you keep interrupting me!” Billy paused to take a sip of his coffee. “Say, you didn’t bring any food did you? I have to ration everything I have, Dad can’t come too often or he might be noticed.”
Amber considered answering, but decided against it. Instead she tried to work out what she needed to understand most to make sense of all this.
“Why were your fingerprints on the bomb that killed that security guard?”
Billy’s lips thinned, and his brow furrowed before he answered. “Well they weren’t really. But I suppose I was tricked.”
“What does that mean?” Amber shrugged helplessly. “What does that even…”
“They weren’t on the actual bomb, just the outer casing. They used a pressure cooker. They’re quite good for bombs because they initially contain the explosion, just for a few microseconds, but then they fail and it magnifies the forces. Sort of like a lens.”
Amber waited until it seemed he was done. “And your fingerprints?”
“Oh. I touched it. James and Oscar invited me to dinner, in James’ dorm room, and they cooked with a pressure cooker. I thought it was weird at the time, but I didn’t figure out why. They made me pick it up, and I guess they must have been super careful to not touch it themselves. Then they put the bomb inside, so mine were the only prints.”
“OK.” Amber said slowly. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I’m trying to find out.” Billy went back to his computers, typing something quickly.
“But you planted it?” Amber went on. “The FBI agent, she said they know you were there? You made a fake identity to rent a car? You booked the ferry?”
“Hmmm. Yes. Sort of.”
“So you were there? You set the bomb?”
“No. I told you. I didn’t know there was a bomb. When the explosion happened I thought there must have been an accident on the site.”
“But what were you doing there?”
This time Billy took a deep breath and told her, explaining about the plan to fly the drone above the Fonchem site, to use an infrared camera to identify the supposed leak, and then to send the evidence to the island’s TV and newspapers, influencing the public meeting to decide on the site’s expansion. Amber listened, asking questions where Billy was hazy or skipped on the details, which was often.
“But what did that have to with James and Oscar? I didn’t think they even liked you. It certainly didn’t look like you liked them?”
“I didn’t. They didn’t. But I thought they were OK for a while. Like I say, they tricked me. I think it’s to do with Lily.”
“Lily?”
“You remember her…”
“The rich bitch?”
Billy turned sharply. “She’s not a rich bitch.”
Amber caught the change in his tone, but decided she would worry about that later.
“Whatever. What does she have to do with it?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all. At least I don’t think so. It’s just when I started going out with her, James got jealous and that’s when he planned to set me up.”
“Did I just hear that right?” Amber stopped him. “Did you just say you started going out with the rich bitch?”
“She’s not…”
“OK. Alright, alright. But still. How the hell did that happen? She’s like…”
“What?”
Amber didn’t reply, so Billy pressed her.
“She’s like what?”
“I don’t know.” Amber looked away.
“Are you saying I’m not good enough for her?”
“Fuck no.” Amber’s head snapped back around. “She’s not good enough for you. But even so, you’d expect someone like that to date a certain type. And it’s not you.”
The tension in Billy seemed to ease a little.
“Look, when you say going out with – what are we talking here? Did you..?” Amber’s voice faded out, and when Billy just stared back, his forehead still creased and dark, she just asked him outright.
“Were you sleeping with her?”
After a pause, he nodded.
“Christ Billy. And she was going out with James, he’s the good looking, arrogant one?”
“I don’t think he’s good looking.”
Amber let it go. Trying to recap in her mind. It still didn’t make sense.
“But the FBI agent told me they thought this bombing was just the latest in a series, that went back before you even went to college. That’s before you even met this Lily, so that couldn’t have been about framing you. Why were they doing it?”
“I don’t know. I’m trying to find out, but there’s a lot that doesn’t make sense. That’s why I’m pleased you’re here. At last.”
Amber picked up her coffee, only to discover it was cold. She had no idea how long they’d been talking. She put it down, and Billy saw the problem. He picked it up and took it to the little microwave. He took out the phone and SIM card and heated up the coffee. While Amber was waiting she got up and stretched, her fingers easily touching the roof of the cabin as she reached upwards.
“How did you get here?” she asked, when he set the coffee back in front of her. “Everyone thinks you’re dead because you got on the ferry but didn’t get off. Did you jump in?”
“No. It was freezing. I’d have died for sure.”
“Then how did you…”
“I was freaked out. I had a feeling there was something odd going on, when we were waiting to test out the drone, and I’d already decided I wasn’t going to have anything more to do with James and Oscar. There was something not right with them. But I had no idea what was really going on.” Billy paused. He got up and went to a cupboard, and pulled out a packet of cookies. “I was kind
