He tore his gaze away. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Well, I suggest you have a long think about what it might be,’ said Hamilton. ‘I haven’t got a clue.’
Duncan shoved the page back into the envelope and shoved it into his pocket. ‘It didn’t stop. She’s dead, and it hasn’t stopped. She must’ve been working with someone else, Blake!’
‘Or it was never Sophie Whittaker that was blackmailing us in the first place.’
Duncan leaned forward, his head in his hands.
‘What have I done?’
Thirty-Eight
Kay bit the skin around her thumbnail and tried to concentrate on what was being said on the television news.
Instead, her thoughts turned to recent events at work and the fact that she wasn’t sure who she could trust anymore. She felt let down, especially as the small team had gelled so well over the past months.
She couldn’t understand how news of her miscarriage had come to light if it wasn’t Carys gossiping. She didn’t want to believe that Carys was the source of the leak, but how else would anyone find out about it?
And then there was the business with the newspaper article. She knew full well that Barnes would never speak to the press – after an incident involving his daughter the previous year, he avoided the media wherever possible, often delegating phone calls to and from the local newspaper to Gavin or one of the administrative staff rather than speak to them himself.
It was almost as if someone was spying on her.
She leaned forward, picked the television remote control off the coffee table and muted the newsreader’s voice.
A thought crossed her mind, a fleeting moment that she tried to grasp at, a frown on her face.
Upstairs, Adam’s footsteps moved from the bathroom to their bedroom as he used the toilet and then changed into the old jeans and sweatshirt he used for outcalls to farms.
After what seemed an age, he returned downstairs, sat on one of the bottom treads to pull on his work boots and called through the open door.
‘Don’t wait up for me. Higgins is notorious for talking and he’ll probably insist I stay for a cup of tea before I leave, so God knows what time I’ll get back.’
Kay pushed herself up from the sofa as he straightened and joined him in the hallway. ‘Do you think everything will be all right?’
‘I expect so. This mare of his had a foal eighteen months ago, so she’s used to it now. He probably wants me there as a precaution more than anything else.’ He smiled. ‘I don’t mind. He knows his horses better than I do. I’d much rather he was paranoid and it turns out he doesn’t need me.’
He moved to the cupboard under the stairs and pulled out his go-bag containing everything he might need for a visit to the stables, and checked his pockets. ‘Okay, I think I’ve got everything.’
‘I’ll leave the porch light on for you. Can’t have you stumbling about in the dark and waking me up.’
‘Very funny. You in early tomorrow?’
‘Yeah. Half seven start. Fancy a Chinese takeaway tomorrow night?’
He kissed her. ‘Sounds perfect. Behave yourself.’
‘Will do.’
She waited while he disappeared out the front door, shut it behind him and then made her way to the living room. She hovered next to the coffee table until she heard his four-wheel drive start and creep down the driveway to the lane before it roared off into the night.
She checked her watch.
Half past ten.
She would need to get some sleep before leaving to attend the briefing in the morning, but calculated the least she’d need would be five or six hours. Adam wouldn’t be back until at least one or two in the morning.
She dropped her arm.
That left her with a space of two hours to get done what she needed to do.
She turned up the volume on the television and then, heart hammering, she set off for the kitchen and crouched beside the drawer next to the kitchen sink where Adam kept a small selection of tools for emergencies.
In the living room, the news ended and the theme music for a late night chat show began.
She rummaged through the drawer until she found a screwdriver and a small torch. She twisted the end of it until a pinprick of light shone across the worktop, then clutching both items in one hand she hurried through the hallway and up the stairs.
She stopped on the landing, and then raised her gaze to the covered hatch that led up into the attic. She wiped the back of her hand across her forehead before reaching up and pulling the hatch open.
She tugged at the end of the ladder until it began to slide downwards towards her. Checking it was secure, she climbed up halfway and then felt around the edges of the square hole until she found the plug socket Adam had fixed there. She pressed the button, and the lights they had installed the length of the attic flickered to life.
She gripped the sides of the ladder and made her way to the top of it, clambered over the lip of the hatch and stood on the bare boards that lined the attic space.
She made her way along the attic until she was standing above their bedroom.
To her right, the light fittings lay amongst the insulation – an ugly electrical setup left over from some minor renovations she and Adam had undertaken a few years ago when he’d inherited the house.
They’d been so busy in the intervening years that they’d never found time to finish boarding up the rest of the flooring space.
Kay crouched down and shone the torch a little to the left of the electrical work, and frowned.
At the time, and because they knew they had a lot of work to undertake, they had bought extra wiring from the hardware shop. In fact, they had bought so much, at least half the reel still lay untouched in the garden shed. It had been a running joke at the time that Kay’s enthusiasm for red coloured wiring knew no bounds. Adam was
