“I can’t believe poor Anna’s dead,” said Kay.
“You knew her?” asked Kent.
“Yes, she worked in the chip shop below my flat. She was alovely girl, always friendly and hard-working, even though her boss exploitedher and treated her like crap. I just can’t believe this has happened.”
Kay began to cry again. Kent reached over and took her hand,not caring whether Andy noticed or not.
“Don’t let her death be in vain, Kay,” said Kent. “I’m sureyou’ve thought this over. You know what you have to do.”
“Yes, I have,” replied Kay, “I have to go back two days andfind the killer. I can’t save her, though. Whatever I do back there, she’llstill be dead here.”
“I know. It’s too late for Anna now, but you can potentiallysave future victims. It’s vital this monster’s caught before he kills again.That’s three in eight days. We need to move fast.”
“Even if I do find out, will the police believe us? Wouldyou have believed me?”
“I don’t know, to be honest,” replied Kent. “I’ve never beenput in this situation. Would you believe it? All those years in the policeforce and I never got anywhere near a murder. As soon as I retire, three comealong at once. But I’ve still got contacts on the force. Now would be a goodtime to use them.”
“So what’s the plan, then?” asked Kay.
“Find out who the murderer is,” replied Kent. “Then, when youget back, we’ll go and see Hannah together. She’ll have to hear me out. Sheowes me that much after all our years working together. Even if we don’t haveany evidence, we’ll find a way to make her listen.”
“OK, well, before I go back, I need to find out as muchinformation as I can about the night of the murder,” said Kay. “I only knowwhat we’ve been told by the TV news. I know where she was killed, but do weknow when?”
“Not exactly,” said Kent. “I could try and find out morefrom Hannah, but it might look a bit odd, me making enquiries, bearing in mindit’s not supposed to be anything to do with me anymore.”
“So what do you suggest, then? I go and camp out in thewoods all night, wait for her to come along and then watch her get butchered todeath?”
“There’s no need for you to freeze your tits off in thewoods,” replied Kent. “That lot up there at the bar were talking about thisearlier and apparently Anna was in here last night. So was I, but I don’trecall seeing her, but then I’ve never met her before, so I would have beenunlikely to have noticed her – it was packed again last night. Craig reckonsshe was hanging out with that group of teenagers that’s always around the pooltable.”
“If that’s true, then surely all I’ve got to do is go backto yesterday, come down here for the evening and then follow her home?” askedKay.
“In a nutshell,” replied Kent. “And I’ll be here, too. I canhelp you.”
“But you won’t know about any of this then, will you?” askedKay. “It’ll be a different version of you from before the murder happened.”
“You’re right, I won’t, but I’m sure I’ll believe you if youexplain it all to me. Then I will be able to help.”
“I hope so,” said Kay.
“Well, that’s settled, then,” said Kent. “You are about tobecome the world’s first time-travelling detective. I wish I could come withyou, but I’ve used all six of my days up.”
“At least one version of you will still be involved,” saidKay. “It’s just you that won’t remember any of it. It will be just the same aswhen I met your other self at the summer ball.”
“All these different versions of us running about could makethis quite complicated,” replied Kent. “It is a shame we can’t go back in timetogether. If only the angel had given us unlimited trips back in time. We couldhave set up our own time-travelling detective agency.”
“Partners in time,” suggested Kay.
“Brilliant,” said Kent. “Perhaps we should pitch that ideato the angel. You never know.”
Kay liked that idea. She would bear it in mind.
“I think I’m more or less ready to go, then,” she said. “Iwill be leaving tomorrow morning, so make sure you are free afterwards. Likeyou say, the sooner he is behind bars, the less chance he can kill again.”
“Agreed,” replied Kent. “Now let’s go back to the bar andsee what else we can find out.”
They didn’t get much more information out of the regulars.Andy was back on his stool, having reached his usual level of drunkenincoherence where it was not worth attempting to have a conversation with himabout anything. Meanwhile, The Beast and Nobby were taking it in turns, seeinghow many teams they could name that had played in the Premiership since it hadstarted in 1992.
But Craig was a little more helpful. Apparently the policehad been in and spoken to him. He was pretty sure that Anna had left some timeafter midnight and long before the pub had closed at 2am. It was a bit vague,but a useful starting point.
When Kent offered to walk Kay home, it was an offer shegratefully accepted. Deep down, she knew that she probably wouldn’t be a targetfor the killer. All of the girls had been young and all had been of EasternEuropean origin. But even if she didn’t fit the profile, there was still fearin her heart.
It wasn’t irrational. No woman in her right mind would havewanted to walk home alone after what had happened the previous night, no matterwhat her age or race. It simply wasn’t worth the risk.
She enjoyed being escorted home by Kent. She couldn’tremember the last time a man had bothered to walk her home unless he wasexpecting to get some sex out of it.
At the door she bid him goodnight with a quick peck on thecheek and decided to go straight to bed. She needed to be razor-sharp for themission that lay ahead of her the next day.
Chapter Nineteen
December 2018
Kay was woken early by heavy raindrops lashing against thebedroom window. The gloomy weather forecast
