‘So what happened?’ said Holly, after a moment. ‘If you don’t think Mason did it – who did?’
‘Jesus, Holly. Do you think I’d be sitting here if I knew?’
‘But you have a theory. I can tell.’
God, she could be annoying. Fleet didn’t mean to be so transparent, but his wife could see through him as though he were a piece of glass.
‘I have an idea,’ he admitted. ‘That’s all.’
‘And?’ Holly prompted.
‘And I hope I’m wrong,’ Fleet said, sighing again. ‘I really, really do.’
She helped him dress. Fleet possessed nothing she hadn’t seen before, but even so, he felt uncomfortable at the echo of intimacy. Holly did, too, he could tell, though she disguised it better than he did, passing him his clothes and helping with the buttons with a brisk efficiency. In the end, the process took about three times as long as it should have done, though it would have taken far longer if Fleet had been on his own.
‘You’re serious about going to work today,’ said Holly, as she watched Fleet struggle to tie the laces on his shoes. He could bear the pain in his torso if he stood up straight and didn’t breathe too deeply, but hinging at the waist brought on a sensation of a knife being thrust into his kidneys.
‘I’ll manage,’ he said. ‘Really. They weren’t trying to kill me. Just to send me a message. I’d have been able to drag myself inside if I hadn’t hit my head when I fell.’
His fingers fumbled to loop the final knot. When he was done, he stood up straight, exhaling away his discomfort. He looked around the room, and Holly did the same. She’d already stripped the bed and cracked the window, and with Fleet superficially as good as new, there was nothing left to be done.
They lingered.
‘So what now?’ said Holly. And Fleet knew exactly what she meant.
He turned and took hold of one of her hands. Just lightly, fingertips to fingertips. ‘I’ve missed you, you know,’ he told her. ‘Every day.’
Holly brought her other hand abruptly to her mouth, as though to catch a sudden sob. Water welled in her eyes. ‘I’ve missed you, too,’ she answered, once she appeared able to trust herself to speak.
‘And I’m glad you came,’ Fleet said. ‘Really. I’m grateful.’
‘Don’t say it, Rob.’
‘But …’ he went on, and Holly shook her head.
‘I said, don’t say it. Not yet. We’ll talk. We will. But after this is over.’ She gave something between a sniff and a laugh, and used a finger to dam the water in her right eye. ‘Whatever this is,’ she said.
There was a knock, and like teenagers caught in an upstairs bedroom, they let go of each other’s hand and moved apart.
Anne poked her head around the door.
‘Sorry to interrupt, but …’ She looked at Fleet. ‘There was a call for you. A DS Collins?’
‘Nicky? What did she want?’
With an apologetic glance towards Holly, Anne allowed herself to cross the threshold. ‘She wanted to speak to you, but I said you were busy. Which she didn’t take kindly to at all.’
‘No,’ said Fleet, with a glint. ‘I don’t imagine she did. Did she leave a message?’
‘She did. And she told me to deliver it right away. She said, and I’m quoting now, “the kid’s turned up”. And something about a business card? She seemed to think you’d know what it meant.’
Fleet turned to Holly. He didn’t have to say anything for her to start nodding. She’d read the sudden urgency in his eyes.
‘Go,’ she said. Then, when Fleet spun away, ‘Wait, Rob. Here.’
She snatched his car keys from the bedside table and tossed them towards him. As he caught them, Fleet was already moving for the door.
Cora
I’d already lost sight of Luke as I crossed the stream. He’d disappeared into the darkness, chasing after whoever was out there. And I don’t know why I was so panicked, but I just had this feeling that something terrible was about to happen. That Luke … that he was in danger.
‘Luke? Luke!’
I tripped in the water, and landed knee first on a rock. The pain shot all the way through me, like an electric current or something, like when you bang your funny bone, except way, way worse. And I can’t be certain, but I’m pretty sure I screamed. In fact, I did, because someone must have heard me. Fash, I think, because it was definitely one of the boys who called my name. Except somehow whoever it was had got ahead of me, into the trees on the opposite bank. And that’s when I realised that we’d all been separated, that everyone must have set off running in different directions. Which made that feeling that something awful was about to happen even worse.
When I got to my feet, I found I could only hobble. I almost fell again climbing the bank, but managed to use a tree root to haul myself up. On flatter ground the going was easier, but I was still only moving at half speed, and I didn’t know in which direction I was supposed to be heading. In the dark, and with the rain … it was like running through static. Like floundering to get to the picture on the other side. And although I called out again, and thought I heard someone shout back, the sound out there was all messed up, too. Because of the rain. And all the trees, I suppose. I couldn’t tell what was ahead and what was behind me.
‘Luke! Wait, will you?’
I’d seen movement up ahead through the darkness, a shadow flashing between the tree trunks. And even though it was Luke’s name I called, the truth is it could have been anyone. But I veered in that direction, limping as fast as I could to try to catch up. Because the other thing was,
