‘Did you call out to her?’
‘No, because … because it was so late. Like, two in the morning. And also I … I wanted to see where she was going. Which, after the river, turned out to be the woods.’
Fleet was watching Luke carefully. ‘How long were you following her, Luke?’
‘Not that long. Or maybe … maybe longer than I thought. But she walked quickly. In the end I had to run to close the gap. Again I almost lost her, because of the trees this time, but when we got …’ Luke looked around, gestured loosely to a point somewhere behind them. ‘Here, pretty much. That’s when she heard me coming after her.’
‘And what happened then? Did you argue?’
Once again Luke fell silent. Once again he could only nod. And then he abruptly stopped walking.
‘It’s just ahead,’ he said.
Fleet came to a halt by Luke’s side. He looked, but could see nothing through the fog except the trees. He could hear the stream, but he couldn’t see it. Unless the sound of the water was the river itself, which couldn’t have been far away either.
‘There’s a … a tree,’ said Luke. ‘Just over there. An oak, I think. But it’s old. Dying, maybe. And there’s a hollow. When we were younger, playing out here, I used to hide there.’
Fleet tracked the line from Luke’s finger. There was indeed an old oak tree further on. It bore no leaves. And unless it was a trick of Fleet’s imagination, its trunk appeared darker than those around it.
‘Luke,’ said Fleet, carefully. ‘Before I go on, is there anything else you want to tell me?’
Luke’s head snapped Fleet’s way – and just that slight movement was enough. It confirmed everything Fleet had already guessed. I hope I’m wrong, he’d told Holly, but now he didn’t know which outcome would have been better. That he had got it wrong, and Luke had done everything he claimed he had? Or that Luke was lying – still – and that the truth was the only alternative explanation there was left.
‘What do you mean?’ said Luke, looking as afraid now as he had since the moment he turned up at the station. ‘I … I killed her,’ he said. ‘We argued, and I got angry, and when Sadie turned to leave – to walk out on us, on me and Dylan – I … I picked up a rock. I threw it. Hard. And it hit her. On the back of the head. I didn’t mean it, I didn’t want her to die, but she … she …’ His voice trailed off. He was staring at Fleet, pleading with his eyes, but he’d registered the expression Fleet was offering back.
‘What?’ Luke said. ‘Why don’t you …’ He turned to the social worker, then back to Fleet. He shook his head, as though to clear it – or perhaps in denial of the unspoken accusation. ‘That’s why I’m here,’ he went on, insistent now. ‘To tell you. To admit it.’ He gestured ahead of him. ‘To show you! And then, when you see, you’ll be able to let my friends go.’ Even as he spoke, the tears that had been building in his eyes began to fall. ‘Please,’ he said. ‘Please. Why can’t it be that? Why can’t it be what I told you? What difference does it make to anyone now?’
Fleet sighed. He wasn’t sure he’d ever felt so weary. ‘It wasn’t Sadie’s door you found open, was it, Luke?’ he said, gently.
The boy let out a sound then, like wet fingers on a window pane. His chin dropped towards his chest, and his shoulders began to heave. Miss Jeffries stepped forwards, but Fleet raised a hand to hold her back.
‘It’s OK, Luke,’ he said. ‘Really, it’s OK. I know you meant well. But I also know you wouldn’t have let Mason shoulder the blame for as long as he did if it was really you who killed Sadie, not unless there was someone else you were trying to protect.’
The only answer he received was the boy’s sobbing. Fleet waited a moment, then nodded at Miss Jeffries to approach. He took a breath, steeling himself … and then turned to look at the oak tree.
He started forwards.
Every step he took felt like a hammer blow against his heart, and it was nothing to do with the pain that was lingering in his ribs. Five strides away, he noticed the smell, although it struck him that in fact he’d noticed it sooner. He’d assumed it was the forest: dying plants and decaying leaves. But it was more than that. Sharper. More acrid.
Three steps away, Fleet spotted the hollow. It was no wonder none of the search party had noticed it. It was masked anyway by the shape of the tree trunk, the lumps and gnarls where the dying oak had turned in on itself. But the opening had also been blocked off with branches, most of which had now lost their leaves. There was just enough of a gap for Fleet to peer inside. The sound of the rain on the canopy above was like a constant murmur, but when he saw the girl’s body lying crumpled in the hollow, the sight was one of devastating silence.
Before Fleet could properly react, there was a yell from behind him.
He snapped his head around, in time to see Nicky and the young PC rushing towards him. Miss Jeffries, the social worker, was holding herself up against a tree, and Luke …
Luke was nowhere to be seen.
DI Robin Fleet
‘That way. He went that way.’
Fleet spun in the direction the social worker was pointing, and caught a flash of movement between the trees. His first reaction was confusion. Why was Luke running? How on earth
