‘But how do you know you’re going to get the right answers?’ Laura said. ‘People will just give you what you want because they’re scared of you.’

‘I’ll know,’ he said, speaking slowly now, ‘because I’ll make it clear that I’ll be back if I get the first whiff of bullshit.’

Laura looked at the men sitting on the sofas. She noticed a few fists clench. ‘You know that this house will be the first place we look if any of the local perverts wind up dead,’ she said.

No one said anything.

‘Did any of you see Jane on the night she went missing?’ she asked.

Still silence.

Laura realised that if she was going to get a reaction, she was going to have to provoke it.

‘Come on, fellahs,’ she said. ‘It’s not a hard question. I bet some of you liked her. Pretty young woman, nice body, the key to Don’s empire. Are you sure one of you didn’t want her a little too much?’

‘That’s enough,’ Roberts barked.

‘And what about Deborah Corley?’ she said, ignoring him. ‘Did you see her around?’

Laura heard Roberts step closer to her. She could smell his breath, no sleep and cigarettes, and she noticed a few people shifting uncomfortably in their seats.

‘Are you all going along with this to protect yourselves?’ Laura continued. ‘Perhaps you’ll blame it on some local pervert?’

‘Stop!’

It was a female voice.

Laura whirled around. It was Don’s wife, Helen. Jane’s mother. There were tears streaming down her face and her eyes were red.

‘Stop, please,’ she said, her voice quieter now, her hand gripping the door frame for support. ‘This isn’t about scoring points.’

‘So help us then,’ Laura said. She turned to Don. ‘You conduct your own enquiries, fine, but don’t shut us out.’

Don Roberts looked at his wife, and then back at Laura. He pursed his lips a couple of times, and then said to Laura, ‘Time to go.’

Laura looked at Mrs Roberts, who was staring at her husband.

‘Tell me one thing,’ Laura said. ‘Does the name Emma mean anything to you, in connection with Mike Corley?’

Don blinked, but then he clenched his jaw and pointed towards the door. ‘Like I said, you’re done here.’

‘Okay,’ Laura said. ‘I’ll go now, but come and see me if you want to talk.’ She was looking at Mrs Roberts as she said it.

Laura went towards the front door, and as she heard it slam behind her, she looked down at her hands. There was a tremble to her fingers. She wasn’t sure how many friends she had made in there, although when she glanced back, she saw a face move quickly away from the glass in the door.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Jack was at the table, hunched over his laptop, writing the leak article, his beer bottle almost empty, when Laura came through the door.

Bobby was watching television, and he turned around excitedly. She grinned and went to him. She slumped on the sofa next to him, and Jack watched with a smile as Bobby told Laura about his day at school. The tiredness seemed to fade from her eyes and within a few minutes, she was laughing at something Bobby said about a teacher. They watched television for a few minutes together, Bobby leaning into her, until she kissed him on the top of his head and said she had to get a drink.

Jack held the bottle in the air as Laura walked past. ‘One more from the fridge if you’re going near it.’

‘You’re going to have to come and get it,’ she said, and when he turned to look, Laura was beckoning for him to follow her, smiling.

Jack obeyed, and when he got into the kitchen, Laura stepped forward and put her arms around his neck. She pulled him close and kissed him on the lips, just briefly.

‘A bit early for beer,’ she said softly.

Jack didn’t answer. Instead, he grinned and then pulled her into him again, kissing her harder this time. She responded at first, but then she whispered that Bobby might walk in on them and pulled away. She leaned against the counter. ‘How’s the story coming on?’

‘It’s getting there,’ he said, opening the fridge and reaching for another beer. ‘How’s the investigation?’

Laura smiled. ‘It’s getting there.’

‘And that’s all I’m getting? I was shown the photographs of the bodies earlier, and now it’s all secret again? I could pull the story.’

She sighed. ‘Okay, okay, don’t get like that. On the record, we are pursuing some interesting lines of inquiry.’

‘And off the record?’

‘We’re getting nowhere. Jane’s boyfriend’s in the clear, but we always thought he was. That’s where Jane was going when she was killed, because Don didn’t like him and so they had to sneak around. That’s why she was on her own, which makes it really sad. Apart from that, we’ve nothing.’

‘What about the reference to Emma?’

Laura shook her head. ‘Nothing so far. It sounds like the emails could be from some attention-seeker.’

Jack took a drink of his beer. ‘I’ve got the story in one of the nationals,’ he said.

‘Harry?’

‘It’s still good to have favours to call in.’

‘He won’t be there for ever,’ she said.

Jack shrugged. ‘Who is?’ He took another drink of beer and then said, ‘You’re back early. We could have a night in.’

‘We could, provided that you don’t grill me any more about the case.’

‘What is there to know? Is Don a suspect?’

‘Should he be?’

‘Maybe he’s a copycat, covering up something he’s done in the past by making Jane look like a second victim.’

Laura put her hand over her mouth, shock on her face. ‘What, you mean a police officer might have leaked things about the first victim to him?’ Then she grinned playfully. ‘We thought of that, Sherlock. You’re not the only sleuth in town, you know.’

Her head went back and she put her hands to her face before she swept back her hair.

‘You need to get more rest,’ Jack said.

‘And you need to drink less.’

‘Come on, Laura, you know what I mean. Stop feeling like you’ve got something to prove. You’re a good detective, everyone knows that.’

Laura shook her head. ‘There’s always something to prove, you know that. I’m a woman, I’m from the wrong end of the country, the London upstart. There is always someone jostling for my position, and the handicaps mean that I’ve got to jostle a little bit harder than others.’

‘Okay,’ Jack said. ‘Just don’t forget about us two at home, waiting for you.’

Laura didn’t respond at first, and for a moment Jack thought he had said too much, until she replied, ‘You’re both my family,’ her voice slow and low. ‘I could never forget that. We’re getting married, for goodness’ sake.’

Jack nodded, smiling. ‘Thank you.’

‘And that reminds me,’ she said, pushing herself away from the counter and walking past Jack. ‘I’ve got to fit into a dress, so I think I’d better go for a run.’

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Laura was looking down as she started the jog up the long hill. It would take her home eventually, but there was still over a mile of hard running first and it was getting dark. She worried about the traffic. She had already slipped the headphones out of her ears, but the steady pound of her feet on the footpath filled her head instead, and every slam of her shoes on the ground reminded her that she was getting closer to home.

She didn’t enjoy running, never had. It made her knees hurt and too much moved around for it to be fun, but she knew that if the wedding day was ever going to come around, she had to do this. She would have the rest of her life to wind down, and so she pushed herself on, her water bottle gripped in one hand, sweat pouring down the end of her nose. It seemed like every step was an effort, her shoulders working hard to keep the rest of her body going, blowing heavily as she went. She told herself that it was about more than just getting trim for the wedding. It was about shaking off the memories of the day, about feeling alive as she felt the fading sun on her face and enjoying the rolling green hills she saw whenever she looked up. But she knew that was a lie. She hated every step, and she knew she would stop as soon as the small band of gold went around her finger.