Page 62 of Her Last Walk Home

‘Do you mind if I swing out by the cinema first? I’m late to pick up my eldest. He was at a movie.’

‘You can drop me here instead. It’s fine.’

He sped past the turning. ‘Won’t take long. He’s only fifteen and the movie was for over eighteens. You know what kids are like. Then again, you’re too young to know.’ He felt elated at his easy lies. Then he wondered if he’d made a mistake. Hadn’t he said he’d been in town to meet someone?

She squirmed a little on the seat but didn’t go for the door handle to jump out. Clever girl. It was locked anyhow. He didn’t want a repeat of the Laura fiasco.

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘I think the cinema might still be closed. Because of the murder.’

He slowed at the entrance, to make it look like he had intended going there. ‘Shit, you’re right. Crime-scene tape is still up. Where did the lad go, if not to the cinema?’

‘Probably went to a friend’s house. Look, can you drop me back? I really need to get home.’

‘What’s the hurry? You’d have been out longer if your date had turned up.’

‘Yeah, I know, but I have to get home to Davy.’

‘Davy’s your husband? Partner?’

‘My… my son.’

In the lights around the cinema complex he noticed the first dawning of fear skitter across her face, and she clutched theumbrella tight in her fist. That could be a small problem. She was thinking she’d made a mistake and he had to act fast.

‘Okay. I’ll drive round the ring road and bring you back that way. Okay?’

‘Suppose.’

‘Great. I might see my lad hanging around. I’ll kill the pup when I find him.’ He stifled a snigger. He’d quite like a pup to kill, because he didn’t have a fifteen-year-old son. And there was no way he could let this girl die either. He had to get her to his home in one piece. Otherwise, he may as well move into the shed full-time.

46

Rose’s friend Betty had arrived home from Birmingham and agreed to stay with her for the night. Lottie dropped her mother and the bag of groceries at her house. By the time she returned home, her brain felt as scrambled as Rose’s must be.

Louis was asleep in the child seat. She unbuckled the straps and lifted him into her arms without waking him. Once she had him inside and tucked up in bed, she made herself a cup of tea and sat at the kitchen table, still in her coat. The room was cold and she hoped the tea would warm her. Her thoughts were awash with family issues when she knew she should be taking time out to go over the investigations in the stillness of the night.

She needed to talk to someone who understood her and her family. She wanted to talk to Boyd, but his recent words still stung sharply. There was no way she could ask her kids to fend for themselves, no matter what age they were. They’d lost their dad while they were teenagers, and in effect she’d also been lost to them for the few years after Adam’s death. She’d had to be mam and dad, and she still had so much to atone for.

Slipping her phone from her pocket, she tapped his name and waited before hitting call. Should she? Would it end inanother war of words? He’d been grand at work, but this was personal.

Just as she decided not to call, to finish her tea and go to bed, her phone rang. Boyd.

‘Great minds, and all that,’ she said.

‘Just wanted to see how you’re doing.’

‘I could do with a hug.’

‘What has you so melancholy, besides having two murders on our watch?’

‘Mother.’

‘Is she okay?’ He paused.

‘She was here earlier. Very confused. Thank God Betty is back. She’s staying the night with her.’

‘Do you think Rose’s condition is getting worse?’

‘Hard to say. She has some lucid times, when she realises she’s forgetting things. And other times she’s back there in another time. It’s tough to watch, Boyd.’

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