Page 72 of Five for Silver

“She lost Gavin twice. Once when he choseHarriet over her, and again when he left after they broke up.”

“That surely would’ve stirred up someanimosity between sisters. That’s our motive.”

“Next up, opportunity.”

Chad nodded. “In the official report, Lucygot off the bus outside the farm gate at 5:00. She told her fatherHarriet was staying over at her friend’s house, and didn’t leaveuntil 1:30 the next day when a search party was organized. Harrietwas reported missing at 12:30.”

“But you found out that was a lie. Lucy leftthe farm at some point that evening and drove down the routeHarriet would have been walking. How long to walk three miles?”

“At least an hour. There’s an hour ofopportunity for their paths to have crossed, but what are wesuggesting happened? Lucy killed her sister, managed to dump thebody somewhere no one has found her, then turned up at her friend’shouse?”

Romeo knocked his shoulder into Chad’s.“It’s not impossible.”

“No, but it’s implausible, especiallywithout help. They were about the same height, same build. If theygot into a physical fight there would have been some sign of it onLucy, on her face, her arms, her clothes.”

“Are you forgetting she was driving atruck?”

“There would’ve been evidence on that,too—blood, a smashed headlight, something. For nine months,officers could only speculate this had something to do with theserial killer they were hunting. Her family were questioned. Theymust’ve looked at other suspects, including Lucy, but there’snothing in Harriet’s file. The only suspect they had was James andthey released him.”

“What about Candice?”

Chad frowned. “What about her?”

“She could’ve helped Lucy. If Lucy killedHarriet, even if by accident, maybe Candice helped dispose of thebody. Maybe they were in it together and that’s why she reacted sostrongly to your questions.”

“What did they do with her? It’s not easy toget rid of the body.”

Romeo glanced back. “We manage okay.”

“We’re in a secluded location and no one issearching for our … our…”

“Poppy feed?”

Chad grimaced. “I hate that you call themthat.”

“What would you prefer? Victims?”

“No,” Chad rubbed his brow. “They’re notvictims, they’re … I don’t know, it’s not important right now.” Hesighed. “The point is people were searching for Harriet. Theystarted searching at Hastings farm just in case she had hurtherself walking back and had fallen unconscious somewhere. Therewere hundreds of volunteers, and dogs involved in the search, andthey found nothing. Nothing. No clothing. No jewelry, no schoolbag. She’d just vanished. Somewhere between Melbourn Spring andHastings Farm, she disappeared.”

“Candice said herself, Lucy and she weredriving around in the truck that morning. They didn’t join thesearch on the ground. Why not?”

“I don’t know,” Chad whispered. He pulledthe whiteboard pen from the clip, and circled James’s face. “Istill need to get his side of what happened that night.”

“Have you tried the Romeo and Juliet tacticyet?”

“Sure, because that’ll work.” Chad rolledhis eyes. “I tell him I’m in love with a serial killer in the hopehe tells me he’s in love with a teenage choir singer, and we canbond over messed up love stories that might not even be real.”

Romeo narrowed his eyes before tugging Chadinto his arms. “Ours is real.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“And don’t you forget it.”

Romeo tipped Chad’s head back for a bruisingkiss.

Chapter Thirteen

“Do you really think this will work?” Chadasked, peeking a look out of the window.

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