Page 93 of Dead to Me

‘No,’ Kit said, looking slightly frustrated.‘I just… I don’t understand what you mean.’

‘Did anything happen that could have made her feel threatened?’

Kit looked off to one side, and then said, ‘I don’t… well…’ He shook his head.‘I guess maybe what Ryan said spooked her.’He glanced back at Reid.‘Ryan told us she wasn’t on the high-performance rowing programme at all.Or at least hedidn’t think so.He met the coach, who apparently had no idea who Aria was.’He gave another slightly twisted, humourless smile.‘Which makes perfect sense, when you think about it.’

‘And Anna knew this?’

‘Yes,’ Kit said.‘I… told her about it.But nobody actually accused her of anything and she was pretty convincing about it being a mistake.I ended up thinking Ryan had got it wrong.And I… Look, I don’t think she would have thought me a threat.’He pushed a lock of hair out of his eyes and said seriously, ‘I would have protected her.’

Is this what she liked about him?Reid thought, realising that he wanted to believe Kit.Though unlike Anna, he had a strong reason not to.

‘You had a room booked, didn’t you?’Reid said.‘Is that where you took her?’

Kit looked slightly off balance.‘I didn’t– I never used the room.’

‘Then why extend the booking for a night?’

He felt satisfaction as Kit’s discomfort visibly increased.

‘You talk about protecting her,’ he said, quietly.‘But you aren’t very good at protecting the young women in your life, are you?Holly died.And Chloe…’

Reid saw the change in Kit’s face.The way the muscles in his jaw went momentarily slack and then very tight.

‘Why are you bringing that up?’Kit asked, his voice slightly hoarse.‘That’s… seriously harsh.’He shook his head.‘I would have done fucking anything to protect the two of them.All three of them.’His jaw worked for a moment.‘I don’t even give a shit about Anna lying to me.I’ve still been trying to find her.I went to the police and waited for bloody hours for them to see me last night.’

‘You also ignored our calls asking you to seeus,’ Reid shot back.

‘Seriously,’ Kit said, somewhere between indignant and earnest, ‘I had no idea you weren’t the same people.I waswaitingto see the police, so I didn’t think I needed to do anything, and then this morning I got asked to come here instead.Fucking hell,’ he added in a mutter.‘This is a shitshow.You’re wasting time splitting hairs when she could be–’

‘We’re all working to find Anna,’ Dom said, interrupting in a cheerful but firm voice.‘This has been our priority since yesterday evening.’

Kit’s gaze went to Reid’s face.‘Did you get beaten up over this?Is there… does somebody not want her found?’

‘It happened when I went to look at your room in Trinity,’ Reid said coldly.‘Do you want to explain?’

That silenced Kit.He opened and closed his mouth, and then looked down at his hands.

‘You gave that room to Ryan Jaffett, didn’t you?’Reid said.

Kit looked up at him and, this time, there was a pleading expression on his face.‘Look.I’m sorry you got caught in the middle of it, but it has nothing to do with any of this.’

‘Regardless, you’re currently shielding someone who attacked an officer,’ Dom said.‘I’d start talking if I were you.’

Something broke in Kit then, and he sagged.‘All right.All right.Ryan… he has a problem.When he’s drunk, he gets… he doesn’t take no for an answer.’He looked up at Reid.‘A few weeks ago, before we knew Anna, he did something really stupid.The girl he… The next day, she was telling him she was going to go to the police and the college.’He gave an angry look.‘I thought it would be enough to stop him.But then he did the same fucking thing to Anna.But, by then, it was like I was complicit in all of it.’

‘Complicit how?’

‘I should have gone to his college and told them what he told me,’ Kit said, miserably.‘I, like, justified to myselfnot doing it because I didn’t have enough details.And then nothing seemed to happen and I thought maybe it hadn’t been that bad.Maybe the girl had been upset but not… harmed.’He bunched his fist and then flexed his fingers out on the table, his eyes only on them.‘But yesterday, the shit hit the fan.It turned out Ryan had kept her quiet.He’d fuckingfilmedsome of it and threatened to share it online if she reported him.And then, during the May Ball, apparently someone went into his room and stole the footage.So Ryan was freaking out and accusing everyone.And now he’s hiding somewhere, convinced he’s about to be lynched or arrested and, to be honest, he probably deserves both.’Kit let out a long breath.‘I don’t know who I’m angrier with.Him, or me.I’ve been letting him get away with this shit.Even gave him the room, which he’s basically been hiding in for two days.’

Reid was thinking a lot of things at once: that the footage had been taken by Seaton and was not, in fact, in some student’s hands but hopefully already being accessed by the cyber team.And that he was sure it wasn’t the only footage Ryan had on that phone.

‘OK,’ he said.‘Tell me about Esther, then.Do you know who her secret boyfriend is?’

Kit looked startled.‘Beau?I never met him… but I don’t think he can have anything to do with this.He’s someone she met on holiday.I think he’s probably an Italian waiter or something, but she won’t say.Apparently they meet up sometimes for fun.I think she probably wants to be with him but can’t be because she’s too desperate to please her mum.’

Reid already knew that Kit was wrong on this.Anna had witnessed enough to be sure the boyfriend was an older man in a position of authority.Esther seemed to have kept this from Kit, despite living with him.

But Ryanhadknown about it.He was sure that was why Esther had supported his presence at the Pitt Club dinner, and why he’d made the dig about Esther being in London with someone her mother wouldn’t approve of.And Esther had been desperate for Kit not to find out the truth.

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