Page 138 of No Safe Place

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P:It’s all right, D—. It is.

D:It’s not all right. How is it all right?

P:It’s not that big a deal. It doesn’t have to a be a big deal, okay?

Pause

P:I promise I won’t tell anyone.

Chapter 100

Sunday | Evening

Lily

Lily stared up at the ceiling.

She’d looked up at it so often. Knew where all the cracks were, where they intersected. Her own set of constellations.

There was no noise from downstairs, and she closed her eyes – as though it would make her hear better.

Every slight movement made her feel sick, made her wince in pain.

She was so tired.

Callum.

She shouldn’t have closed her eyes, because despite everything, the panic and her fear for Callum, she was sinking into the mattress and falling asleep.

Chapter 101

Sunday | Evening

Field

Sunday night and the roads were clear.

Riley flew through Greenwich and blue-lit it down the straight road through Charlton, Woolwich, Plumstead.

She had failed to look into the sad, helpful sister. Failed to properly investigate the family of the dead girl.

En route Field made call after call. Lily’s number, then Callum’s. Control had promised to divert a support vehicle when one became free, but with nothing concrete, they’d be lucky to get more than that.

As they reached the end of Conway Road, Riley turned the lights off and slowed to a crawl, looking for a parking space that wouldn’t be visible from Callum’s house.

Riley switched the car off and looked across at her. He was pale, but his jaw was set as he looped his thumbs into the thick vest over his shirt.

Only a few days ago, the street was bloodstained and swarming with forensics.

But now the house looked empty, the lights off. The small front garden was still overgrown, the paint peeling off the front door. Perfectly ordinary.

Chapter 102

Sunday | Evening

Callum

‘She was onlythirteen.It was abuse.’

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