Page 55 of No Safe Place
Wilson scratched the back of her neck. ‘Am I going to be handling that—’
Field shook her head. ‘It should be me.’
She scanned her desk for anything she would need. Notebook, a lip balm and Young’s concealer were all plucked from the mess and thrown into her bag.
‘I guess it means more, hearing from another parent.’
Field’s stomach dropped at the mere suggestion of Toby having a bearing on the case.
‘It’s not that.’ She sighed, and allowed herself a brief sit-down in her chair. ‘I need to ask them to refrain from talking to the press. We need to keep a lid on Sam’s identity.’
There had been some coverage about David, but it hadn’t caught the attention of the nationals.
A pretty thirty-two-year-old stabbed to death? That would be a front-page story.
The thought of speaking to the parents tonight was like a physical weight on her chest. She was already scanning for phrases, condolences.
‘Right. Let’s get out of here.’
Chapter 32
Thursday | Afternoon
Lily
‘A girl murdered,’ Scott said. ‘Right outside your place.’
He drove over a bump at speed and the jolt to her stomach made Lily double over, the seatbelt cutting into her neck.
He shot a glance at her. ‘You okay, babe?’
She nodded, breathing through the sickness. Scott carried on.
‘Even you have to admit,’ Scott scoffed, ‘it’s all a bit weird, isn’t it? You two have a massive argument and suddenly—’
‘How did you know we had an argument?’ Lily twisted in her seat. ‘I never told you that.’
Scott gave her a pitying look. ‘Why else would you have been at mine when I got home?’
‘Oh,’ Lily said, softly. It made sense.
‘Plus,’ he went on, turning the radio down as he spoke. ‘You stank of booze and fags.’
Her cheeks flushed.
The road sign in front at the traffic lights had two red H symbols. One pointed towards King’s College Hospital, where David had been admitted. It might be where they’d taken Sam – her body. Heat crept up Lily’s neck.
The other pointed to the Maudsley psychiatric, and Callum.
Another disapproving sideways glance. ‘I’m going to have to change the sheets. I can’t stand the smell of stale smoke.’
Lily wondered whether her hair still smelled. It sometimes did, after they smoked indoors, even after a shower. It didn’t help that Scott refused to buy proper shampoo, and used environmentally friendly blocks of antiseptic-smelling hair products that never managed a proper lather.
‘While you’re visiting Callum,’ Scott went on, taking the left at the lights. ‘I’ll go to work, do a few hours on the ward. They’re short-staffed; they’ll appreciate an extra pair of hands.’ He put a hand on her knee, squeezing the joints. ‘I want to be there, to bring you home.’
Lily stiffened in her seat, and he took his hand back to change gear.
Focus.
