AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Nicole nods.
‘Did Tom?’ Steen asks.
She doesn’t answer immediately. Anna looks at her and sees the muscles in her cheeks twitching. ‘No. He kept in touch behind my back,’ she says. ‘I only just learned this from Patrick.’
‘We’re going to make some enquiries into Patrick,’ Steen says.
‘Do you think …?’ Her voice tails off. Anna’s tempted to finish the sentence for her: Do you think Patrick harmed Tom? But it’s not her place to.
Steen understands what she’s asking. ‘We’re looking into all possibilities.’
Nicole reaches out a hand towards Anna and Anna looks at it for a moment, before realising that Nicole wants her to hold it. She reciprocates and Nicole grips her fingers tightly. Anna hasn’t touched another person for years. It feels intense, and powerful. Steen looks at their hands, and then at Anna. She sees questions in his eyes. He’s an intelligent man. Just the person she needs to deliver Olly and Sasha to.
Be patient, she tells him silently. Look after this woman. And please, follow up what’s in the journal I gave you. She wants him to search for Kitty and discover that she’s disappeared. It will help when she reveals her video evidence.Ifshe can get it.
‘Is there anyone else who can come and stay with you?’ he asks Nicole. ‘Unless you’re happy to be at the Barn alone. We could help you book a hotel if that’s what you’d prefer.’
Nicole’s grip on Anna’s hand tightens, briefly. This question upsets her, Anna thinks. She feels a rush of empathy. Nicole shakes her head. ‘No, there’s nobody.’
‘I could stay,’ Anna says. The words leave her mouth before she’s thought them through. ‘If Olly and Sasha don’t mind,’ she adds, glancing at Steen.
‘Would you?’ Nicole says. ‘I would love that.’
‘I’ll ask,’ Anna says. ‘I’m sure they can spare me.’
She avoids meeting Steen’s eyes and the questions in them. He’ll surely want to know why she needs to have permission from them and why she’s still calling herself Kitty. She hopes he understands that it’s because she’s afraid.
‘Okay,’ he says. ‘If that works for you?’
Nicole nods. ‘It would make me feel a lot better.’
Steen looks at Anna. There’s some scepticism in his eyes. He’s not sure about me, she thinks, but I need him to be. She wills him to believe in her.
‘Please, call me or Jen if you need anything,’ he tells Nicole.
His officer follows him out of the room. Anna can see Olly and Sasha waiting in the hallway. Nicole says goodbye to him at the door and shuts it, leaving Olly and Sasha outside.
‘Are you sure you don’t mind asking if you can stay?’ she says. ‘I’d be so grateful.’
‘I don’t mind at all,’ Anna says.
Nicole’s phone buzzes. She pulls it from her bag. ‘Oh,’ she says. She’s already pale but Anna watches her turn an even more bloodless shade. She angles her phone so that Anna can read the message. Anna fishes her reading glasses out of her apron pocket and takes the phone from her. She has a Facebook message from Patrick.
I’m so sorry. I’m ashamed of myself. Tom would kill me if he knew I’d upset you when I’m here to help you. Please forgive me. You deserve better. When the police have gone, I can explain, if you’ll let me. But if not, I totally understand. I want you to know something, though. I won’t ever desert you.
50
THE DAY OF HIS DEATH: 10:47
Tom
Tom grabs a fresh cup and as he makes a new coffee he wonders if this really is the end of his friendship with Patrick. It feels like it might be and that hollows him out a little inside.
His mouth and lips still feel as dry as they did earlier. It’s unpleasant. He drinks a glass of water and searches the vanity cupboard in the downstairs bathroom for a chapstick. Nicole usually keeps one in there. He finds one and applies it. Too late, he realises it’s tinted pink. He goes to wipe it off but it feels good on his lips, so he purses them instead and blows himself a kiss in the mirror.
He sips his coffee while it’s hot and feels it restoring his equilibrium a little, but Patrick keeps creeping back into his thoughts. He wonders if Patrick left anything in his den, any paperwork. He doesn’t want Nicole to find it and ask questions, so he hurries to check, but it’s okay. There’s no trace of Patrick.He sinks down onto the sofa and finishes his coffee. It tastes good. When he puts the cup down beside the one he rejected earlier, he notices that his lips, pink from Nicole’s chapstick, have left an imprint on the side of it and he smiles.
He remembers the sheep, suddenly. How could he forget it? He needs to hide it before Nicole gets home. He hurries back to the atrium. The box has a dent in the side of it where Patrick kicked it. He opens it and peers inside. The sheep doesn’t seem to be damaged. An idea occurs to him and he drags the box into the living area. It’s unwieldy and he wonders if it would be best to take out the sheep. He wraps his arms around its belly and lifts it from the box and carries it up the stairs that way.
