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He shakes his head. ‘Don’t let Anna Creed distract you, Jen. She’s not credible.’
‘I think she is.’
He lets his hand fall, and his palm slaps the top of his desk. Jen jumps. ‘Sorry,’ he says. ‘But this is how it is now. When we’ve found Tom Booth’s murderer, or if we find evidence that something bad happened to Olly’s Aunt Kitty, we’ll take a closer look at what Anna Creed is saying. Okay? Let’s not get distracted. Not now.’
She looks at him, every cell in her body wanting to fight this, to try to persuade him that he might be wrong. ‘Jen,’ he says. ‘This is coming from above me. But I agree.’
‘Okay,’ she says. ‘But I think you’re wrong.’
‘You’re entitled to think what you like, but please do your job.’
That stings. She stands. His phone pings with another message. ‘Wait,’ he says. ‘Another email from Nicole. Patrick Young is still in possession of the pin that allows him access to the Barn. She thinks she’s disabled it but she’s not sure.’ Heswears. ‘That’s not good. I’ll reply and tell her that we have a car on the way for protection. I’ll copy you in.’
She tries to maintain a composed expression as she leaves his office. The phones in the Incident Room are still ringing and now she understands that it’s because of Nicole Booth’s Facebook post, that she could have helped avoid this and that everything just took a turn for the worse.
She pauses. ‘Hal,’ she says. ‘Has anyone gone to talk to the car rental people about Patrick Young in person?’ He shakes his head.
‘I’d like to, and I’ll make enquiries at local taxi firms and the train station while I’m out. You’re right. We need to find him.’
63
FRIDAY
Anna
Anna makes her way to the Manor in time to prepare lunch for Olly and Sasha. It’s hard to tear herself away from the Barn. She feels so much safer there.
She has some doubts about whether she should have persuaded Nicole to post a reward for information, but the way she saw it was that the more attention focused on what’s happening here at Lancaut, the safer she is personally. And the safer Nicole is, too. Olly and Sasha would be very foolhardy to make a move against either of them if the world is watching. She’s convinced that they killed Tom but doesn’t have a scrap of proof.
She lets herself into the main hall. ‘Hello!’ she calls. Olly’s study door is shut. She finds Sasha in the kitchen.
‘Oh, hi!’ Sasha says. ‘How was your night? How’s Nicole?’
Anna works hard to appear her normal self. ‘It was fine,’ she says. It’s probably not a good idea to say much more, and it’s definitely not a good idea to let Sasha know how much better it was at the Barn than being here, or in the Coach House. ‘I mean, it’s not my home, but it’s nice to be of help.’
‘Are you working for her now?’ Sasha asks.
‘No, I’m just sleeping the night. She hasn’t asked me to do anything.’
‘It sounded like you were going to work for her.’
‘Sorry,’ Anna says. ‘That’s not what I meant. Would you like some soup for lunch?’
‘That would be lovely,’ Sasha says. ‘Gazpacho?’
‘Of course.’
Anna goes out to the kitchen garden to pick some tomatoes. Sasha seems more tense than usual. Perhaps that’s a good sign. Maybe she’s trying to work out how to move the body. Perhaps Anna will capture them on video tonight.
Her tomato plants are tall and strong, bearing lots of ripe fruit. She’s been watering and feeding them assiduously and she waters them again now, before selecting the best fruits for her soup.
Olly comes into the kitchen while she’s preparing it. Like Sasha, he seems distracted and tense. Anna tries to sound like her usual self. ‘Morning,’ she says, and smiles.
‘How was your night at the Barn?’ Olly asks. ‘Was it better than here?’
‘No,’ Anna says. ‘Of course not. This is home.’
He has a bad energy about him. She keeps her head down and focuses on making the soup. He doesn’t leave the room.
