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“Thank you for staying,” Salma murmured, coming over to press Gabi’s hand between both of her own. In a quiet voice, she added, “I’ll make sure Joy gets home safe.”
“Thank you,” Gabi replied earnestly. A little bit of her worry eased. Not much compared to the giant pile of things she had to worry about, but some.
She felt like she was running out of time. When would the killer try again? Tonight? Tomorrow?
Joy’s arms eased around Gabi when Salma stepped back, and Gabi tugged her closer on instinct, dragging her scent into her lungs.
“Thank you for looking after me,” Joy said, her voice muffled.
The words fanned across Gabi’s open collar, raising goose bumps on her skin.
“Always,” she replied, running a hand down Joy’s back, over her wind-knotted snarl of hair. “Be careful,” she added. “Don’t go back to the sanctuary. I need to collect evidence from it.”
That was the first thing on her list of endless to-dos.
“I’ve already told your boss to leave it alone. Also, he doesn’t expect you in work until Monday. He said something about recovery and needing time and sending you well wishes.”
Joy laughed softly. “He’s nice. Kind of over the top, but nice.”
Gabi smiled wearily. She noticed Joy was not letting go. Neither was she. “Are you alright?”
Joy nodded, her head bumping Gabi’s chin. “Are you?”
“Me? I’m fine,” Gabi replied, her brow knitting.
“So, you’renotworrying enough for ten people? Your mind’snotdoing that thing where it thinks everything at once, and you forget to breathe, and your heart gets palpitations?”
Gabi had no reply. To be known so well… She tightened her grip on Joy.
“I’ll be fine,” she promised. Her lips brushed the top of Joy’s head before she could remind them that Joy was herex. She stepped back with effort and found Salma and Gus doing their utmost best to look elsewhere. Eilidh was just watching them with very soft eyes.
“I’ll call you later,” she told Joy. “You can give me your statement over the phone. I’ll record it.”
“And print out a transcript to memorise and annotate?” Joy teased.
Gabi already missed the warmth of Joy’s body. “I’m nothing if not thorough,” she played along.
She went to shove her hands in her pockets, but realised she wasn’t wearing her coat, and felt awkward.
It should not have been as difficult as it was to walk to her car.
TWENTY-SEVEN
JOY
Gabi looked so tired when Joy called her that night, her sore, red eyes obvious even over FaceTime. Joy bet she hadn’t stopped working since the moment she left the clinic. She was tempted to put off making this statement now just to give Gabi a break, but it might be important. If she left it much longer, she’d start to forget. Not that she knew much—she’d seen only an indistinct shape in a hoodie, but that matched what Gus had seen, too.
Joy and Gabi spoke for hours, smoothing out the snags in Joy’s memory, going over the details of the case.Nothingconnected Freya and Neil Ivers. There was nothing in common in the days before they were attacked—Freya had spent all her time at the food drive and Neil had been teaching, both at the school and at the community centre’s night classes.
They’d come to a standstill and Joy could tell Gabi was sinking into despair.
“Salma had an idea,” Joy said hesitantly. “It might not work, and it’ll probably be … difficult. But her mum’s a seer. If she’s having a good day, she can focus on truths and lies, and tell you anything aboutanyone.”
“And on a bad day?”
“She has hallucinations. Hears voices.” Joy bit her lip. “She believes they’re part of her visions.”
“They aren’t?” Gabi didn’t look as hopeful as Joy had hoped she would.
