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“Maybe, though I had—have—Hallie, and she always wanted to talk.”
“But no mother.”
“I guess that’s why Hallie and I were always close. She kind of covered that role for me, even though she’s only two years older.”
“If you think my family killed your father, why aren’t you using this opportunity to take revenge on them? I’m at your mercy. You could do anything you wanted to me right now.”
“Maybe I believe in catching more flies with honey than vinegar.” I thought of something else. “Do you know the name Doyle?”
She twisted her lips, considering it, but then shook her head. “Should I?”
“It was mentioned tonight in connection with the bomb that went off at the Dagenham warehouse. I thought you might know it.”
“Sorry.”
I sighed, my shoulders slumping. “How am I going to make sure you get home safely?”
She bit her lower lip, and I found myself transfixed at the tiny indentation her teeth made. “I’m not sure. At least I look respectable now.”
“Is anyone going to question where you got your clothes?”
She gave a small laugh. “Would you notice if your sister was wearing something different?”
She had a point. “No, I wouldn’t.”
“My father and brothers have no clue. I could go home wearing a sack and they probably wouldn’t notice. I’ll say I left early to study at the library and someone stole my bag. I’ll say they grabbed it from my arm and pulled me down at the same time, and that’s how I got the marks.”
“Your father won’t be happy. He’ll want to do something about it.”
“I know. I’ll have to figure out an area that doesn’t have any CCTV so he won’t be able to work out that I’m lying.”
“He’ll want a description.”
“I’ll say it happened too fast, that they came at me from behind, and pushed me to the ground, so I didn’t see anything except feet running away. There won’t be much he can do about that. He’ll be fucking fuming, but that’s all, and I expect he’ll lock me away for weeks to come, claiming that he’s protecting me.”
Seemed she had it all worked out.
I frowned. “He won’t actually lock you away, will he?”
“No, but he might as well. I had to take the tracker off my phone to slip out last night, but normally it’s always on there. He knows exactly where I am and what I’m doing.”
“He doesn’t know right now.”
A small smile touched her lips. “No, I guess he doesn’t.”
“So maybe you just shouldn’t go back to him.” I threw out the cheeky suggestion.
“And what, stay here with you? Wouldn’t that be handy for you? A way of pissing off my family that fell right into your lap.”
“You haven’t fallen into my lap, as far as I can tell.”
“You know what I mean.”
She let out a sigh. “You’ve been kind to me, Jay, and I appreciate that. I don’t want to bring the kind of trouble into your life that would hit you if I was to stay here.”
“Maybe I welcome that trouble.”
She shook her head. “That wouldn’t be good for either of our families.”
