Amanda Raine was stood by the bedroom window looking through the small gap in the curtains she’d created. She’d been standing there for a while, watching the Armitage house next door. Ever since she’d heard a blood-curdling scream a few hours ago and seen the police leave it had been deathly quiet. It could only mean one thing: Keeley had been found dead. She hoped to God that wasn’t true.
‘What are you doing?’ Grant said, coming into the bedroom and taking off his dressing gown.
Amanda jumped. She glanced to her husband then went back to glaring out of the window. ‘Nothing.’
‘You’ve been unsettled since teatime. Up and down at the slightest noise. Are you going to be like this all night?’ he asked as he looked in the dressing table mirror and removed his contact lenses.
‘The police came round this morning,’ she said, fiddling with the crucifix around her neck.
‘Well, they would do. They always talk to the neighbours when things like this happen. You haven’t seen my silver cufflinks have you? I need my dress shirt for tomorrow.
‘Top drawer. No, the other one. Grant,’ Amanda said, stepping away from the window. ‘Do you think I should phone the police up?’
‘Whatever for?’
‘Well, this morning they asked me about Keeley and what she was like as a child and if I knew the family, but … I didn’t tell them everything.’
‘Found them. What are you talking about?’
‘I didn’t tell them about Craig.’
‘Look, Amanda, don’t get involved,’ he said sternly, looking up at his wife.
‘But we are involved.’
‘No, we’re not. I’m not a fan of Craig Armitage, as you know, but they’re going through hell right now and the last thing they want is the police looking into gossip and innuendo.’
‘It’s not gossip though.’
‘It bloody is,’ he said as he went over to the bed and pulled back the duvet. ‘Are you coming to bed or not because I’ve got an early start in the morning and I’m turning the light out.’
‘You’ve heard him through the walls as much as I have,’ she said as she kicked off her slippers and started to remove her earrings. ‘He has a temper on him. What if he’s involved in Keeley going missing?’
‘You’ve been reading too many Agatha Christie books.’
‘No, I haven’t. When something happens to a child the parents are nearly always involved. That’s an honest-to-God fact.’
‘Don’t get involved, Amanda,’ he reiterated, turning over in bed.
Amanda sat on the edge of the bed. Her face was a map of worry. She could feel herself getting cold as the temperature outside slowly fell. It was too early in the season to turn the central heating on. She climbed into bed and pulled the duvet over her, but she didn’t lie down to sleep. Her mind was spinning with the events she had witnessed through her living room window today.
‘Grant,’ she said eventually. ‘Grant,’ she said louder when he didn’t reply.
‘What?’ He sounded annoyed.
‘The police searched Craig’s van this morning.’
‘They would have done. It’s what they do.’
‘That means they must suspect him, too.’
‘No it doesn’t. It means they’re keeping an open mind.’
‘I think I should tell them about him, about what he’s really like.’
‘For the last time, Amanda, it has nothing to do with us. Now, please, turn your light out and go to sleep.’
Amanda acquiesced to her husband’s request. She lay in darkness with her eyes wide open as she contemplated what she should do. Craig was quick to temper – she’d witnessed it many times – but just because someone shouts at his family once in a while, does that make him capable of murder?
She let out a heavy sigh. It would be a long time before she fell asleep.