All the lights were still on in Tom’s house when Willie dropped him off in the early hours of the morning. He hadn’t been in touch with Louise all night, though he’d presumed somebody at headquarters had told her what was happening. She was probably worried sick.
Charlie Lane had been taken to hospital under armed guard. If he was deemed fit enough, they’d interview him in the morning and try to establish Fiona Holland’s whereabouts. They were still going through his bank details and the property register to establish if he owned another house or had a rental somewhere.
A team had been deployed to search the woods at Lough Dan, in case he’d already murdered and buried the girl.
But it was looking for a needle in a haystack. They’d need him to talk in order to find her.
Tom kicked off his shoes inside the front door and threw his suit jacket onto the end of the banisters. He was fit to collapse.
He went to the kitchen first, where Louise usually waited up for him when he was late.
She wasn’t there. He poured himself a glass of water and stood at the sink drinking it.
A few seconds later, he heard Louise call his name.
Tom put the drink down and walked into the hall. His wife was standing in the door frame of the sitting room. Her eyes were red, her cheeks puffy. She’d been crying.
‘Oh, Jesus, Louise. I’m so sorry. I should have rang to tell you we were all okay. It was just crazy. Were you worried?’
She nodded.
‘Can you come in here for a moment?’ she said, her voice hoarse.
The inspector frowned. Something was wrong.
He followed his wife into the sitting room.
Sean McGuinness sat on the edge of the couch, his big hands cupped around a mug of coffee.
‘Sean!’ Tom exclaimed. ‘I’ve been looking for you all day. Did you hear what …’
He trailed off. The man in front of him looked like Sean, but Tom had never seen anybody’s features change so much in the space of a few days.
His old friend was … haunted. There was no other word for it.
Tom found himself sitting on the chair beside him. He didn’t think his legs could support him for what was coming.
‘What’s happened?’ he asked, an audible tremor in his voice.
Sean put down the cup.
‘I couldn’t call you,’ he said. His voice was raspy. It sounded like it was coming from under water. ‘It’s not that I didn’t want to. I just couldn’t. Not with this case you’re dealing with. And I couldn’t answer your calls, because if I’d told you, you would have dropped everything. Then Louise came over and told me what had happened with Laura. I’m glad she’s safe. I’m sorry I couldn’t help.’
The inspector shook his head.
He felt like whatever was coming, once said, would leave the world changed utterly.
‘June went missing last night,’ Sean continued. ‘I woke up and she wasn’t in the bed with me. I went downstairs and found the front door open and the car gone. She’d left a note. It said she was going shopping. She didn’t come back.’
‘Christ,’ Tom said. His hand rose to his mouth. Whatever he’d been expecting, it wasn’t this. All day they’d been looking for Laura and that whole time … Poor Sean.
‘June is missing? Jesus. Right, let me splash water on my face and I’ll come with you. Who’s looking for her? Your kids … but you must have told our lot as well surely?’
Sean shook his head.
‘Then come on, we’ll get it sorted. We’ll find her, Sean.’
Tom stood up, his tiredness vanquished. Adrenalin pulsed through his body once more.
‘Tom,’ Louise said. She grabbed his hand. Her voice shook. ‘They found her.’
The inspector stared at his wife and looked back to Sean.
‘I don’t understand.’
‘They think she might have had an aneurism.’ The words sounded like they were coming from somewhere else. Not from Sean’s mouth. ‘She’d been going the right way for the supermarket. Residual memory. The same memory that enabled her to drive the car. She drove straight into a tree. She died instantly.’
His voice cracked.
Tom sank back onto the chair, a ball of pain threatening to explode in his chest. He dropped his head into his hands.
June. Beautiful June. Their beloved friend for decades. The woman who’d taught the smallest of children until her retirement and who had been loved by every pupil she’d ever had. The woman who never forgot a birthday or an anniversary, who had a kind word for everybody she met and a no-nonsense approach to life. A woman who had kept her wit and humour even after she’d received a debilitating and devastating diagnosis.
Tom pictured her the last time they’d all been together, her hair tucked under in the neat little bob she always wore, the stylish cut silk blouse and the simple but elegant string of pearls.
And what had he said to her at Sean’s the other day?
I’ll see you soon. We miss you.
The inspector lifted his head from hands now wet with tears.
‘Sean, I’m so sorry,’ he tried to say, but his voice broke.
Instead, he sat there, with his arm around his old friend, shell-shocked and unable to offer any words of comfort.
Louise stood in the middle of the room, her hands clasped against her chest. She looked down at the pair of them, two of the strongest men she’d ever known, their shoulders huddled in grief.
Her heart felt like it was breaking.