Dan snapped awake. There was the sound of movement in his bedroom. He wasn’t sure if he’d heard it in his dream or if there was someone there. The room was in complete darkness, so he listened out, just to make sure. He glanced across to his alarm clock. Six-thirty.
He was about to go back to sleep when he heard someone stumble and mutter, ‘Shit.’
He sat upright and clicked on his light, ready to attack, his mind alert even if his body felt like it was moving too stiffly.
It was Jayne, holding her foot and wincing, squinting into the light.
She was wearing one of his T-shirts. Memories of the night before came back. Good memories.
He flopped back down and rubbed his eyes. ‘What are you doing?’
She sat on the bed and rubbed her foot. ‘I thought of something and I had to look into it, but I didn’t want to wake you. I’ve been working on it for an hour, and I was coming in to see if you were awake, and I bloody well stubbed my foot on the end of your bed.’
‘At this time?’
‘It was niggling me, something about this Leoni Walker thing, and my mind must have worked it out as I was sleeping.’
‘And you had to find out right now?’
She teased out the tangles in her hair. ‘What if I’d fallen asleep and forgotten?’
He put his head back and sighed. ‘I’m not going back to sleep, I can tell.’
She grinned and pulled the covers back to climb in. ‘It doesn’t mean I have to get up, if we’re staying awake.’
He laughed, despite his tiredness, and put his arm round her as she put her head on his chest. ‘I’d forgotten the chaos you bring, but just take it easy. We’re both bruised and battered.’
He felt her smile against his skin. ‘You miss it, admit it.’
‘I wasn’t the one who deserted us.’
‘There wasn’t an us, that was the problem.’
‘There was, in its own way. How is Manchester, anyway?’
She paused before she answered. ‘It’s not quite been the new start I’d hoped for.’
‘Perhaps I’ll follow you, now that I don’t appear to have a business. I could start again there. I’ll even make a job for you, if you want one.’
‘But I’ve fucked the boss now. Is that ethical?’
He teased her hair with his finger. ‘You’re making it sound as if I didn’t want this. Us. I’ve thought about it often but stopped myself. Last night was, well, what I always wanted, even if I never showed it.’
‘Me too.’
He kissed her on her head. ‘Tell me about this thought of yours.’
She moved off his chest and propped herself on her elbows. ‘You remember I said that Mark Roberts had followed the trail, from Brampton to Leoni and all the way to Highford, because it was my theory that Mark was writing about how murder runs in the family? Well, another reason occurred to me, but I just couldn’t put it all together, as if the answer was there swirling around me but I was unable to grab it.’
‘And now you have?’
‘It jerked me awake and it made so much sense.’
‘Do we need coffee for this?’
‘No, I like it like this.’
‘Spill then.’
She shuffled around to make herself more comfortable. ‘Last night, I said that Mark must have been writing about how murder runs in the family, but that must be wrong if Mark got all excited when he was in Brampton about Rodney being innocent, because if Rodney didn’t murder anyone, there’s no bad gene to pass down. This meant it had to be something else.’
‘But you also said that Mark may not have had any clear idea what he was writing about, that it was a first draft and he was still working it out, changing his ideas.’
‘I was both wrong and right the first time.’
‘It’s very early for all of this and my brain can’t quite work out what you’re talking about.’
‘It’s simple. Mark followed Leoni to Highford, and whatever he found out cost him his life. At the same time, he thinks Rodney is innocent. He’s always thought that.’
Dan sat upright and rubbed his eyes. ‘It feels like you’re going somewhere with this, make it quick.’
‘Come on, seriously? It’s so obvious. It was Leoni. It was her. Was always her.’
‘It was her who did what?’
‘She killed those children.’
‘What? Shit, is that what you’re really saying? Seriously? No.’
She wagged her finger. ‘You’re getting it now. Why else would Mark Roberts think that Rodney was innocent? Because he’d discovered that someone else must have done it. And who else? Rodney was arrested because his car was near where Ruby’s body was buried, and because Ruby’s belt and blood were found in his garage and in his car, so we know it was someone in that house. And don’t forget William’s blood on the seat belt clasp. The police thought it was Rodney buckling in one of the children, but what if it was a child all the time? The blood was there because it was on Leoni’s hands.’
‘Perhaps Rodney is guilty and Mark was getting it wrong?’
‘It’s possible, but we know other things too. Ruby’s brother thinks he’s innocent.’
‘Chris?’
She pulled a face. ‘Yes, him. He saw Rodney on the rugby field when his sister was missing. He was persuaded not to say anything, but he still believes it.’
‘How old was Leoni then?’
‘Ten.’
‘You’re saying that Rodney covered up for murders committed by a ten-year-old girl?’
‘It’s happened before with children that young. That’s what I’ve been doing, researching child murderers. And we know something else about Leoni. She’s been implicated in another death. The suicide in Wakefield. Pushed and pushed until he hanged himself. Think about it and it makes so much sense. Leoni is a killer and she’s never stopped. She’s just got more subtle.’
‘And Rodney?’
‘Covering up for her. Prison and everything. He’s as guilty as her, in his own way. He knew she’d committed the first murder and didn’t say anything. How does a father cope with that? And then he buried the body of a small girl, almost kept her away from her family forever. He was a coward.’
‘But not a murderer?’
‘No, not a killer.’
Dan wanted to tell her to stop getting carried away, that ten-year-old girls don’t commit murder, but he knew that wasn’t correct.
‘All right, come on, let’s look at this.’
Jayne grinned and bounded towards the door. ‘I’ll put the kettle on as you get dressed. On one condition though.’
‘Which is what?’
‘That when we’ve looked, we go back to bed. We’ve waited too long for this.’
As she closed the door, he stretched and laughed to himself. Jayne made his life more complicated somehow, but she always made it more interesting.
And he was loving every minute of it.