Jayne put a finger to her lips as Dan followed her into her apartment building.
‘They’re not early risers in here,’ she said.
‘Yeah, I can smell the late nights.’
Her smile told him that she knew what he meant. The smell of cannabis was strong, drifting up from the flat below hers, grown in the tenant’s bedroom under bright lights to maintain his own habit and to deal small amounts to people he knew.
‘He knows the police will kick his door in one day, but he’s normally too stoned to care.’
‘Don’t you ever fancy getting a bag from him? Might be a cheaper night in than wine.’
She shook her head. ‘I prefer alcohol, but it keeps him quiet. I’d rather live above a pothead than a drunk.’
They moved quietly upstairs and then into her apartment. Jayne went into her bedroom with a shout that she was having a shower. As the water started to run, Dan went into the living room and sat down.
As he looked around, it struck him how the place still didn’t feel like a home. It was as if she’d never really planned to stick around. No pictures. No personal touches. He guessed that it wasn’t a conscious choice, just a desire not to settle. He knew she was in Highford because she’d run away after her own acquittal. She’d visited her hometown since and he wondered for a moment if she was thinking of going back for good. The fear of what her ex-boyfriend’s family might do had eased now. She’d stuck with her changed name, but she could revert back easily enough and return to her old life.
He didn’t like the thought of that. He enjoyed having her around. He may have just lost Pat. He didn’t want to lose Jayne too. She brought laughs into his life, even a little bit of chaos sometimes. She brightened him.
He thought of Pat and called Eileen. It went to voicemail. He left a message. ‘It’s Dan. Have you heard anything? Please call me.’
The shower stopped as he hung up. He went to the window and stared out. Highford. It was his town, and he was being selfish. It wasn’t her home. He could hardly blame her if she left. All he knew was he didn’t want that.
There were footsteps behind him. Jayne came into the room with wet hair, tucking her shirt into her trousers, looking around for her shoes.
‘Come on, it’ll dry when we’re out.’ She found her shoes behind a chair. ‘Canal first, then breakfast.’
The roads were getting busier as they stepped outside, as the early morning drifted into rush hour. They drove down the hill and stopped in a small car park by a stretch of canal, close to a cinema and a collection of American-style restaurants.
Dan was about to get out of the car when Jayne leaned across and put her hand on his. ‘Thank you for last night.’
‘I was out of order.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘I shouldn’t have started what we did. And afterwards? I treated you like a possession, some precious object I had to protect, while you’re one of the toughest people I know.’
‘But you did it for the right reason: because you care. Sometimes, that’s enough, and I didn’t want to go home with those men. I was doing it to spite you, which wasn’t even fair on him, even if he was a complete tool.’ Her smile grew and she blushed. ‘I enjoyed the kiss, if it makes you feel better.’
He wanted to hold her, feel the warmth of her body again, but he checked himself. Not here, not like this.
He reached for the door handle.
They stepped out onto concrete and cut through a gap in a wall to get to the towpath. The water was still, insects flicking at the surface. A duck glided on the water with a line of ducklings trailing behind her, and small birds swooped from nearby bushes.
‘This is where I came yesterday,’ Jayne said, and she pointed along the sweep of the canal. ‘The boat was coming from that way.’
Dan thought back to the footage. ‘The boat stopped just before it got to that footbridge.’
Jayne frowned. ‘That’s what? About fifty metres away? It didn’t come far enough.’
‘Perhaps Lizzie ran away once Sean jumped off the boat, and he chased her?’
Dan thought about that but then realised something else. ‘We can’t prove it was Sean’s boat anyway. It was just a distant speck on the footage.’
‘Can’t we still use it though?’
‘It depends on how far we go with it. We can ask whether the police traced the boat owner, and the answer will be no, because I bet they never looked. It’ll give me something for the closing speech, which is more than I have now.’
Jayne sat down on the low wall. ‘If Peter did it, because the evidence sounds like he did, does it matter whether we can’t prove anything against Sean Martin? At least some justice will be done if Peter is put away for it.’
‘Pat is still missing. For as long as it stays like that, it matters.’
‘Don’t let it blind you, Dan. Peter needs you like I needed you once. For his sake, keep your focus.’
‘That’s always my focus, but I swear to you, if Sean Martin had anything to do with Pat’s disappearance, I’ll make it my business to make him pay. Come on, let’s go. I’ve got a court case to defend.’