Lily is on her hands and knees when evening comes, scrubbing the kitchen floor of her old home. She does it to honour her mother’s memory, not for Harry’s sake. The physical labour brings no peace, her mind still overloaded. She’s on tenterhooks when her brother finally traipses through the door. He’s sober, at least; there’s no sign of the glint in his eye that signals danger.
‘You live like a pig, Harry.’
‘Don’t nag, please. I can’t take it today.’ His voice is gentler than before. He looks exhausted, and afraid of something he won’t name.
‘What’s got you so scared?’
‘Nothing, I slept badly last night, that’s all.’
She rises to her feet then hands him the Polaroid of Sabine. ‘Why was this in your jacket pocket?’
‘You shouldn’t poke through my things.’
‘I wasn’t. It fell on the floor.’
Harry’s expression darkens when she gives him Sabine’s photo. He holds it gingerly between his fingertips, like its surface is caustic. ‘I didn’t take it.’
‘You’ve got a Polaroid camera, haven’t you?’
‘It broke, years ago.’
Lily grabs his wrist, forcing him to meet her gaze. ‘Sabine’s dead, Harry. You were seeing her. Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘It only started a fortnight ago. She didn’t want to spoil your friendship if it didn’t work out. Look, I know I said yesterday it didn’t mean anything, but I cared about her, Lily. I wanted to visit her in Riga.’
‘Explain what’s happened, then.’
‘Someone posted that photo through the door, with my name on the envelope.’ He gives her a look of dry-eyed misery. She hasn’t seen him cry for years. He even sat through their mother’s funeral without shedding a tear. ‘I keep thinking about that car I saw by Pulpit Rock. Maybe it belonged to the killer. It was an SUV, but I can’t remember the colour. I’ve been looking for it everywhere.’
‘You can’t go hunting for him – you might get hurt. Why not tell the police?’
‘They’d arrest me. I get blamed for everything, but I’d never hurt a woman. You know that, don’t you?’
‘You’ve used your fists plenty of times outside the Mermaid.’
He gazes down at his hands. ‘I’m sorry, all right? Dad’s blood is in my veins. It’s a problem I can’t fix, but I promise you, I never harmed her.’
‘You saw something at Pulpit Rock, didn’t you? That’s why you hit the booze again, before anyone else knew she was dead.’
‘I was drunk by the time I got there, like I told you. I can’t remember anything, except seeing the SUV driving away.’ Harry collapses forward in his seat, head bowed over his knees. ‘I can’t go to prison again. It would kill me.’
Sympathy floods Lily’s system, yet she can’t trust him. After so many false promises about staying sober, his innocence doesn’t ring true.