CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
At around two thirty in the morning, Sam Page heard a hedgehog grunting. He got up, pushed his feet into his slippers and padded to the bathroom.
The hedgehog wake-up call was becoming a nightly occurrence. He was pretty sure they had set up home under some garden trimmings that he had set aside for a bonfire.
Halfway along the hall, Sam froze.
Bonfire! Burning!
He hurried back to his room and found his dressing gown. Then he went to his office.
An hour later he had a list of questions and several bulletpoint references scribbled on a sheet of paper. He was pretty sure he would not be able to sleep again. His brain was firing on all cylinders and he couldn’t slow it down. He went to the kitchen, made a hot drink and sat in his favourite chair looking out over the garden, and waited for the dawn. He had a feeling that no matter how early he rang her, Laura would be pleased to hear from him. Especially as he believed he had made that vital connection, the one that had evaded her for so long. That thing she said was missing.
*
Marie’s phone rang at 3 a.m., and for the first time ever, she decided not to answer it. Then her conscience kicked in. ‘Marie Evans.’
‘Hi. I know I promised not to do this to you again, but . . .’
‘Carter? You do know what time it is?’
‘Mmm, but this time I really need to talk to you.’
Marie caught something in his voice. She sat up and pushed the duvet back. ‘What’s wrong?’
She heard an intake of breath. ‘I have to tell you something, Marie, and then I have to ask you a favour.’
‘Well, at least I know you can’t be asking for money, so go ahead.’ She meant to sound upbeat, but she was anything but.
‘I’m not proud of what I’m going to tell you, but I need to tell someone, and who else would I talk to?’
‘Me, but I’m not sure I want to hear it.’
Carter was silent for a moment. ‘I’ve done something terrible.’
Marie felt the tension build inside her.
‘I’m going to tell you what I’ve done, and try and explain why, then ask you the favour. And, Marie, I won’t ask anything of you that isn’t strictly above board. I want to tell you the truth. Then you must tell the authorities.’
‘You’re scaring me.’
‘I scare myself sometimes.’ He gave a humourless laugh. ‘But here goes. You know that as soon as I got back to full duties, I desperately wanted to get onto the Holland case. Then we had the trouble with Leah, so that put paid to that for a while.’ He took a breath. ‘What I have to tell you is that it was me who paid Danny Hurley to take the flowers, the chocolates, and the cards and all that shit.’
‘What?’ Marie yelped.
‘I wanted to cause a furore, so that the team would be overstretched and I would be brought onto the Holland case. But it totally backfired on me. I never dreamed in a million years that Ruth Crooke would ask me to help her!’
‘I don’t understand, Carter. You put her through hell!’
‘Which is exactly what she’s done to me for most of my working life! She’s held me back and made sure that I never get promotion. After the accident, she almost had me pensioned off. I wanted to get my own back and make her suffer. But never, never once did I think Leah was in danger. I swear I never knew that Danny was obsessive.’
‘That’s why you were so bloody sure it was a storm in a tea cup! And . . .’ The penny dropped. ‘That’s how you caught him out!’
‘It was touch and go, Marie. I nearly shat myself when I found out what he was up to.’
‘So it wasn’t Cannon family retribution?’
‘Sorry, it was just me.’
‘And your old headmaster? Sidney?’
‘Paid him to cover up for me.’
Marie saw Carter leaning over the older man, whispering in his ear, and handing him a bundle of notes. A lot of notes, too many for a simple bit of info from the streets.
Marie exploded. ‘You lying bastard! Do you know, I can almost appreciate your twisted thinking. But you’ve spent days lying your head off and playing me like a bloody violin! That’s the bit that fucking hurts, Carter!’
‘I’m sorry. Truly I am.’
‘Oh good! That makes it all better, doesn’t it?’ Marie didn’t think she’d ever been so angry.
‘I wanted to tell you, but then it went so badly wrong. I was shocked to the core, and scared stiff.’
‘That kid could have finished up dead, all because of your bloody games,’ she snarled.
‘Don’t you think I know that? I’ve thought of nothing else.’
‘How could you be so stupid?’ Already, the fire was dying. ‘And lie to me that way?’
‘That’s what I hated most. It was unforgivable.’
‘Yes, it was.’ She exhaled. ‘And now you have the gall to say you want a favour? I don’t think so. I’ve had it with you, Carter. I thought I knew you. Well, I certainly don’t know what’s going on inside your head.’
‘Believe me, I don’t either. Sometimes I don’t even know what is real and what is fantasy. I see things, I hear things, I smell things, and I know they aren’t there. I’m a mess, Marie, and I don’t blame you for hating me.’ His voice was low. ‘But I’m still going to ask you that favour.’
Marie felt drained. The fight had gone out of her. ‘I don’t hate you. I couldn’t. What do you want?’
‘I want you to tell Jackman everything, and also Ruth Crooke. I know I’m for the high jump, so will you just allow me a few hours? Go to see them later this afternoon? Then I’ll throw up my hands and come quietly.’
Marie’s head throbbed. ‘But why?’
‘The Eva May. For the sake of the others, I want to take her out on her maiden voyage. I’ve got to make sure the tides are right, so I’ll leave Stone Quay around eleven. It won’t take long, two hours max. It’s something I really need to do. Then I swear I’ll face the consequences.’
Marie thought about that wonderful hour on the quayside. She would let him have this last break, because after that, his career would be over, and Tom Holland would probably haunt him for the rest of his life. ‘I’ll give you until two this afternoon. And, Carter? Never ever lie to me again.’
‘Thank you, Marie. For everything.’
‘I’m a fool,’ she whispered, but there was no one to hear.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Carter drove onto Stone Quay at around four in the morning. He parked the Land Rover close to where the Eva May bobbed proudly in the water.
The silence was overwhelming.
He sat without moving, watching the clouds scud over the river.
For once, the voices were silent.
He got out of the vehicle and stood for a moment in the familiar spot, listening to the birds call and the river lap against the Eva May’s hull.
He turned and saw Silas walking towards him, Klink ambling close to his heels. He had a flat package under his arm.
‘So it’s today, is it, young’un?’
Carter nodded.