theory – well, any of the theories we have about this case really, is to find Danny. Alive or dead.’
Gemma nodded, and a fat tear rolled down her cheek.
‘I’ve tried to tell myself he’s still alive. Tried not to give up hope. I thought I’d somehow know, deep down, if he wasn’t alive anymore. But I honestly think he might be dead, now,’ she said, her voice barely a whisper. ‘Just in the last day or so. I just don’t think he’d go this long without contacting me, if he was still alive. Because, and this is going to sound stupid, really stupid, after what I’ve just said, after he’s obviously lied to me and probably cheated on me … but I do think he loved me, despite all this. And he’d know how desperately worried I’d be. He’d have found a way of getting in touch, if he could.’
There was silence for a few moments again, then Helena cleared her throat.
‘Well, we’ll bear in mind what you’ve told us. However, now I just want to share with you the outcome of the forensic examination of your home on Friday.’
Gemma wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands.
‘OK,’ she said.
‘We did find some of your husband’s DNA and his fingerprints throughout the house. You are still claiming he lived there with you for three weeks, which as you know we aren’t sure is true. However, we are aware that you and he spent a night together there in January, before you moved down here properly. So that alone might account for the presence of his DNA and fingerprints there. But the report does say that the quantity of your DNA present outweighs the quantity of his found many times, which adds some weight to our theory that he didn’t spend much, if any, time here in Bristol since January. Any thoughts on that?’
Gemma shook her head and groaned softly.
‘He lived here for three weeks,’ she said wearily. ‘But he was out all day, and I work from home so there’d naturally be more of my DNA around, I suppose, wouldn’t there? I don’t really know how it works, but that would make sense, wouldn’t it? And well, I mean, he’s been gone now for what, nine days? I’ve obviously cleaned the place since then, several times. Maybe I cleaned his away? I don’t know how it works with DNA – can you clean it away?’
She looked at Helena, who didn’t respond.
‘I don’t know then. I can’t help you,’ Gemma said.
They let her go soon after that, and as Helena and Devon walked slowly back upstairs to the incident room, Helena sighed.
‘Her theory is bollocks, isn’t it? I mean, she’s just tried to come up with something that vaguely works with what we already know. Trying to make it fit in with her lies. Isn’t she?’
‘Probably.’ Devon didn’t sound quite so sure. ‘I mean to be fair it does sort of work. But only sort of. There are big holes. Like, why would he pull out of his new job in Bristol before he was even attacked? That just doesn’t fit.’
‘Because she attacked him. And it was planned, so it was her who sent that email pulling out of the new job, not him at all,’ Helena said firmly. ‘And yes, I know I still don’t have any proof of that. Damn that DNA evidence from the house. It’s just not strong enough to help us. But I’ll get there, Devon. She’ll slip up one of these days, you just wait and see. And when she does, I’ll be waiting right there to catch her.’
Chapter 19
I wiped the cloth one more time across the cooker top and stood back, satisfied. Cleaning the house again had, for a few minutes at least, focused my mind on something other than Danny, and even that brief respite from the constant, confused clamour in my head had made me feel calmer, more in control. The press were outside my door again, and although I’d kept the curtains closed, I could still hear them, the low hum of their chatter, the occasional shout and burst of laughter. I was trying to ignore their presence and keeping busy helped. I had now temporarily given up on work altogether, calling the various editors who were waiting for articles from me, all of whom had been in touch in recent days anyway as the news about Danny had hit the newspapers, and telling them that the situation still