really, to be honest. I presume you’ve heard, about Danny?’
Another couple of seconds’ silence.
‘I have, yeah. I was sorry to hear … Bridget told me da, he’s been keepin’ me up to date. I was going to call, but I didn’t know what … well, you know, it’s hard, isn’t it?’
‘It is, yes.’ I paused for a moment. ‘Although Bridget didn’t seem too bothered when I spoke to her. She was acting a bit weird, like she just wasn’t very interested.’
There was another silence, a longer one this time.
‘Quinn? Quinn, are you there?’
‘Yeah. Yeah, I’m here. Look, you know what Bridget’s like. I wouldn’t worry about her.’
He sounded gruff, an edge to his voice suddenly.
‘I’m not, really. Just thought it was strange,’ I said. Was he being short with me because he thought I had something to do with Danny’s disappearance, as I’d feared he might, I wondered?
‘Look, Quinn, whatever the papers have been saying, you know I have nothing to do with this, right? I’m heartbroken, I miss him so much, and I have no idea what’s happened to him.’
‘Yeah. No, I’m sure it must be shite. Listen, I need to go in a minute, I’m at work.’
‘Sure, of course, sorry,’ I said quickly. ‘Look, Quinn, I need to see you. Can we meet? I’m happy to hop on a train and come to you. It’s just that since Danny’s been gone I’ve found out a load of weird stuff that I didn’t know about him, and he was doing some kind of odd things in the weeks before he vanished. I need to speak to someone who’s known him for a long time, and you’re the only one I could really think of. Please, it won’t take much time. I could meet you for lunch maybe, or after work? Tomorrow?’
The silence again, and then the sound of muffled muttering. Is he talking to someone else? Then he said:
‘OK, well, I don’t know what I can tell you, but if you can come here … I’m busy in the evening but if you meet me at one, I get an hour for lunch. There’s a pub just down the road from the site, we can go there.’
He gave me the address and we ended the call. Good, I thought. Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, I felt a pang of hunger. Had I eaten yet that day? Or even the previous night? I couldn’t remember. I’d even gone off wine in the past week or so, coffee about the only drink I’d been able to stomach, and I knew I’d lost weight; I’d had to look for a belt that morning, my jeans loose around my waist. Food, then. I needed to start looking after myself. The police were clearly still completely on the wrong track about Danny, and so it was down to me to get to the bottom of it, and quickly. I’d eat, and then I’d make a list of everything I wanted to ask Quinn. And maybe, just maybe, I thought, I’d be coming back from London with some answers.
Chapter 24
‘How much longer are we going to keep him?’
Devon’s question made Helena jump, even though she’d been quite aware he’d been standing next to her for a full minute.
‘I don’t know. I just don’t know. I think we’re right … but what if we’re wrong, Devon? Can you even imagine …?’
He grimaced and shook his head.
‘Don’t even want to think about it,’ he said.
They were both leaning on the sill of the window that ran the full length of the incident room. Outside the sky was grey, a light rain spattering the pavement three storeys below. It was rush hour, the traffic crawling past, pedestrians scurrying, umbrellas bobbing, the occasional irate blast of a horn penetrating the Victorian building’s ancient single glazing with its peeling wooden frames. For a moment, Helena wished she was out there, hurrying to work in a shop or an office, somewhere safe and easy, somewhere where her toughest decision of the day would be whether to have a cheese or a tuna sandwich for lunch, or whether to put the black dress or the red one in the window display. Or maybe that she’d chosen a career like Charlotte’s. Being a teacher wasn’t easy, she knew that. But at least Charlotte didn’t generally have to make life or death decisions during the working day. The decision she’d have to make today could, if she got it wrong, mean even more men could