the body once they’re done with the autopsy. They said they’d co-ordinate with the authorities. But it should be today or tomorrow. They’ll cremate the body. You just have to pick up the ashes.’
The body. There it is again, that word. Not Kate’s body, but the body.
My phone rings and I pull it out my back pocket. It’s Konstandin.
Rob is peering over my shoulder at the phone ringing in my lap. ‘Why’s he calling?’ he asks.
I ignore him and stand up to answer the call. ‘Hi,’ I say into the phone.
‘I saw the news,’ Konstandin answers. ‘It’s your friend.’
The news. Of course. Reza warned me they’d release the information to the media. ‘Yes,’ I say. I head towards the window and open the shutter. Buttery golden sunlight floods into the room and I turn my face to it, hoping it will in some way chase away the darkness inside.
‘I’m sorry,’ Konstandin says. I can hear the genuine sorrow in his voice. ‘Can I do anything to help?’
I take a deep breath. ‘No. But thank you.’
‘Let me know if that changes,’ he tells me. ‘I’m here if you need something.’
‘Thank you,’ I repeat.
‘I’m sorry,’ he says again.
When I hang up I find Rob is in the bedroom packing his shaving gear into his small backpack. ‘Are you leaving right now?’ I ask, a pang of anxiety hitting. I don’t want to be here alone, dealing with everything all by myself again. I need him. He’s my rock.
‘Fairly soon,’ he says with an apologetic shrug. ‘Flight’s at three-twenty. I’ll make it back by seven to pick up Marlow.’
I nod. God, I wish I could go with him. My bottom lip starts to tremble at the thought of him leaving without me.
The intercom buzzes just then and we both freeze, turning our heads in the direction of the front door. I flashback vividly to last night, to the police knocking with their horrendous news.
Both Rob and I make a move for the intercom at the same time but are interrupted in the hall by Sebastian exiting his recording room. I didn’t realise he was home. He jumps when he sees Rob and I in the hallway, quickly pulling the door to his recording room shut behind him. He grabs for the intercom on the wall as it buzzes for a third time, pressing it to his ear before hitting the button to let whoever it is in.
‘It’s the police,’ he tells us, moving to open the door.
I exchange a worried look with Rob. Why are they back? What more news could there be? Sebastian opens the door to Nunes. I’ve already taken against him, initially for his lack of engagement with the case when I first came to report Kate missing and then for his pointed suspicion and his comment that Kate might have killed herself, and now I bristle even more at his terse nod when he enters the apartment. There’s an arrogance to him and a swagger that doesn’t feel deserved, as though he’s learned how to be a detective from watching too many Netflix Scandi-noirs.
‘The autopsy report has come back,’ he says, pulling out his notebook and flipping it open.
‘And?’ I ask, after he pauses for what feels like dramatic effect.
‘There’s evidence that your friend fought off an attack.’
‘What?’ I ask, feeling faint.
He looks down and reads directly from the notebook. ‘Her hands and arms show signs of bruising and injuries consistent with a physical fight.’
My head is filled with pins and needles. I think I might fall over.
‘She couldn’t have sustained the injuries in the water, once she fell in?’ I hear Rob ask.
Nunes shakes his head. ‘The doctor says no. They occurred prior to drowning.’ He looks down at his notebook again. ‘Significant scratches on her arms and hands. She fought with someone before she died.’
‘But she died by drowning? She wasn’t … killed … and then dumped in the water?’ Rob asks.
Nunes nods. ‘She drowned.’
I struggle to draw a breath and fight the nausea rising up my throat.
‘So someone pushed her in then,’ I deduce. ‘She fought with someone and they pushed her. Or they hit her and she fell in and …’ I break off, having to put my hand on Rob’s arm to steady myself. ‘But who? Who would do that?’
Nunes doesn’t have an answer. ‘You need to come to the police station,’ he says.
I blink rapidly, my heart starting to beat fast and a bead of sweat beginning to trickle down my spine. ‘Why?’