Had someone driven my daughter to her death?

I thought of the picture he’d shown me. What he’d said: ‘Manipulative and narcissistic’, and ‘capable of carrying out acts of extreme violence’. The room swam around me and DI Bradley’s voice faded further into the distance.

I was aware of a strange tingling feeling at the back of my neck, the sudden arrival of a sheen of cold sweat on my brow. I tried to focus – on the sights and sounds in front of me, on the familiar smell of home, on the feeling of Izzy at my feet.

A searing pain seemed to hit me like a lightning bolt, right on the top of my head. I wanted to scream but I was already fading. I tried to stop myself from falling, sideways, the darkness growing as I fell.

I was already unconscious by the time my head hit the stone floor with a sickening thud.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Rachel

Paul looked haggard when he joined us in the hotel. I imagined I didn’t look much better. I didn’t know what to say to him. Or how to act with him. I couldn’t jump straight in asking all the questions I needed to because the girls were with us. They’d been through enough trauma. But it seemed Paul wanted to talk and was in no mood to wait.

Leaving the girls watching the TV in their room, he led me into the second bedroom and closed the door.

‘First of all, you know I didn’t hurt Clare, don’t you? I have nothing to do with what happened to her.’

He looked so sincere. As if it were madness for me ever to have doubted him. I wanted to cling on to that, if only I didn’t know for myself how easy it was to convince someone of a lie.

‘I’m not sure what to believe any more,’ I said. ‘I’m not sure if having you here is the right thing. I’m not sure if being here is the right thing.’

‘Rachel, you know me. You know I’m not perfect and I’d never pretend to be. But I didn’t hurt Clare. I’m not a killer.’ He spat the word ‘killer’ out in a whisper as if it burned him to say it. ‘I couldn’t do that to anyone. I wouldn’t …’

He looked distraught. The part of me who loved him – and a part of me still did love him – ached to comfort him, but the part of me who was aware that our marriage was falling apart around our ears couldn’t bring myself to do so.

He sat down. ‘I know you have questions,’ he said. ‘I know what the police have told you. I know what they’ve shown you, but it’s not what it looks like.’

I snorted. That line.