Carson, with all his time surfing true-crime forums, had learned a lot of useful things. He thought of everything, while I stumbled behind, my brain soggy with shock. This is why it’s so hard to cover up a murder. Most people are so shaken by what they’ve done, the act of taking a life, that they can’t think straight. They make mistakes. And I would have too, if not for Carson. I had saved him all those years ago, and now he saved me.

He wiped the last hour off the shelter CCTV, apparently quite easy to do if you knew how. He said he’d drive Alex’s car to near Manchester airport and leave it there – he’d even thought to take the keys and phone from Alex’s pocket before we sank him.

‘They can track the phone,’ he explained. ‘I’ll leave that in the car too.’

‘They’ll know,’ I said. ‘They’ll see this was the last place he came.’

‘Well, that makes sense – he might have been looking for you. To shut you up.’

‘He was,’ I said, a wave of shock hitting me again. ‘He was going to kill me.’

‘There you are then.’ He squeezed my hand, and his was wet from the cloth he’d been wringing out, to remove any prints Alex might have left on the door coming in. ‘We just have to get through the night, Casey, that’s all. Just one night.’

Casey

Casey

OCTOBER 2000

‘You stupid cow,’ said Jenna, down the phone. I flinched. Had she understood what I’d said?

‘Mum, he was going to kill us. Me and the baby!’

‘You didn’t have to bloody go and shoot him, did you? What’s going to happen now? You’re in America – you’ll go down for life!’

‘But – it’s self-defence!’ I was shaking, struggling to hold the baby. He was grizzling and squirming against me. ‘Isn’t that a thing?’

‘You really want to risk it? Don’t they have the death penalty there?’

‘Do they?’ I had no idea. ‘Mum, what do I do? Please help me!’

Jenna let out a long sigh. ‘Don’t tell them anything. You came home, they were all dead. They can’t prove someone else didn’t do it. Some stranger. It’s America – there’s all kind of loonies there.’

‘But – are you sure I shouldn’t just tell them the truth?’

‘Don’t be an idiot. You led him on, didn’t you? Flashing your legs at him, batting your eyelashes. You think they won’t blame you for that?’

She was right. Carson suddenly felt very heavy against me. ‘So – just say I came back?’