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Back Perfect Ten Save as PDF
Chapters (45)
  1. Chapter One
  2. Chapter Two
  3. Chapter Three
  4. Chapter Four
  5. Chapter Five
  6. Chapter Six
  7. Chapter Seven
  8. Chapter Eight
  9. Chapter Nine
  10. Chapter Ten
  11. Chapter Eleven
  12. Chapter Twelve
  13. Chapter Thirteen
  14. Chapter Fourteen
  15. Chapter Fifteen
  16. Chapter Sixteen
  17. Chapter Seventeen
  18. Chapter Eighteen
  19. Chapter Nineteen
  20. Chapter Twenty
  21. Chapter Twenty-one
  22. Chapter Twenty-two
  23. Chapter Twenty-three
  24. Chapter Twenty-four
  25. Chapter Twenty-five
  26. Chapter Twenty-six
  27. Chapter Twenty-seven
  28. Chapter Twenty-eight
  29. Chapter Twenty-nine
  30. Chapter Thirty
  31. Chapter Thirty-one
  32. Chapter Thirty-two
  33. Chapter Thirty-three
  34. Chapter Thirty-four
  35. Chapter Thirty-five
  36. Chapter Thirty-six
  37. Chapter Thirty-seven
  38. Chapter Thirty-eight
  39. Chapter Thirty-nine
  40. Chapter Forty
  41. Chapter Forty-one
  42. Chapter Forty-two
  43. Chapter Forty-three
  44. Chapter Forty-four
  45. Acknowledgements

‘Of course. You can do it now, if you want. If you give me a lift home we can all go together.’

She smiles. This is brilliant. She gets her proof to present to you – how annoying is that, Jack? – and I get everything recorded. Perfect.

Chapter Thirteen

We’re in the car on the way to my house and DS Percy is in the front, the young PC who’s driving us is eyeballing me in the mirror. I’m not worried because they won’t find anything. The hole has a thick layer of soil above it and the fire pit was actually designed to be submerged. They’ll never find it.

I watch as the city turns to town and the town turns to leafy suburbs, a mixture of terraces and semi-detached like mine. I’m at the better end of town. After all, two generous post-graduate salaries could afford a lot of house round here.

I haven’t processed what you’ve done yet. It hasn’t sunk in properly. I haven’t had a chance to fully analyse it, and why you did it. It suddenly strikes me that you must have been sneaking around, watching me through someone else’s camera lens. For one horrible second I think you’ve seen the hole, seen me putting things into it and taking things out. Then I remember the fucking dog next door. I would have heard it. Also, the game would be up. You’d have told the police where I had hidden the journal and your bag and I’d be in court by now.

You don’t know about the hole. But you know me, and you know that I’ll never give up until I succeed. If you did know about the hole, I wouldn’t be sitting here in this car now. The rest of it, well, I can think about that later on because here we are. Home.

DS Percy gets out of the car. A police van has followed us and everyone gets out and stands on my drive while I find my keys. I can see the neighbours’ curtains twitching, but I don’t care because this is exactly what I need to happen. To be seen to be innocent. I turn the key in the lock and DS Percy is behind me. I turn round in the hallway.

‘It’s a bit …’

She nods and smiles. She puts her hand on my arm. Perfect.

‘It’s fine. Don’t worry. We’ll soon be out of your way.’

I watch as the rest of the officers stare at the hundreds of Amazon boxes. They look at DS Percy for guidance. It’s fairly obvious that they’re here to search not just for the journal, but for the stolen goods from the Premier Inn rooms.