Tom was sitting up in his bed, his face pallid, his fists clenched into balls.

‘Roland,’ he said. ‘Where is she? Where’s Jo?’

‘She’s with Mum and Dad. At their house.’

‘Is she safe?’

He nodded. ‘She’s fine.’

His brother’s hands unclenched and he fell back on the bed.

‘Thank God,’ he said. ‘Alice was going to – she was going to—’

‘I know,’ Roland said. ‘I was there.’

‘You were there? Why?’

‘Your emails were weird. Something seemed off and I got worried, so I drove up. Alice – or whatever her name is – told me you were out walking with Jo, but then I heard Jo crying. Alice threw her in the lake—’

‘She what?’

‘To occupy me so she could get away.’ He sat on Tom’s bed. ‘It’s a long story. But once I was there she figured out that her only option was to run. The police were on their way.’

‘Roland,’ Tom said. ‘If you hadn’t come—’ His voice faltered at the magnitude of what he was saying.

Roland nodded. ‘I know. But I did.’

‘Thank God,’ Tom said. ‘Thank you. What happened to Alice?’

‘She got away.’

Tom’s eyes closed. ‘The police didn’t catch her?’

‘They arrived too late. They’re looking for her. They’ll find her soon enough.’

‘I hope so. I don’t like the thought of her out there.’

‘Me neither. How are you feeling?’

‘Tired. A bit nauseous. But I’m OK, I think. I want to go home. I want to see Jo.’

‘I’ll ask,’ Roland said. ‘Sit tight. And don’t worry. This is over now, Tom.’

DI Wynne

Wynne sat opposite DSI Marie Ryan. Ryan was tapping her desk with the eraser on the end of a yellow pencil.

‘So,’ Ryan said. ‘We lost her.’

‘We’re still looking. We know what vehicle she’s in.’

‘For now.’

Wynne nodded. ‘For now.’

‘And she has a track record of disappearing.’ Ryan winced. ‘This isn’t great, Jane.’

‘Far from it,’ Wynne said. ‘We were very close. But not close enough.’

‘She’s going to pop up somewhere,’ Ryan said. ‘And start killing again. The public know that. They’re scared, and we need her behind bars.’

‘We’ll get her.’

‘If we don’t, we’ll have to hold a press conference,’ Ryan said. ‘Tell people what happened. What should we say?’

Wynne shrugged. ‘The truth.’

‘Which would be?’

‘That we learned the identity of the Crucifix Killer – Alice Sark – and that she was really Andrea Petersen. And all the rest of it. We need to get out in front of this. It’ll come out eventually anyway, so it’s better if it comes from us.’

‘And that she got away.’

Wynne nodded. ‘And that.’

‘Jesus,’ Ryan said. ‘This story’s going to run and run.’

‘Unless we apprehend her.’

‘Yes,’ Ryan said. ‘You work on that. I’ll deal with the rest.’

Monday, 30 August 2021

Tom