Part of me wondered if I should have just let him in and heard what he had to say, but I was scared of the outcome. If he really had changed, how would I feel about the new, improved version of Mike? And if he hadn’t, would he go straight back to his old ways once I’d invited him over the threshold?

Chapter 21

My phone went off at two a.m. and I considered ignoring it. Singh’s name flashed up, however, so I sat up in bed and answered.

‘Hi, Paige. Did I wake you?’

‘It’s two in the morning,’ I replied. ‘Of course you woke me. What’s up?’

‘I’ve had a call from Lincolnshire police. An alarm has gone off at the school in the middle of the night. They sent a couple of uniforms out and it seems it could be related to our case. They’ve passed it on to us, and Forest has requested I go down there.’

‘So that means I have to go too,’ I said, my voice weary.

‘If you don’t mind?’ I could tell from his voice that he didn’t want to go either, but at least it’d be easier if I agreed to go. They’d never get another interpreter in the middle of the night.

‘Okay. Want me to meet you there?’

‘I’ll pick you up.’

Fifteen minutes later, we were on the road to Lincoln. Anna had been fast asleep when I left, so I wrote her a note and stuck it to the fridge, in case she woke up and found me gone. It was a battle to stay awake, and Singh and I couldn’t even play many car games because there were so few other vehicles on the road at that time.

‘What happened, do we know?’ I asked.

‘There was a break-in of some sort,’ he replied.

‘Why do we need to go now, instead of just sorting it out in the morning?’

‘That one I can’t answer. Lincolnshire apparently insisted that they wanted someone as soon as possible.’

I yawned in response.

When we arrived at the school, there was a police car sitting outside the main entrance, and lights on in a couple of the offices, so we went inside. There we found Liz Marcek and Cassie sitting with two uniformed officers, whose eyes lit up when we walked in.

‘DS Singh,’ he said, introducing himself. ‘What’s the problem?’

‘We haven’t been able to get anyone to interpret, so we haven’t really got to the bottom of it, sir,’ one of the PCs replied.

‘Where’s Mike?’ I asked, signing the question as well as speaking. ‘He could have at least helped out until I arrived.’

It’s Mike’s evening off, Liz replied. I’m not sure where he is. I’ve tried to reach him, but he hasn’t responded to my message.