George manoeuvred the small boat under the shelter of the old stone work in silence, and turned off the engine. He jumped out and closed the gates to the dark night. He worked quickly, taking the material he’d stored there out of a large container on the covered jetty. He wrapped Paul’s body tightly and placed various items inside the package with him. There was an anvil, some large concrete blocks and various metal beams. He worked right at the edge of the enclosed jetty and so each item was fairly easy to manoeuvre; however, when it came to rolling the body into the deep water, it took all his might to pull it off. Finally, Paul plopped over the edge and sank straight to the bottom. A metal grate at the foot of the jetty would prevent the body from floating away, and he’d deal with the problem of what to do with it another day. But for now, the problem of Paul Edderbridge had just disappeared.

He felt nothing.

He’d dispatched a wife-beater who also harmed his kids. Like Bart had harmed kids. And this, he told himself, was why he was doing all of this: to save his child. He knew he’d crossed a line a long time ago, and there was no turning back, if he wanted to see his daughter again.

George checked his runaway thoughts. Stop thinking! He had shit to get done before he could go back to the apartment. The girls would freak out if they saw bits of brain and guts on his jacket. He pulled a large holdall out of the same container and stripped, packing all of the dirty clothes back into it and stepping into clean ones.

He locked the boathouse put the key in his pocket, and got back into his car. Now he had to decide who to pin his future on and call first: Fabian or Vivienne.

Chapter 58

The snow on Thursday morning was thicker and deeper than yesterday, and it was still snowing. Kelly watched from the window as Johnny dug a pathway for her car. There was nothing she wanted more than to curl up by the fire and write the day off, but she had no choice in the matter. Last night, they’d discussed the case after Lizzie had been put to bed, over dinner. Kelly had watched her father in animated conversation with Johnny, and they’d shared stories of their experience of human disasters – Ted in Northern Ireland and Johnny in the Middle East. They were the only two people she knew who could pull off a full-on debate about political history and not argue.