‘It’s nothing.’ The girl had turned away, angry and ashamed. She hadn’t come in to work the following day, or ever again.

Gail turned off the shower, wrapped a towel around her. Stared at the image in the mirror. A middle-aged woman stared back at her, with crow’s feet and sagging breasts.

This is fucking ridiculous.

She stopped. There was movement outside the door, she heard the floorboards creak. The en-suite door was paper thin: the lock looked like it was from a doll’s house.

In one of his many ramblings, Karl had said that the police were assuming that Simeon’s killer was the same as Alexia’s, although goodness knows where he got that information from. Snapchat, or something equally juvenile probably. Whatever the source of his amateur musings, it seemed to Gail entirely possible that the killers were different. Entirely possible.

And given that Simeon’s death spelt virtual ruin for The Real Byte’s case, did the finger of suspicion in Alexia’s case not plainly point to Tomas? He had the most to lose. They all had an alibi for Simeon’s murder. But they hadn’t been questioned about Alexia’s. Not yet.

But Bella had been hit in the face, and she didn’t even know it was Tomas that had been her attacker. Alexia Elias had been mutilated.

The more Gail twisted the idea around in her head, the more it started to take a recognisable shape. Tomas – after finding out that Simeon had been murdered, takes matters into his own hands – murders Alexia.

But what to do? Tell the police? She had not one scrap of evidence. Tell Charlie Priest? No, she still didn’t fully trust the lawyer not to be on Tomas’s side.

She listened at the door, the movement had stopped. Was he in the bedroom? She held her breath, the light seeping under the door had been broken by two shadows.

She put her hand on the door, ready to push against it if need be, but after a minute or so, the shadow disappeared and Gail breathed out again.

*

Priest emerged from the phone like a free diver finally coming up for air, sucking in the sweet-tasting oxygen and being thankful for it, but also knowing that the sight of the coral on the seabed would never be surpassed.

He had given the phone to Solly with instructions to see if he could unearth anything other than the instant message exchange. There seemed to be some other files, but he was unfamiliar with the phone’s software and couldn’t get into them.