‘So, Jessica, coming back to my point. When you say they’ll find you, perhaps now you can understand why that really is never going to happen. Because quite soon, there will be absolutely nothing left of you to find.’

Chapter Fifty-Three

The whole way in the taxi from Knowle, Dani fretted about what would await her when she arrived at her apartment. It wasn’t just what Jason had said to her on the phone, but the way he’d said it. Like he didn’t trust her. Like he really thought she had something to do with the murders. Like he half expected her to do something stupid now.

But then, could she really trust him? What she’d just learned from Georgia Draper put quite a different spin on the tale of Jessica Bradford. Someone was lying to her. Was it Steven Grant, who definitely had lied about Jessica? Jason? Someone else within the police?

She got out of the taxi outside her apartment block without incident. There were no flashing lights, no gaggle of policemen and policewomen lying in wait to haul her into jail. Just Jason, standing by the outer doors to the building, his head ducked down into the collar of his thick overcoat.

‘Dani, about bloody time. I’m freezing my bollocks off here.’

‘It was your choice to wait there,’ Dani said, with not an ounce of sympathy.

She moved past Jason and opened the door then stepped inside, not bothering to turn to look whether he would follow. She walked over to the lift and pressed the button, her eyes focused only on the closed lift doors. When they opened she looked around to see that Jason was indeed right there behind her.

They rode up without speaking, and Dani kept her eyes front and centre, though she felt Jason watching her the whole time. They exited on the sixth floor and walked in silence to Dani’s apartment. Only once they’d both stepped inside and Jason had shut the door behind him, was the silence finally broken.

‘You’ve got some explaining to do,’ Jason said.

Dani didn’t like the way he said it. ‘Do I?’ She stomped away, into the lounge. Jason followed a step behind.

‘Yes, you bloody do. What’s going on, Dani?’

Dani stopped halfway into the lounge and looked over at the dark windows, the orange of streetlights and the apartments across the water visible beyond the glass. She didn’t turn to face Jason.

‘I really have no idea.’

‘You’re going to need to think of a better explanation than that.’

She spun around. ‘An explanation for what?’

‘For the notes.’

‘What? Of course you found my prints on them, I picked the damn things up! Are you saying you think I wrote them?’

‘Did you?’

Dani glared at Jason as hard and as coldly as she could. ‘I’m not even going to answer that.’