“We can all pretend it’s not even Christmas Day.” He inclined his head at Leonie. “Then we can have curry and secrets for lunch.”

She stopped smiling and stared at her knees for a while. “I’m not keeping secrets from you, Sam. I won’t, not anymore. It’s a long story, that’s all. Let’s get some sleep first.” Her exhausted eyes were starting to close on their own. She forced them open. “Just so you know, she wakes up early.”

“That’s fine—so do I. Up with the dawn.”

They shared a few more minutes of companionable silence. After a while he disappeared into the back of the boat, returning with two military-style blankets that he handed to her. He closed up the fire and made his way to the cabin, where he shut the partition door with a small click.

Ruby took a swig of her beer, which had gone warm in the heat from the fire. She let her body relax for the first time in days, so that when the tears came, they were a raging wave that closed her throat and made her clap a hand over her mouth to stop the sobs from waking the baby.

CHAPTER

40

NOW

Joanna

Monday, December 24

THE MOMENT THRUPP entered the department, he made a beeline for Joanna. He was holding a sheaf of paper and had a strange look on his face.

“Jo. How are you?”

Harper looked sideways at her superior. She couldn’t remember a single other occasion on which he had asked her how she was.

“I’m fine, sir.”

“This morning was quite shocking, wasn’t it?”

“Well, yes. Just another workday, right? How are you?” She couldn’t remember ever having asked him that question either. Neither of them were small-talk people.

“Oh, good, thanks,” said Thrupp. There was an awkward pause. “Shall we go somewhere a bit more private?”

“Sure.” Every fiber of Joanna’s body screamed that something was very wrong. They went through into her office and shut the door.

“Forensics just sent me this,” said Thrupp. “It’s the fingerprint report for Franks’s flat.”

The alarm bells that had already started ringing in her head got suddenly more urgent.

“Thanks, sir.” She held out her hand for the report, but he didn’t hand it over. She swallowed. “What’s it say?” She thought she could guess what it said.

“Well, it’s very … revealing. It details four separate profiles. One is the fugitive. One is the child, from the size of them. The other two are, presumably, the two women we are searching for. So one of those will be, or might be, called Constance. And the other is this person.”

He opened up the report and placed it on the desk in front of her. He pointed at a name: Ruby Harper.

Harper stared at the report. She cleared her throat a couple of times.