She notices fresh flowers piled up beside the front gate: some roses and a sheaf of daisies. Alex’s death has stirred up the old grief. People don’t know where to put their symbols of sadness, so they return to the scene of the original crime.

‘Imagine living in a place where someone died like that.’ Cooper makes a face. ‘Gross.’

‘Well, maybe that’s why it’s for lease. Murder isn’t exactly a selling point.’

He grabs his phone and starts prodding at the screen. ‘Wow, I don’t think it’s sold since Evelyn died. I guess the owners just figured it was easiest to keep renting it out.’

‘We should go,’ Oli says. Pressure is building in her chest. ‘I’ll drop you home.’

‘It’s kind of out of your way.’

‘It’s fine.’

‘Well, sure, that would be great.’ He stretches his legs. ‘The longer I can spend in this car the better. I got a BMW one of the few times I’ve ordered an Uber. That was cool. It’s maybe the best car I’ve ever been in, but it was only a ten-minute trip.’

Oli pulls away from the kerb. They pass the block of land where a prostitute was found beaten to death a few weeks before Evelyn died. Jo didn’t invite Oli to the scene that morning; she took TJ instead. Those weeks were frenzied: the second prostitute murder, the Carter child snatched from her bedroom, Oli’s secret dates with Dean. She was deliciously exhausted, running on empty but high from the constant stimulation, the anticipation of Dean, the rollercoaster of the news cycle.

Cooper seems intent on getting his inner monologue out. ‘Another big day tomorrow, huh? I really hope I can sleep tonight—sometimes I have trouble going to sleep, but once I’m out, I’m out. So the trick is getting relaxed enough to trick myself into just nodding off. I told you about that app I’m using, didn’t I?’

Circling her fingers around the volume knob on the stereo, Oli turns it to the right, unsubtly drowning him out. As she drives, the Paradise Street house looms fresh in her mind, and Mitchell Stanley’s accusation echoes through her thoughts. Those lazy fuckers only got half a killer.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

OLI ALL BUT BOOTS COOPER OUT OF THE CAR, THEN WATCHES HIM in the rear-view mirror as he wrestles the bike off the tow bar. She can’t quite make out his house in the dark but sees a large lemon tree in the front yard. A soft light is angled from one of the eaves into the garden, revealing a statue next to the bottom step.