Liam had no intention of inviting her inside, but he wasn’t going without one last attempt to figure out what was going on.

‘So are you going to tell me what’s up?’

The briefest hesitation told him she was debating how best to answer his question, while the shifting of her eyes and the pursing of her lips suggested she had decided against the truth. ‘Nothing’s up. It’s been a stressful weekend and I’m tired.’

‘You’ve barely spoken to me since leaving the barn.’

‘I’ve had a lot of my mind to deal with. Going back to the farm, to where it happened, wasn’t easy. It’s not you.’ She raised her hand to her face, rubbing her thumb along her jawline as her gaze sloped away. She was definitely lying.

He decided to push a little further. ‘Okay. So do you want to catch up tomorrow?’

‘I don’t know. I have a busy week with the dogs. I’ll check my schedule.’

Non-committal, cool, and lying again. He would get to the bottom of what was going on, but right now wasn’t the time. If he pushed too hard, she would likely shut him out completely, and he didn’t want to risk that. He had made too much progress to throw it all away.

‘Fine. I’ll leave it with you.’ He took the knife from the glovebox, let Tank out of the rear seat, and grabbed his bag. ‘I’ll catch up with you later.’

He didn’t look back as he headed towards the house, but knew she lingered for a moment watching him, before turning the car around and driving away.

Once inside, he shook the rain from his hair and turned on the radio, welcoming the music that cut through the silence. There had been too much of that over the last hour. He checked his phone; saw he had a couple of missed calls. One from his mother, the other from a number he didn’t recognise. Deciding to ignore both, he fed Tank and was about to fire up his MacBook when the song that was playing ended and the radio station cut to the news headlines.

‘The body of a woman who was found on Friday has been identified as Lauren Bell.’

Liam stilled, aware of the tension building in his shoulders as the word ‘suspicious’ was said, before the newscaster went on to explain that police wanted to speak with a man in connection.

His mind worked overtime as he processed the news and its implications.

Lauren’s body had been found.

He had been planning on catching up with work, but his focus was broken and he knew he wouldn’t be able to concentrate. Did Hannah know? He needed to go after her.

A knock at the door had him looking up. Was she back?