‘You fixed it? Why?’
‘It’s my dad’s job. He fixes cars.’
‘Oh, I see. You mean in a garage?’
‘Yes. He doesn’t own it, though. It belongs to Gavin.’
Gavin. Where had she heard that name recently?
‘Gavin who?’
‘Crossland. Gavin Crossland.’
Hannah racked her brain. She definitely knew that name. Crossland.
And then she made the connection. Crossland Garage. She had spoken to Mr Crossland about the Toyota.
What was it the Toyota’s owner had said? Something about Gavin Crossland’s colleague having a name like the polar explorer.
‘Daniel,’ she said, ‘what’s your dad’s first name?’
‘Scott. And my mum’s called Gemma.’
Scott.
As in Scott of the Antarctic.
Shit.
She looked through the story again, in time order now. Daniel with his dad at the garage, then the cinema, then going home and meeting someone in the lift who turned out to be a bad guy. And then . . .
She remembered what Ben had suggested to her. That perhaps the homicide she was investigating wasn’t a targeted execution at all. That perhaps it was simply the result of a chance encounter.
Could it be possible?
She pointed to the end panel of the story again.
‘This bad guy. Do you know him? Do you know his name?’
Daniel squirmed. ‘I’m not supposed to talk about it.’
‘It’s all right, Daniel. You can tell me. We’re friends, aren’t we?’
He nodded.
‘So what’s his name?’
It took him a few seconds, and even though she knew what was coming, it still shocked her.
‘Joey Cobb.’
She stared at him.
Oh my God, she thought.
Oh my good God.
52
Scott knew he was a changed man. You couldn’t go through something like this and not be altered by it.
He expected he would have nightmares and flashbacks. He would be overwhelmed with guilt. He had seen things he had never wanted to see, done things he had never wanted to do.
He consoled himself with the hope that time would gradually heal him. He would eventually look back at this week of his life in disbelief. Even now it seemed almost surreal. He would never be able to forget, but it would come to feel like something he once dreamt.
That was his hope.
He knew he would be able to live with the pain, because he had won. Daniel and Gemma were out of danger. Life could return to normal.
Normality was all he’d ever wanted from the beginning.
He reached the door of his flat. Found his keys. Opened up. The familiarity of home made him suddenly appreciate how tired he was. He needed his bed. But first he needed his family.
Gemma jumped when he appeared in the living room, and he realised what a mess he must look, his clothes caked in mud.
He started towards her, a reassuring smile on his face. ‘It’s okay,’ he told her. ‘It’s finally over. I promise you, it’s all sorted.’
But she did not smile back. She looked pale and scared, almost as though she didn’t want him here.
