Page 100 of The Girl in the Woods

‘I’ve got the message,’ said Ana, looking into the rear-view mirror before pulling away.

Lisa and her friends were swaggering along and laughing loudly. Then, as they turned into the pub, Ana remembered.

‘Ana!’ Beth yelled.

Ana looked up to see she had swayed onto the wrong side of the road. ‘Shit,’ she said, swerving. ‘Sorry, it’s the headache.’ But she knew it wasn’t the headache. It was everything happening at once and happening too fast.

‘I’m not sure you’re safe to drive, Ana. Look, here’s my place. Let me call you a cab, and you can collect your car tomorrow.’

Ana had no choice but to agree.

‘Anything you don’t eat by the way?’ asked Beth.

Ana shook her head and felt like a knife just sliced through it. ‘I eat anything,’ she said, struggling not to think of food.

‘Great,’ said Beth. ‘Here’s your cab. Rest that head.’

Beth’s phone rang just as she pushed the key into the lock of the cottage. ‘DS Harper,’ she said answering it.

‘I lied.’

Beth stopped with the key halfway in the lock. ‘Who is this?’

There was silence, and Beth waited for the inevitable hang-up.

‘It’s Leigh Moulson. I lied about that night the trail bike got smashed up. Will wasn’t home. He didn’t get home until late after the fair either.’

Beth made a note to check with Ray. Hadn’t she asked him to see that Will got home okay? ‘Why are you telling me this now?’

Leigh started weeping. ‘I don’t know. He gets so angry sometimes and…’

Beth pulled the key out of the lock. ‘Does he hit you?’

Leigh sounded shocked. ‘Oh no. He’s a rough diamond. I know that, but he’s not a wife-beater. It’s just, well, I know he doesn’t do everything by the book, but I know he wouldn’t kill someone, but he was angry about the bike. We had put up with it for a long time, you know.’

‘Well, thank you for telling me.’

‘You won’t tell him it was me, will you?’

Beth assured her she wouldn’t and hung up.

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

She should have told Beth, but it would have sounded so unlikely that Ana felt sure she wouldn’t have believed her.

Ana sent the text. She knew the reply would be instant, and she knew he wouldn’t resist. He was weak. Ana had picked up on that immediately. Part of her empathised with him, but only a tiny part. He should have been stronger. But everyone had a right to explain themselves, even him. The least she could do was give him time to do that before she reported it. She downed a glass of water and waited patiently.

It was funny how things come to you, thought Vanessa. After all this time, it took a television programme to bring it all back. Tim had brought home a curry. He did that sometimes if he worked late. So they’d finished it with half a bottle of wine from a few nights before.

‘Any news on who attacked that poor girl?’ she asked Tim.

Tim broke a poppadum in half and shook his head. ‘Not yet.’

‘I wish they’d find that vigilante. It frightens me.’

‘They will,’ he assured her.

Tim washed up, and Vanessa took the leftover poppadums and wheeled her chair to face the TV. Tonight was the last episode of a detective drama she’d been watching. She finished the poppadums while she waited for Tim.

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