Page 102 of The Girl in the Woods

From the satisfied look on his face, she knew he thought he was on to a good thing.

‘I had a drink with the boss tonight,’ she said.

She saw his face cloud over slightly. He’s wondering where this is going.

‘Harper or Miller?’ he asked.

‘Harper, we went to the local. You’ll never guess who we saw?’

He looked uneasy and began fidgeting in his seat. ‘No idea,’ he said, trying to sound disinterested.

‘Your wife, with her friends. They’re having a girlie night.’

He sighed with relief. Ana, horror-stricken, then realised Luke thought she had invited him over because his wife was out.

‘Yeah, she does that.’ He smiled. ‘They like their little girlie night drinks.’

‘Beth asked me to drop the Vanessa hit and run,’ she said, getting up to refill her glass. God, her head hurt.

‘Probably a good move.’

She stood in the archway that led from the living room to the kitchen. ‘The thing is, I can’t,’ she said.

He frowned. Ana could tell he fancied her but was wary of her at the same time. He placed his glass on the coffee table.

‘If Beth Harper said to drop it, then you should.’

She sighed and shook her head. ‘You see, I can’t. The problem is I know who did it, and so do you.’

His expression changed in an instant. His face turned white as if an invisible paintbrush had stroked across it. His eyes narrowed, and Ana heard the crack of his knuckles. He stood up abruptly. ‘I don’t know what on earth you’re talking about.’

‘I have photos of the car.’ Ana knew this was a huge bluff, and she couldn’t be sure he would fall for it. ‘You missed a private security camera in Somerville Road with footage of the accident. Your wife was driving the car, wasn’t she? Her fluffy pink handbag with her initials on it was on the passenger seat. I remember seeing her with it at the fair. You’ve been covering for her. The longer the cover went on, the harder it became to tell the truth because your job would have been on the line, wouldn’t it?’

Luke slammed his glass onto the coffee table and started for the door. ‘I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.’

‘The CCTV camera in Bladon photographed your car. That’s why you destroyed the evidence.’

He turned to face her. ‘This is bollocks, and you know it.’

Ana sighed. She needed to get to bed and take something for the blinding headache. ‘It’s not bollocks, and you know it, Luke. I can understand why you’d want to cover for her. She’s your wife. I didn’t want to be the one to tell Miller. I thought it would be better coming from you. They’ll understand you must have been under a lot of stress and–’

She stopped. He was glaring at her, and the anger in his eyes unnerved her.

‘If you’d kept your bloody nose out of it, everything would have been fine. You don’t know what Lisa’s been through since it happened or what I’ve been through. I had to protect my wife.’

At last, she’d got him to admit it. Ana put a hand to her head. She felt light-headed.

‘I’m begging you, don’t tell anyone?’ he pleaded.

Ana sat down before she fell. ‘You scrapped the car, Luke. You took it to Robbie Benson’s, didn’t you? I could tell from his face he was hiding something when we questioned him. Your wife left a crime scene, and you destroyed evidence,’ she said wearily. ‘I’ll let you tell your side of the story. It will look better for you.’

Ana was taken by surprise when he pulled her from the chair and shook her roughly. ‘Don’t you understand, you stupid bitch?’ he yelled. ‘I’ll lose my job, my pension. We’ll have to leave the village. All her friends are here and–’

It felt like pebbles were crashing around in her head. ‘Luke, please. I think you should leave.’ She tried to pull away from him, but his grip was tight. His fingers dug into her arm muscles.

‘I can’t let you tell them about Vanessa. Our lives will be ruined.’

The trilling of her phone silenced them both. Ana grabbed it before Luke could stop her, but he snatched it from her and threw it to the ground. Ana only hoped she’d managed to push the answer button and hadn’t hit end call instead.

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