Page 121 of The Half Sister

Wood’s murder – husband cleared.

The salacious headlines are mainly from Yorkshire’s local newspapers, but ‘Killer on the loose’ ran in her own paper. ‘Shit!’ she says before reading the body of the article to Lauren and Matt.

‘Frank Woods, the husband of Julia Woods, who was found murdered in her home in Harrogate, Yorkshire, two years ago, has been released without charge. Mr Woods was the prime suspect for his wife’s murder since absconding and being traced to Spain. But following his extradition and subsequent questioning, Yorkshire police have said that he is no longer part of their inquiries. The hunt for Mrs Wood’s killer goes on.’

None of them say a word. Their expressions say more than enough.

48

Lauren

Now that Lauren’s stopped moving, sweat is springing to her pores, making a track down the length of her spine. She fans out her shirt with one hand, whilst the other trembles as she dials Jess’s number again, not sure whether she wants her to pick up or not.

She answers on the third ring, but now that she has her, Lauren doesn’t know what to say and looks to Kate wide-eyed.

‘Find out where she is,’ hisses Kate under her breath.

‘Listen, where are you?’ starts Lauren. ‘I need to see you.’

‘Did you see the article?’ asks Jess, ignoring the question.

‘Yes, I did,’ says Lauren.

‘It’s caused quite a stir,’ says Jess tightly.

Lauren wants to ask how, but she doesn’t want to alert her to anything she doesn’t already know.

‘I’m sure,’ she says.

Kate nods at her and rolls her hand over to encourage her to get to the point.

‘Look, I really do need to see you,’ she says. ‘Weneed to see you.’

‘We?’ asks Jess, and Lauren grimaces. She should have kept it simple, not made it out to be the big deal that it is. Kate looks as if she’s holding her breath. ‘Me and Kate,’ Lauren goes on. ‘Are you at home?’

‘Aren’t I the popular one?’ Jess says. ‘First the police and now you and Kate.’

Lauren’s sure her heart’s stopped beating. ‘The police?’ she says numbly, and Kate closes her eyes, letting her head fall backwards. ‘What didtheywant?’

‘They think they might have some news on my mother,’ says Jess.

Lauren goes into fight or flight mode; her head battling against itself to do the right thing. Does she offer this young girl solace in a world that has been so cruel to her? Or does she protect her family, at all costs, no matter what they may have done?

‘Wow...that’s amazing news!’ she says, trying her best to sound upbeat, but the pretence lies thick on her tongue.

‘Yeah,’ agrees Jess sombrely. ‘I’m going down to the police station now as they want to take a DNA sample and tell me what’s going on.’

‘Why don’t I come with you?’ says Lauren, at a loss for anything else. She can’t let Jess, a young girl she’s come to care a great deal about, face the news of her mother’s murder alone. ‘Where are you? I’ll come and meet you. You don’t want to do this on your own.’

Jess sniggers. ‘You make it sound like I’m a lamb going to slaughter. Do you know something I don’t?’

An oppressive heat bears down on Lauren and she’s grateful for the rush of air the oncoming train brings with it. Kate and Matt look at her with raised eyebrows, both of them questioning whether they’re getting on or not.

‘Of course not,’ laughs Lauren awkwardly, shrugging her shoulders. ‘I just think you should have somebody with you. Tell me which police station you’re heading to and I’ll meet you there.’

‘Oh that’s really sweet of you,’ gushes Jess. ‘I’m going to—’

‘Jess?’ calls out Lauren as a silence fills the line. ‘Jess?’

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