Page 62 of The Last One to See Him

This doesn’t make sense. Why would Dexter have Jamie’s ring? Jamie never took it off, at least not in the house. Harper has no idea what he did with it when he wasn’t here. All part of his act. Perhaps he did leave it here that night; it’s plausible given that he was going to that bar in Putney to meet Kate. Dexter must have found it and kept hold of it. But why wouldn’t he mention it? Harper studies the engraving again, picturing Jamie’s laugh as he’d made his suggestion for their rings.We don’t have to be the same as everyone else. Love doesn’t conform to rules – it can’t be caged.

Then Harper sees the speck of dark red blood opposite the engraving.

Numb with shock, her mind whirs with all the possibilities of what this means, and she rushes downstairs, clutching the ring so tightly it digs into her skin.

‘Dexter!’ She bursts into the living room. ‘What are you doing with this? I found it in your room!’ She tries to keep her voice measured, but panic drowns her words. She holds up the ring.

Dexter stares at it and then at Harper, his eyes wide. ‘I…I found it.’

‘Where?’

A suffocating silence surrounds them. ‘Answer me!’

‘At…at Thomas’s house.’ Dexter only stutters when he’s nervous.

Harper takes a deep breath to calm down, and sitting next to Dexter, she takes his hand. ‘I need to know everything,’ she says. ‘Whatever it is, you can tell me and we’ll work it out together.’

Dexter nods, but takes his time to speak. ‘It was when we had a playdate there. Thomas went to the toilet and I was just…just looking around. I found it. In a drawer in the kitchen.’ He stops, his lips quivering like they do when he’s about to clam up.

Harper puts her arm around him. ‘You’re not in any trouble, Dexter. ‘I just need to know exactly what happened.’

‘I thought it must be Thomas’s mum’s, but then I read the writing and it’s the same as yours. So I knew it was Dad’s. I thought Thomas must have taken it from our house and I didn’t want to get him in trouble so I just took it back. I was scared I’d get into trouble. For going through their stuff.’

‘It’s okay. Everything’s okay. You’re definitely not in any trouble and I won’t say anything that will get Thomas in trouble. He might not have realised what it was.’

‘Who did that to Dad?’ Dexter says, burying his head in her arms, wailing, finally letting out all the emotions he’s been bottling up.

‘I don’t know. But whoever did it will be found out, Dexter. I promise you.’

He takes his time to calm down, but gradually his sobbing subsides and his breathing returns to normal. And once she’s sure he’s okay, Harper smiles.

It’s ten past ten and there’s still no sign of him. He won’t come – he’s washing his hands of this now, walking away because he thinks it’s nothing to do with him. But now she has evidence to show him that he’s wrong. This iseverythingto do with him. She hopes his tardiness is just a precautionary measure. Harper checks on Dexter again, to make sure he’s still asleep.

Finally, at ten seventeen, there’s a knock on the door. Listening to make sure there’s no sound coming from Dexter’s room, Harper rushes to check through the peep hole before she opens the door.

‘Thanks for coming,’ she says.

‘What choice did I have?’

She holds the door open and peers outside. ‘Come in, then.’

Ellis steps inside, and Harper closes the door behind him.

TWENTY-EIGHT

TWO MONTHS AGO

Harper’s been following him for a few days now, cataloguing his every move, getting a feel for him. It’s staggering what you can learn about someone just by following them, learning their routines. All of this was necessary before she could even think about approaching him.

Harper has learned that he works for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Embankment as a senior manager in network information security. She has little idea what it involves, something to do with cyber security, but she does know that he works from home two days a week, and when he comes into the office, he leaves work at around the same time every day. He’s usually on his own, and heads straight for the Tube where he takes the District line to Wimbledon. It’s easy to follow someone when their movements rarely vary.

And this evening she’ll approach him, when he gets off at Wimbledon. There’s a coffee shop by the station and she somehow needs to convince him to go there with her. That will be the tricky part – once he’s in there, the minute she opens her mouth she’ll have his full attention.

But Harper is a stranger – will she even be able to get him alone?

She starts to feel sick as the Tube stops at Southfields, and there are only two more stations to go. But Harper is fully prepared for this moment.

Outside Wimbledon station, she approaches him from behind, and, taking a deep breath, taps him on the shoulder.

---