Page 57 of Between the Lies

Robert strode through the crowd, elbowing a few people aside. For once in his life, he didn’t care what these eejits thought of him. If they were in his path, they had to move.

He knocked a few old men aside, ignored the abuse hurled at him then finally found the exit. He shoved past a few barely legal teens and ran down the stairs and out into George Square.

The air wasn’t as artic as it had been the last time he’d run through those doors looking for Nina, but it was earlier in the day, the final vestiges of golden light still touching the sky, a last sliver of warmth. The sort Nina’s skin exuded, even in the coldness of the night.

Robert massaged his forehead, trying to soothe out his thoughts, to figure out what was happening inside him.

Logic and emotion. When they held a civil war, all you could do was dance to their whims.

His legs carried him across the square, but he didn’t know if he was heading for Nina’s apartment once more or the dilapidated building.

He’d wanted justice for Anne. But justice at the cost of the woman who’d come to mean something to him – he couldn’t say what his feelings for Nina were, but he had to… had to…

‘Robert, stop!’ Joshua’s hand landed on Robert’s shoulder and pulled him to a stop. ‘Where the fuck are you going?’

‘Leave me the fuck alone,’ Robert roared.

‘We won’t.’ Cheryl stumbled to a stop beside them, her breaths puffing out. ‘Do you know how tough it is to run in heels?’

‘A reason why you shouldn’t follow me.’ Robert shrugged Joshua’s hand away. ‘Go back – get drunk.’

‘After meeting with the officer from the procurator fiscal’s office that’s what I wanted to do,’ Cheryl muttered. ‘But I can’t leave you alone like this. You should be happy, Robert.’

It grated on his nerves. Not because he’d been so wrong but— ‘She can’t have done it. I refuse to believe that my instincts as a cop are so faulty that I’d sleep with my wife’s killer.’

‘She’s a good manipulator,’ Cheryl said. ‘She tricked us all. But evidence doesn’t lie.’

Robert clenched his hands into fists. He’d seen the evidence. But evidence could misdirect. It could be planted. Or hell, it could be misread.

Robert had spent days with Nina. And if there was one thing he did well, it was deal with people. Heunderstoodpeople, just like he understood Nina couldn’t have committed such a double homicide. ‘She didn’t manipulate me. And if she did, why was Shah after her? Why were we attacked when we went back to the crime scene?’

He turned, now striding down the street with purpose, Joshua and Cheryl scampering behind him. Somewhere amidst the frantic squash in his head, mercy poked its head through and he slowed his pace. How women walked in heels he didn’t know, and he certainly didn’t want to nurse Cheryl back to health if she sprained her ankle. The woman was insufferable when she was the one being cared for.

Slowing down also meant Cheryl could yap. And she loved talking.

‘Cons are meant to be believable. Look, Robert, I know you care about her, and her story is convincing. But think – she didn’t actually get hurt during those attacks, did she? Maybe Shah was working for her. And?—’

Robert tuned her out, his mind laser focused. He’d set out to find Anne’s killer. Hell, he’d blamed it on Nina. And Nina was at the crime scene, the only other DNA they’d found besides Anne’s.

Why the hell hadn’t they picked up Jonas’s DNA or any fragments of his body? A fire didn’t help obviously, but that fire hadn’t burned long enough or hot enough to erase evidence of a body.

Besides… ‘Why would Nina need fame?’

Cheryl stopped her nattering. ‘Every reporter wants to advance their careers.’

‘By what, murdering a bunch of people and investigating whodunnit?’ Robert shook his head. ‘Why would she kill her own camera guy?’

‘To show how much danger she was in.’ Joshua shrugged. ‘And she survived despite all the odds. It’s catchy.’

He remembered the reason they’d got along so well at the pub the day they’d met. They’d been toasting the things they’d lost… and she’d been toasting the end of her career – the thing she’d said meant everything to her; the thing she’d left her family for; the thing she’d believed she’d never lose. Unlike people.

If there was one thing these murders hadn’t given her it was a chance of fame – or a step up the career ladder. And Nina was smart. No way would she have survived on her own in a foreign country otherwise. There’s no way she’d have expected to get away with something like that.

‘Dickheadson has the wrong person. I set out to find the truth, and that’s what I intend to do.’

‘You’re looking for trouble.’ Cheryl gripped his arm. ‘There’s only so much I can do to help you.’

‘I don’t need your protection.’ Protection meant boundaries and rules. And he was done playing by other people’s rules, finding space for himself in the boxes they slotted him into. Nina had accused him of not choosing to live the life he wanted. Well, he’d show her. And he’d show Dickheadson.

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