Page 98 of Between the Lies

Robert’s sharp inhale of breath sounded like a sword being unsheathed from its scabbard.

Cheryl reached across the table and gripped Robert’s hand again. Looking straight at him, she said, ‘They believed there was too much blood on scene for Anne to have survived and that the killer moved her from the scene. Finally, the report mentions the knife on which they found Nina’s fingerprints. As an immigrant, the Home Office has your biometrics on record. Thus they suspected Nina of both murders.’

Fucking hell! This was nothing they didn’t already know. Nina dropped her head, trying to hold back a scream of frustration.

‘However’ – Cheryl raised her voice, forcing Nina to look up – ‘the blood they lifted and confirmed as Anne’s had a distinct anomaly to it consistent with being frozen.’

Silence descended over all four of them as that information seeped in. Nina’s head hammered like the beats of electronic dance music. All along, though they’d arrested her on suspicion of murdering two people, they’d only found a single body. And the blood they’d confirmed as Anne’s had been frozen. What did that mean?

Robert straightened in his chair, his skin having lost its colour. ‘Don’t, please.’

When Nina reached for him, he pushed off the chair and stumbled. Joshua caught Robert and helped him back into the chair.

‘Breathe, man!’

Cheryl rushed to Robert’s side and shoved his head between his knees. ‘He’s having a panic attack. Call the paramedics.’

‘N-No!’ Robert spluttered. ‘I… They can’t find us.’

Crouching in front of him so she could see his face, Nina ordered him to breathe. He listened, but she could see the panic in his eyes. She hated it, hated the feeling bubbling inside her at his pain.

‘No, no hospitals. No.’ Robert reached out and gripped Nina’s shoulders.

Nina nodded, caressing his cheeks. She’d have done anything to take his pain away in that moment. ‘Talk to me, Robert.’

His eyes met hers, cracking her heart further. ‘My life has been a lie, Nina, a big fucking lie. I know how they did it.’

CHAPTERFORTY-EIGHT

The reddish-brown granite blended with the cluster of twigs littered in the background. Around it, the world moved – feet scraping against concrete, the odd snap of a camera, hushed voices. Yet Robert didn’t join the dance of the living. He stood still, ice-cold like the stones around him, staring at the golden words.I will not forget you… I have held you in the palm of my hand.

A tear broke free, streaking its way down his cheek then splatting against the ground.

The day he’d met Anne had been overcast like this one. He’d been tasked to go from door to door, asking about an alleged attack on a female who’d phoned the police for help the previous night. Dickheadson had relegated him to doing the paperwork and knocking on doors. In a neighbourhood where uniformed officials were treated like Napoleon, Robert’d had more doors slammed in his face – and nearly a fist – than he could keep a track of.

So after his shift, he’d banged his head against his locker and cursed his job, society and the people who preyed on the vulnerable. And when DCI Shaw had seen him like that, he’d offered Robert a spot in his upcoming enquiry into a sudden rise in cases of violence against women in their area. His mood had turned, and Robert had gone to the pub and met Anne.

Three months later, when the team for the enquiry had finally formed, Robert had given his excuses and refused DCI Shaw’s very alluring offer; Anne didn’t want him risking his life more than he had to.

Robert crossed his arms across his chest. The memory still stung. But the pain hardly compared to what he’d felt when he’d pieced it all together in the pub.

In November 2021, DCI Shaw had asked him again if he’d like to join his team. And a week later, after a year of trying, Anne had told him she’d fallen pregnant.

In mid-December that year, Robert had stood in front of this reddish granite for the first time, lost and grief-stricken.

I will not forget you… I have held you in the palm of my hand.

He’d read the words, he’d demanded his mind forget them because… he hadn’t held the bairn. Hell, he hadn’t even felt it kick or heard its heartbeat. The doctor had shared the statistics, said the first three months in a pregnancy were the riskiest…

Robert had done his best to be there for Anne. But he hadn’t been enough.

In July 2022, DI Clark had taken over the enquiry and reached out to Robert with an offer. Ecstatic, Robert had rushed home to tell Anne, but she’d beaten him to the good news: she was pregnant again.

But in August 2022…

I will not forget you… I have held you in the palm of my hand.

Another tear trickled down his other cheek and joined the previous one on the ground.

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