Page 117 of Making a Killing

‘An app to do what?’ asks Sargent.

He glances at her. ‘You know, to track her phone.’

‘You had her number, then?’

He nods. ‘WhatsApp.’

‘And what did that tell you?’

He’s stroking the dog again. ‘She’d told me she was in Norwich or somewhere. Only she wasn’t.’

Ev nods. ‘So where was she?’

He looks up. ‘Belfast.’

‘And what happened then?’

‘That woman came here – like you said. Mum and Dad were at Gran’s. But what you said – that wasn’t right. I didn’t know – not before that.’

He drops his head, wipes his eyes. ‘I remembered, after that woman had gone, something Melanie said. The pretend Melanie. About how I shouldn’t think badly of myself just because my sister had been horrible to me when I was a kid. But I’d never said who it was. I’d never said it was my sister. That’s when I thought – maybe it was her. Maybe she was Daisy.’

‘What happened next?’

He flashes a look at Jean; her knuckles are white.

‘A few days later, when I looked at Melanie’s phone on the app, it wasn’t in Belfast any more.’

‘Where was it?’

‘In Dublin, then in the sea, so she must have been on a ferry. She couldn’t have been on a plane. You have to turn your phone off.’

‘So you knew that, whoever Melanie really was, she was coming here.’

He nods. ‘I thought it might be connected. With that Robin woman.’ He bites his lip. ‘I was scared. I thought if they let Sharon out I’d have to go back and live with her.’

Jean reaches forward and grasps his hand; there are tears in her eyes. ‘You know that would never happen – weloveyou –’

Gary’s lip is trembling now. ‘But you haven’t adopted me, not like they did.’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ says Phil stoutly. ‘There’s no way anyone would send you back to that woman. Not after all this time.’

But Gary might not have known that, thinks Ev, her heart sinking. And even if he’s nearly eighteen, he’s not there yet, and until then he’d still be classed as in care. Maybe, in his mind, if Daisy stayed dead everything would just go back to how it was before. And if Robin was dead too, then no one would even be looking –

No,she tells herself,don’t go there – he just isn’t capable –

‘Why didn’t youtalkto us?’ pleads Jean, the tears spilling over now. ‘We could have reassured you – explained everything –’

Too late now.

‘So you worked out where “Melanie” went, when she got to England? You could see from the tracker?’

He nods.

‘And you went there? You saw her?’

He looks away. ‘She was in Evesham. She must have gone there from the ferry. The next morning was a Saturday so I said I was going to football.’

‘But you went to Evesham.’

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