Page 104 of A Game of Lies

Ceri grinned. ‘Only when there’s apanedin the offing.’

As the kettle boiled, Henry’s heart rate returned to normal, and a slow smile spread across his face. Phase one of his plan was complete.

Now, Henry hears Miles’s shouts – Henry’sownshouts – ring out across the courtyard, and he knows with a sinking dread exactly what has happened. His voice clips have been discovered. Someone has worked out how Henry pulled off what he’d thought was the perfect crime.

He looks outside, expecting to see dozens of police, but there is only Detective Constable Morgan, leaving Miles’s studio and setting off at a run towards the camp. Is it possible, he thinks, with a desperate spark of hope, that DC Morgan is the only one who knows that Henry killed Miles?

Henry doesn’t hesitate.

He follows her.

PART THREE

FORTY

TUESDAY | LEO

‘What was that?’ Leo looks at George, who is already pushing back her chair.

‘It sounded like …’ Her words tail off, ending in a self-conscious laugh.

‘Like Miles being attacked.’ Leo shakes his head. ‘Which obviously it can’t be.’ They run out to the courtyard, where the stable doors are opening and people are spilling into the courtyard. Leo sees Ceri, Jason, Pam … it’s as though they’ve been plunged into a reconstruction of Miles’s murder, and for a single insane moment Leo wonders if they’ve all imagined it: some kind of collective delirium brought on by long days and lack of sleep.

‘Who was that?’ Pam says, looking at Leo.

‘Is it happening again?’ Aliyah has wet hair; one eye made-up and the other bare. ‘Has there been another murder?’ Her voice rises and her panic spreads through the others like fire. ‘Is everyone okay?’

‘Miles’s studio door is open,’ George says. Suddenly, she starts herding everyone to the opposite side of the courtyard. ‘Get back! Everyone stay back!’ She draws her baton and Leo does the same, and the two of them approach the converted stable from opposite sides, their focus switching between the open door and each other.

‘Police!’ George shouts, when they’re a few strides away, but from the angle Leo is approaching he can see into the studio. There’s no one there.

‘Could Miles have somehow recorded his own murder?’ George says, once they have searched the tiny room – in the shower room, under the bed – and established it is indeed empty. ‘And the system had some kind of a glitch and played it?’

‘Have you seen Ffion?’ comes a voice through the open door.

‘You were told to stay—’ Leo stops when he sees Caleb standing there. He has Dave with him, straining at the lead. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Looking for Ffion, so I can get rid ofthis.’ Caleb holds the end of the lead away from his body, as though Dave is radioactive. ‘She didn’t say how long she’d be, and the dog won’t stop whining for her.’

‘She’s working from home today,’ Leo says shortly. DCI Boccacci had emailed this morning to say that Ffion had been replaced by Alun Whitaker, who would join the DCI in the incident room. The tone of her email didn’t invite further questions.

‘No, she’s not.’

‘I assure you she—’

‘Then why did she need me to watch Dave?’

It’s a fair comment. Leo feels a familiar sense of trepidation in the pit of his stomach. Surely Ffion wouldn’t go rogue again, so soon after what she did with Ceri’s envelope?

Caleb is still talking. ‘… and Ceri said she saw her just now.’

‘What?’ Caleb has Leo’s full attention now.

‘Ceri’s room is number six.’ Caleb points to the stable two down from where they’re standing. ‘She says Ffion ran past her window not long before the shouting. She was worried something had happened to her, but Pam pointed out it was a man’s voice shouting, so—’

Leo and George exchange glances.

‘Miles must have somehow hit record when he was attacked,’ George says. ‘It’s the only explanation. Ffion must have found the recording and played it.’

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