Page 74 of A Game of Lies

Leo picks up the exhibit bag. ‘Don’t go anywhere,’ he says. Roxy and Owen nod mutely. Leo gestures to Ffion, who follows him outside.

‘Do you think it was Roxy?’ Ffion says, as they cross the courtyard. ‘She thought she’d get away with it, but when Ceinwen turns up wanting to be paid, she panics and decides to “discover” the theft?’

‘I don’t get that vibe from her, do you?’ Leo hands the bagged and tagged tin to a white-suited CSI, who is standing outside the forensics tent. ‘Can you book this in for prints?’

‘Same job?’ The CSI has pulled his paper suit down to the waist and the sleeves trail on the ground. A North Wales Police lanyard around his neck identifies him as Alistair Langham.

‘Possibly.’

‘I’ll need a new budget code if it’s not for the murder job.’

‘In that case it’s definitely for the murder job.’ Leo looks through the open door of the tent. ‘Speaking of which, did you find any evidence of forced entry?’

‘None whatsoever.’

‘Then Miles definitely knew his attacker,’ Leo says. ‘They came to the door, Miles let them in and sat back at his desk, then something happened to—’

‘Not quite.’ Alistair stops him. ‘We can be fairly certain the suspect left via the window, right? You guys were on scene in a matter of minutes and if someone had made off through the courtyard you’d have seen them.’

‘Right,’ Ffion says.

‘Well, you’ll be pleased to know the forensics support that. We found a mark on the outside of the window frame, exactly where you’d grip it to pull yourself through.’

‘Prints?’ Leo says hopefully.

Alistair shakes his head. ‘The mark shows a fabric weave – most likely woollen or a wool mix. Often this will tell us the suspect was wearing gloves, but in this case there are no individual finger marks. I’ve yet to hear of a burglar wearing mittens, so my best guess is a pair of socks.’

So far, so logical. When Leo worked in Liverpool, half the kids he nicked wore socks on their hands when they broke into cars. Easier to get hold of than gloves, and the cannier lads used the ones from their feet, instead of carrying an extra pair they’d have to explain in a stop-and-search.

‘But here’s the thing,’ Alistair says. ‘We found a similar mark on theinsideof the frame.’

‘But no forced entry.’ Leo follows the CSI’s train of thought. ‘Which means Miles let his attacker in through the window, presumably so they wouldn’t be seen.’ He looks at Ffion. ‘Could he have been having an affair?’

‘I think it’s more likely to have been work-related,’ she says. ‘We saw how secretive he was – he didn’t tell Roxy or Owen the true purpose ofExposureuntil the first day of filming. Maybe he was planning another plot twist.’

‘He could have been arranging to put one of the evicted contestants back in.’

Leo is beginning to share Ffion’s misgivings about Ryan Francis. Why would Miles open the window for a missing man known to be carrying not only a grudge against Miles but a stolen knife? They need to establish who else has an alibi – and who doesn’t.

* * *

Aliyah blinks rapidly when Leo asks where she was in the run-up to Miles’s murder. ‘I was in h-here,’ she stammers. ‘B-but I can’t prove that.’

‘What were you doing?’ Ffion asks her.

‘Nothing.’ Aliyah sits on her bed. ‘You told us to stay in our rooms while you were looking for Ryan, so that’s what I was doing. I think maybe I was on my phone – I can’t remember. I came out when I heard everyone shouting.’

‘I saw you being interviewed this morning,’ Ffion says. ‘How did that go?’

Aliyah gives a weak smile. ‘It was good. I was terrified, but they were really lovely. The journalist said I had nothing to be ashamed of. She even offered to talk to my boss if I needed moral support.’

‘You work in a …’ Leo checks his notes, ‘children’s nursery?’

She nods. ‘They’ve actually been great. My boss was like, that’s all in the past, but you have to promise not to do sex work while you’re working for us.’ Aliyah gives a short laugh. ‘Like I’d want to.’

‘How about your parents?’ Ffion says.

Fresh tears roll down Aliyah’s cheeks. ‘We’ve talked a lot. I thought they’d be ashamed, but they were more sad that I hadn’t told them how much everything was costing me; that I didn’t ask them for help.’ She lets out a shuddering breath. ‘And Dad made me swear nothing bad had happened to me.’ Aliyah’s eyes darken, and Leo wonders how much she’s kept from her parents. ‘But they haven’t disowned me.’

---