Page 23 of Her Hidden Shadow

‘Guv, I feel bad. I need to leave.’ Jacob closed his notepad and stood. He rubbed his eyes. ‘I don’t think I’m going to be able to come in tomorrow.’

She followed him outside. ‘Is it something I can help you with?’

He went to open his mouth but closed it again and walked off. ‘No, I just want to go home.’ And that was it. Gina knew it was serious. His engagement had to be off.

She glanced at her phone and saw that Briggs had sent her a message.

Updates. There’s pizza in the incident room. Sienna Moorcroft’s post-mortem is taking place tomorrow afternoon. A witness has also come forward. He claims to have seen a woman standing at the end of Lauren and Robbie’s road around the time of Sienna’s murder. The description is vague but we’re going to put out a call for information with the local media, requesting that she come forward as a witness. The description is odd, he said she was wearing pyjamas.

Fifteen

Monday, 30 January

‘Nathan, hurry up. We’re going to miss the bus if we don’t get a move on.’ Finn hated that Nathan always took so long. He’d been hauled into Mr Braithwaite’s office so many times because Nathan always made him late and now his mum was on his back about it, not that he cared what his mum thought, but he could do without it. He also hated this shortcut which meant walking across a muddy football pitch and balancing on a log to cross a stream. He always ended up with a mucky trouser hem as they climbed the bank.

Nathan stopped to kick a can at the goal. ‘Chill, Finn. It’s not like they can kill you for being late. What are they going to do? Tell Mummy.’

Nathan was right and Finn was making himself look uncool. Stuff his mum and stuff Braithwaite. He stepped on the early morning grass. White frosty blades crunched beneath his every step. He glanced at the hedge, the very place his mum would stand as he played football. She’d always embarrassingly cheer him on as he kept missing the passes, not realising he’d get a ribbing for it later in the changing rooms. Yes, his mum was loud, too loud. He wished she’d just stay at home and leave him to play football alone.

Finn glanced at his friend who was now dribbling with the same can. It bounced off a solid tuft of mud and he managed to kick it again. Nathan was right. There’s nothing the school would really do. It wasn’t like they were bad kids. They never got into fights, they did their homework, and they were polite. Mr Braithwaite would call him in, he’d moan and tell his mum, that’s all. His mum would try to ground him, she’d fail because Finn knew how to charm her. He’d make her a cup of tea and say he was sorry.

He pulled his rucksack off his back and felt around the creases as Nathan shouted goal and ran around in a huge circle. The can had passed through the goalpost. Finn’s fingers brushed the cigarettes. He pulled them out and opened the pack. There were two left, so they’d have to share one now and that would leave another for tomorrow. He watched the roof of their bus as it trundled towards the stop. They had no chance of making it anyway and it was fifteen minutes until the next bus. ‘Nath, shall we bunk?’

His friend hurried over, repositioning his rucksack and ruffling his sweaty hair. ‘Yeah, I don’t like French anyway. Hate it. My dad leaves for work in about half an hour. We can go to mine and play Xbox when he’s gone.’

They hurried back towards the stream, checking to see that no one was watching them. Finn knew that a couple of his mum’s friends walked their dogs around this field, so they had to go to the hideout. He grinned and held the cigarette packet up. ‘Let’s go to the lounge.’ Finn led the way, running across the grass and cutting through the hedgerow. The lounge was their secret place. It was nothing more than a few stacked wooden pallets that had been arranged in a circle, but it was hidden away, wedged into the tiniest space and surrounded by dense shrubs. It was so close to the road, as people passed by, no one knew they were there. Just as they slipped away, Finn saw one of his mum’s friends walking her yapping dogs. ‘That was close. Could do without Nell telling my mum I’d skipped school.’

As they jumped over a few ditches and pushed through the thick brambles, Finn could see the clearing. He threw his bag down and wiped a couple of pallets off with his arm. He pulled out a cigarette. Nathan passed him the lighter. ‘You can go first.’

‘Cool.’ Finn took the lighter and popped the cigarette in his mouth. They’d been smoking for a while now, but only occasionally. Cigarettes were hard to come by, but they’d got lucky when a sixth former went into the shop for them last week. He lit the end and coughed a little as he drew inwards, then he passed it to Nathan.

‘This is so much better than school.’ Nathan shivered. ‘It’s bloody cold today.’

While Nathan enjoyed another puff of their cigarette, Finn stood and peered through the trees. Rush hour cars began to whizz past, and people walked like they were on a mission. He wasn’t going to have a job that got him up at stupid-o-clock when he grew up. He was going to own a bar, or do something where he’d have to work at night, or work in a cinema. He liked films as much as he enjoyed gaming. Maybe he’d be a filmmaker, but he’d need money for that. He’d tried to make one with his phone but really he’d like to be able to edit on a computer. The one his mum let him use for homework kept freezing up on him and the software he needed was too expensive. He began to film the frosty branches. He’d be able to play about with the footage and post it to TikTok later. Something shiny caught his attention just as the emerging low winter sun poked through the gaps in the trees. He squinted and placed his phone back in his pocket. It was a fifty pence piece. A little further up was a pound coin. ‘Nath, we’ll stop at the shop on the way back, get some crisps.’

‘Sounds good. Is that money?’

‘Yes.’ Finn walked over and picked up the coins. That’s when he saw the wallet. ‘Someone’s lost this.’ He held the folded black leather up.

‘Well open it up.’

‘Shouldn’t we hand it in?’ Finn prised it open and saw forty pounds and a driver’s licence tucked into the compartments. He looked at the photo.

‘No way.’ Nathan passed the cigarette to Finn. ‘Here finish this and we can go and buy some goodies and head back to mine. This money is ours now. Only idiots lose their wallets.’

‘What if he was mugged?’

‘Durr, and the mugger left his money and bank card? He’s lost it and he’s probably already ordered new cards. It’s ours for the taking.’ Nathan snatched it out of Finn’s hands. He removed the money and dropped the wallet back on the earth below.

‘Wait.’ Finn edged forward and kicked the rug that had been pushed into the undergrowth and just as the end unrolled, an arm entangled in a piece of rope slipped out.

‘What the—’ Nathan stared, mouth ajar. Finn went to touch it and Nathan grabbed his arm. ‘Don’t go near it. We’ve got to get out of here, now.’ Nathan began running back through the brambles.

‘Wait, we can’t. We need to call the police.’

‘What do you mean, Finn? We can’t be here. We have to go.’

Finn looked at the cigarette butt that Nathan had dropped. He picked it up and placed it in his pocket. He didn’t know much but his mum always watched detective dramas. They’d touched the wallet. The police would find their fingerprints and they’d be in big trouble if they ran away. The ground had started to thaw, and their shoe prints were everywhere. He stared at the arm and wondered who was wrapped up in the rug. Was it a man, a woman? He swallowed. It hit him. Someone had been murdered and dumped. He couldn’t run. He pulled his phone out ready to call the one person he could trust, and he hoped he wouldn’t be in too much trouble. ‘Nathan, come back. We can’t run away from this. The police will find us.’

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