Chapter 72

CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

I t amazed Ana the number of things you could buy in B&Q that held sinister undertones and were innocently scanned by the till assistant, who, of course, had no idea how dangerous those items could be in the wrong hands.

Ana packed her bag into the boot of her car like all the other shoppers and then drove to the playing fields at Longbridge. After parking her car, she removed the B&Q shopping bag and walked into the woods. She avoided the area where Laine's body had been discovered. There were too many memories there that she didn't want to revisit.

Slowly continuing through the woods where her colleagues had searched for clues after Laine's death, with just the dry leaves crackling under her feet and the chirping of birds, she finally reached the old ramshackle barn, which she imagined had once been a hunting lodge, now long forgotten. Leaves rustled in the light breeze as she strolled around it. The sloping roof was covered in dead leaves and twigs. There were no footprints leading to the barn. Clearly, the place had been abandoned for years.

Ana had spotted it during the search, but this was the closest she'd been to it. The creaky front door needed a shoulder to push it open. The place smelt of damp wood and soot. Ana wrinkled her nose at the sight of mouse droppings on the floor. A spider web tickled her face, and she leapt backwards. Her hands began to shake when she realised what she was planning to do, but it was coupled with a feeling of excitement and the knowledge that inevitability was in sight.

The text message she sent was threatening. She'd been too soft before.

Meet me here tonight at 7, or I'll not only go to the police and tell them you killed Elaine Lees. I'll contact the press, too. They'll look into you, and your life won't be the same again. They'll take a copper's word for it.

She'd added a Google Map link to the barn.

Don't mess with me. I have all the proof I need.

The quick response took her by surprise. He'd taken so long, and now this.

What is it you want? Money? How much?

Ana knew he'd planned to finish her off, too. What choice did he have? Perhaps that's why he'd taken so long. He'd been trying to work it out like she'd been doing. She tried to imagine his fear every time the doorbell rang. Maybe he'd been waiting for her next move and was relieved it had now come. She typed back:

￡20,000 and bring it in cash.

Now she was mad as hell. Did he think she was totally stupid? He wasn't coming to pay her. He was coming to kill her.

A cluster of dead wasps lay on the soft padding of an old creaky chair – a wasp coffin waiting for its burial. Ana shuddered and dusted them off, pulling the chair into the middle of the room. She took a few things from the B&Q bag and then put the bag in the corner of the room.

Back outside, it took her longer than anticipated to attach the padlock to the door. The wood was so old and damaged it just splintered. Eventually, it was done, and she replaced the tools into the B&Q bag, padlocked the door and walked back through the woods to her car, knowing that no one could enter the barn until she returned.

Back at the station, she pretended to study something on her computer. At six, she stood up, yawned and said, ‘Just going to check a lead at the woods.'

‘Want me to come?' Matt asked.

‘No, I'm due to knock off soon, so I'll probably go home after and rest this jaw.'

Jonny was convinced that he'd done something wrong. Ana still hadn't answered his text. She had acted weird after the dinner at Sandy and Ray's, and he couldn't understand why.

He'd gone over and over in his head the events of that evening and couldn't remember anything that might have upset her. Had she regretted sharing her past with him? He was reluctant to call her. What if this was her way of pulling back? He knew he had fallen in love, but had he made a big mistake? Had he moved too fast? An email pinged into his inbox and he pushed Ana from his mind. He was on a deadline. He'd phone her later.

Sajid cycled to Tim's house to try to get into the garage. Maybe he could tell Tim's mum or her carer that he had a puncture. Hopefully, they'd let him into the garage to pump it up. He couldn't break in. He didn't have it in him to do that. At the house, Tim was loading up his van.

Careful that Tim didn't see him, Sajid bent down to fiddle with his bicycle. He had to push the nail hard into the tyre to puncture it. ‘Oh no,' he said, pushing the bike towards Tim.

‘You okay?' called Tim.

‘I was going to the library and must have gone over a nail. I don't suppose you've got a puncture kit?'

‘Sure. I think it's in the garage. Come on in.'

Sajid followed Tim and looked around as Tim searched for the puncture kit. ‘It ought to be here somewhere,' he muttered.

Sajid surreptitiously glanced around the well-ordered garage.

‘You know what?' said Tim, making Sajid jump. ‘I think I left it in the shed. Hold on.'

Tim entered the house from the back of the garage. Sajid held his breath and then cautiously began looking around. He couldn't see anything unusual and then spotted the rucksack on the floor in the far corner. He hurried over to it, listening for footsteps before unzipping it. He'd only moved a few things inside before he reeled back in shock at the sight of the shiny blade of the machete and the balaclava beneath it.

‘I've got it,' called Tim.

Sajid pulled the zipper closed and almost fell in his haste to drop the bag.

‘Let me fix it for you,' said Tim helpfully. ‘It's only a temporary job, but it will get you home.'

Sajid stared at Tim's back as he pumped up the tyre. Was he really looking at Laine's murderer?