‘I think it was made to look like a sex crime. The killer was trying to misdirect us.’
‘Why now? Why does someone attack Lilah Hooper and then wait years before targeting the other nurses?’
‘Something must have happened.’
Hoyle steps under the open shower. Water splashes on my shoes. I look away.
‘Does my nakedness make you uncomfortable?’ he asks.
‘I’m giving you some privacy.’
‘Is that what you call this?’
I go back to the locker room. His brother-in-law has gone. A few minutes later, Hoyle emerges, a towel around his waist. He begins getting dressed. ‘I’m having Mitchell Coates transferred from HMP Nottingham to Radford Road. He was on parole when Maya Kirk was abducted, and he has no alibi for the night that Daniela Linares disappeared.’
‘You’re wrong about Mitch. You made a mistake seven years ago.’
Hoyle’s features harden. ‘I’m happy to entertain your speculations, Dr Haven, but if you begin questioning past convictions, you will have a very short career with the Nottinghamshire Police.’
Hoyle goes to a mirror and combs his hair, watching me in the reflection. ‘You’re an odd fish, Cyrus. You worked so hard to get the evidence against Anders Foley, and now you’re working just as hard to find the evidence that will free him. Makes me wonder whose side you’re on.’
‘The truth doesn’t have a side.’
Even as I say the words, I realise how trite they sound. Laughter explodes from Hoyle. He tries to apologise but he can’t because he’s laughing so hard. Other club members are drawn from the showers, smiling already, wanting to hear the joke. Hoyle waves them away.
‘Please forgive me,’ he says, wiping his eyes. ‘I love your passion, Cyrus. I do. I think it’s admirable. But you’re looking for complex answers and ignoring the obvious ones.’
‘That’s not what I’m doing.’
‘Of course it is. You’re a psychologist. You look for hidden motives and buried secrets and strange perversions to explain human behaviour. But sometimes – most of the time – there aren’t any. It’s like Confucius said, life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. What you did – getting that footage from Melody Sterling – was brilliant – a feather in your cap – but you should step back now. Let me do my job.’
I am about to argue, but he stops me with the word ‘enough’， and slings his gym bag over his shoulder.
‘If you really want to help the police, Dr Haven, go home and look after your brother. He’s your responsibility now.’
‘Elias is fine.’
‘If it had been my choice, I would have kept him at Rampton for another twenty years.’
58
Evie
Lilah is one of those early risers, who bounces out of bed all sparkly-eyed and energetic. I’m the opposite. I wake slowly, as though I’m trying to creep up on the day, or worried I might scare it away.
‘I made you a cup of tea,’ she says, sitting on the end of the sofa. ‘Would you like some breakfast?’
I cover my head with a pillow. ‘I’d like another three hours’ sleep.’
She waits for me to emerge. I hear Radio 1 Breakfast playing from the kitchen. Why are morning DJs so bright and chirpy and relentlessly positive? It’s like Instagram for the ears. Everybody sounds prettier and happier and funnier.
Lilah is still sitting on the far end of the sofa.
‘Are you working today?’ I ask.
‘Not until four. Normally, I’d go for a run, but I’m frightened of going out by myself and Trevor needs a walk.’
‘I could come with you,’ I say, before I get a new idea. ‘We could collect Poppy and go together.’
Lilah likes that plan. I drag myself off to the bathroom and put on yesterday’s clothes – the black jumpsuit, which I wore for the re-enactment. Now I feel overdressed.
Back in the sitting room, she’s folding the bedding. We hold opposite corners of a blanket and bring them together.
‘How do you know Dr Haven?’ she asks.
‘It’s a long story and I’m not supposed to tell it.’
‘Why not?’
‘I spent most of my childhood in state care.’
‘Did he adopt you?’
‘No!’
‘Foster you?’
‘For a while, until I turned eighteen.’
‘How old are you now?’
‘Twenty-one.’
‘You look younger.’
‘Everybody tells me that.’
Pillows are plumped up and rearranged.
‘Does Cyrus have a girlfriend?’ she asks, trying to make it sound like part of the conversation.
‘He doesn’t want one – not right now.’
After toast and tea, we put Trevor in the back seat of Lilah’s car where he moves from side to side to look out the window and occasionally sniff at my hair. Lilah drives even more carefully than I do, double-checking her mirrors and indicating well before she changes lanes.
At Parkside, she pulls over and parks beneath the plane trees. Fallen leaves cover the grass verge and footpath, creating a soft carpet beneath our feet.
She stops at the gate. ‘This place is a mansion.’
‘It belonged to Cyrus’s grandparents.’
‘My grandparents gave me nothing except achoo syndrome.’
‘What’s that?’
‘I sneeze when I look at a bright light.’
‘Is that a thing?’
‘Oh yeah, just like ingrown toenails, big ears and rolling your tongue.’ She rolls her tongue to show me.
I suddenly stop. Cyrus’s car is gone.
‘Is everything all right?’ she asks.
‘Cyrus’s brother is staying with us.’
‘Is he handsome, too?’
‘No.’
I fish into my pocket, looking for my house key. I don’t have it. ‘We’ll go around the back.’
I lift the latch and push open the side gate. I expect Poppy to be inside, sleeping next to a radiator, but somebody has locked her out. She barks aggressively, until she realises that it’s me and goes crazy, dashing around the garden. Trevor joins the chase.
I tip over the headless garden gnome and retrieve the spare key.
‘First place I’d look,’ says Lilah, teasing me.
The kitchen smells of bacon and eggs. A greasy frying pan and egg-stained plate are unwashed in the sink.
‘I’ll get changed and we’ll go,’ I say, keen to get away, but Elias has heard us arrive and suddenly appears. He’s wearing one of Cyrus’s cotton shirts that’s too small for him.
‘Hi-ho,’ he says, trying to sound jolly. He looks at Lilah, waiting to be introduced.
‘This is Lilah. Lilah, this is Elias.’
‘Hello,’ he says. Is he sucking in his stomach? ‘Cup of tea?’
‘We’re not staying.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘We’re taking the dogs for a walk.’
‘Can I come?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
I motion to his ankle.
Elias glances quickly at Lilah and away again. Embarrassed.
‘Why was Poppy locked outside?’ I ask.