Cold Justice (Willis/Carter #4)(54)

‘Nonsense.’ Anger flashed over his face and brought a livid colour to it, as it blackened Raymonds’ eyes. ‘I would watch your tongue, Detective. I can assure you, I acted in Kensa’s best interests.’

‘Not your own?’ Carter returned Raymonds’ stare.

Willis felt Carter’s heat as he sat next to her. She saw Raymonds was beginning to sweat as he became calmer and eyeballed Carter.

Carter pressed on. ‘There were no charges brought even though Kensa had been raped?’

‘Rape is one of those grey areas, especially when you’re talking about two kids.’

‘No, it isn’t.’





Chapter 24


Lauren heard the front door close; she held on to her mug of tea and walked out into the summer room at the back of the house to gaze down over the scrubland towards the ocean. She was so tired; she hadn’t slept. The day had brought her another day further from her son. It was dark outside when she’d first come downstairs at six o’clock, tired of lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking, willing herself to be beside Samuel wherever he was, be it in the frozen earth, just to be with him. Then she had looked out at the morning – another day when she was alive and her son was waiting to be found.

The smell of the wood-burner was still in the air from the night before. She’d light it again in a minute: get some order to her day; for now she couldn’t take her eyes off the sky. Clouds raced across it. The yellow gorse shimmered beneath. The sun lit the edges of the clouds. She looked out across the scrubby heathland before her as it rolled down and then was lost to the dark-blue ocean as far as she could see. There was such a beauty in the landscape that was hard and brutal to her eyes right now. She’d thought that the house would be the perfect weekend retreat – she could even come down and work in the week if she wanted. Or, better still, bring friends from London. But they didn’t have any friends, certainly none with children. Now they didn’t have a child. Now, as she looked around her, she felt a sense of loathing for it. She felt hostility, mockery.

Toby was right – put it on the market and buy somewhere abroad maybe, or at least rent a few places. Have fun. Maybe they could think about putting a deposit on somewhere and she’d pay the mortgage on her salary. She looked back out at the scrubland and saw a figure move – walk across the common between her and the sea – and she stepped nearer to the window as she watched the woman turn and stare in at her. Lauren saw it was the same woman she’d seen from the window the day Samuel disappeared. As the woman’s eyes focused on her, all else slipped away from Lauren’s vision. Then the woman turned and walked quickly away and was gone.

Lauren ran back into the kitchen and out of the back door onto the long veranda; she found a way through the low hedge that marked the end of the garden. A path was cut into the common. She stepped over thistles and thorny gorse bushes scraped her as she pushed through to stand where the woman had been and she came to a patch where no gorse grew, where there was soft downy grass and small wild flowers crept along the ground. She heard a sound and saw Russell beside her. He started digging away at the smooth mound beneath her feet. She picked him up and carried him back into the house and closed the veranda door behind her. When she looked again the woman was standing in the lounge, by the door.

‘What do you want?’

‘My name is Kensa.’

Kensa stared past Lauren and the winter sun reflected in her eyes, it lit her pale skin. She looked like a restless dead spirit, looking for peace. She had deep lines in her face, dark circles around her eyes. She hadn’t slept all night.

‘Please – can you help me?’ said Kensa.

Kensa turned her attention away from the rising sun and back to Lauren. Lauren felt such an urge to run, but Kensa stood in the doorway.

‘What do you want me to do?’

Kensa shook her head. Lauren took a step towards her. Kensa stayed where she was and when Lauren held on to her arm she felt paper skin and thin bone that almost melted at her touch. Kensa took a deep breath and stared out at the sea. Her dark-brown eyes reflected the blue of the cold sky.

‘I’ve seen him in my dreams. He is somewhere dark. He is sleeping.’

Kensa’s eyes refocused and they turned on Lauren.

‘Who is – is it Samuel?’

She nodded. ‘He’s only sleeping. He’s in the safe place.’

‘Oh my God, thank God.’ Lauren’s knees began to buckle. ‘Please tell me where he is.’

Kensa moved backwards, away from Lauren’s grip. ‘I can’t tell you any more.’ She looked in pain. Kensa’s face turned into a child’s; she began to cry: ‘Mommy . . . Mommy.’





Chapter 25


‘He’s a lying bastard,’ Carter said as they walked back to the car. They drove to the top of the hill and sat in the layby to run through things. ‘We need to find some record of what happened that day. Get in touch with Robbo, bring him up on the screen for me.’

As Willis took out her iPad and waited for it to turn on she looked across at Carter.

‘It’s a terrible injustice that happened here.’

‘Yeah – it is.’

‘But it might not lead us to Samuel,’ she added.

‘No, but we are still not hearing the truth about the day of the funeral either. We need to go and see Mawgan again. If she’s a friend of Kensa’s we need the truth.’