Darkness Falls (Kate Marshall, #3)(88)

Bev screamed in pain and broke away, reaching out to touch the skull, but Faye and Kate moved to hold her back. Her legs sagged, and she gripped Kate’s shoulder.

“My little girl . . . You found my little girl,” she said. Kate put her arms around Bev and held her.

“I’m so sorry, Bev,” she said. “I’m so, so sorry.”





EPILOGUE


Two weeks later, Kate and Tristan and Ade were on the beach behind her house. The sun was going down, and they were sitting on a large driftwood tree, which had been washed up after a storm a couple of years ago and pulled up clear of the tide. In front of them they’d built a fire on the sand.

“You know, this nonalcoholic sparkling shite is actually not bad,” said Ade. “What’s the occasion for us not drinking?”

“You’re a bit cheeky, considering you’ve crashed the barbecue,” said Tristan.

“I brought meat!” said Ade.

“Thank you, and you’re very welcome,” said Kate, taking a sip of the sparkling fruit drink and agreeing that it wasn’t bad. “We’re celebrating being paid for solving the case, and the big interview that we did for the West Country News.”

“And we’re hoping it will lead to more work,” said Tristan.

Jake was standing to the side of the big tree and trying to light the small barbecue that they’d dragged down from its regular place on the cliff outside the back door.

“We’re also celebrating that we’ve finally managed to find staff to do the caravan changeovers,” he said, picking up his glass of fizz. He came over to Kate, Tristan, and Ade and held it up.

“To the detective agency, the caravan site, and the end of scrubbing toilets,” he said, and they all clinked glasses.

“You’ll learn, Jake, that part of life is having to scrub toilets,” said Ade. He took another sip of his drink. “Have you got any ice?”

“I bought some ice. I’ll get you some,” said Tristan.

“Bring the meat down, too, in the fridge,” said Jake.

“I’ll come up with you,” said Kate. “There’s a lot to bring.”

They left Jake and Ade on the beach, chatting over the barbecue, and came back up to the house. Just when they were in the kitchen, the doorbell rang. Kate frowned. Tristan went with her, and when they opened the door, it was Bev. They hadn’t seen her since Joanna’s skeleton had been recovered from the sand.

“Sorry to bother you,” she said.

“No, please, not at all,” said Kate. Bev looked exhausted and wore a long black Lurex skirt and a black roll-neck pullover. There was an inch of gray in the roots of her dark hair. “Do you want to come in?”

“No. No. I just want to apologize to you both . . . I was in denial about Bill . . . And I never thanked you properly for finding Jo . . . I’m ashamed at how I reacted. I was in shock. I now get to bury her and put her at rest,” she said.

Kate and Tristan nodded. Shortly after forensic officers confirmed the skeleton on the beach was Joanna, Bev had collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital with severe shock. They hadn’t had any contact with her since, but Bev had transferred the remaining money owed for solving the case.

“This is a silly question, but how are you? You scared us back on the beach,” said Tristan.

Bev shifted on her feet and hitched her handbag over her shoulder and shrugged.

“I don’t know how I feel . . . He’s pleading guilty. Bill, Nick, or whatever his bloody name is. Which is right and proper. There’s so much evidence against him . . . for killing Jo. And those poor young men. Oh God, you must think I’m so stupid. I spent all those years with him, and I didn’t know about any of it . . . I suppose you heard. The cyber-forensics team were given Joanna’s laptop and a USB key the police found in her bag in the car.”

“Yes,” said Kate. “The laptop had been destroyed by the salt water, but they managed to recover some data from the USB drive. There was a copy of the photo that helped us crack the case—one of Bill with Max and a man called Jorge Tomassini at the commune.”

“Please,” said Bev, holding up her hand. “Please don’t say their names. I’ve had to hear from the police about everything they found . . .” She put her hand up to her mouth, and her bottom lip began to tremble. “That they found DNA for that lad, Hayden . . . Bill was only ever a gentleman to me, which makes it even more difficult to hear about the things he did. The things Nick did. I’ve been seeing a shrink. She told me I probably saved a lot of young men’s lives. I grounded that side of him. The side of him that wanted to be Bill, the heterosexual man. That’s just expensive talk for what I was: I was his beard. I used to accompany him to work stuff, to show them he was a straight man. Settled down. All good and proper . . .”

“Please, Bev. Don’t do this to yourself,” said Kate. “Are you sure you don’t want to come inside and have a drink of something?”

Bev took a tissue from her bag and wiped her eyes.

“No. Thank you. I’m not much company, as you must imagine. I had a long phone call with that Max Jesper today. It turns out, he was just as in the dark as me . . . I’m going to meet him tomorrow. That’s crazy, isn’t it?”