Lying Beside You (Cyrus Haven #3)(88)

I’m watching them through the glass wall at the back of the court. Hoyle waves enthusiastically when he spies me and tries to lift his game. Sweat drenches his T-shirt and runs into his eyes behind a pair of plastic safety frames. After another bodycheck and a mishit, he wins two points in a row and raises his arms in triumph. They shake hands and troop off the court.

‘Cyrus, how nice to see you,’ says Hoyle. Big smile. Sweaty handshake. He introduces his brother-in-law as Miles.

‘This is our resident shrink,’ he says. ‘Careful what you say around him.’

Miles gives me a forced smile, before heading for the showers.

‘I’m surprised they let you in,’ says Hoyle. ‘This is a private club.’

‘I told them I worked for the police.’

‘You don’t carry a badge.’

‘Not everybody does.’

Hoyle wraps every statement in a smile, but his eyes don’t change.

‘I left you a message this morning.’

‘Early hours, by the look of it,’ he says.

‘Did you read my email?’

‘Six pages. I’m waiting for the movie.’

He’s heading for the locker room. I follow him through the swing doors into a dry area where a handful of men are getting changed. Hoyle peels off his T-shirt and drops it on the floor. His body is white and pale. A lone tattoo, inked along his forearm, reads: I am not afraid. I was born for this.

‘Three nurses – all involved in the same incident – all targeted,’ I say. ‘Maya Kirk and Lilah Hooper had their hair hacked off. Both were bound with rope.’

‘Lilah Hooper wasn’t abducted,’ says Hoyle. ‘And we caught her attacker.’

‘Mitchell Coates is innocent.’

‘He told you that, did he? I saw him mowing your lawn. He was living in your house when we arrested him. You make very odd choices when it comes to lodgers, Dr Haven.’

Naked, he grabs a towel and strides towards the showers, his dick literally swinging.

‘They were targeted because of what happened to the babies. The families were angry. You need to track them down. Interview them.’

‘You described Maya Kirk’s murder as a sex crime, but now you think it’s an act of revenge.’

‘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.