Forget Me Never

Most of them were affectionate and she often replied with loads of kisses, telling him she loved him. The only other message between them that seemed less than friendly was one from Danielle that went, Where r u? Its half past & u said ud b in by 10. just called Carl, said u weren’t wiv him all nite. Where have u been? Who r u with? Aiden hadnt replied.
    There were a fair number of messages from me – texts were the main way we’d communicated – and also from a few other people I guessed were friends. The only name I recognized was Cherie – she’d been a work colleague of Dani’s. Somehow, judging by how frequently Dani had texted me, I’d expected there to be more messages. Perhaps some had been deleted.
    ‘Nothing!’ I said, frustrated. ‘This is driving me nuts!’
    ‘Her emails might tell us more,’ Reece said, scrolling to the email function. ‘If we’re lucky, this should log us in automatically.’
    The iPhone took us straight into Danielle’s email account. A load of messages popped up. One – entitled ‘done and dusted’ – caught my eye.
    From: [email protected]
    To: [email protected]; charlotte11@ whizzmail.com; [email protected]
    Hey guys,
    All going well at Vaughan-Bayard’s end. We can finalize the deal in August. Trials are looking good. Final results due on the 10th. Patrick, please confirm the arrangements for payment. Dani, please double-check about smuggling the data out of V-B. I don’t want any slip-ups.
    Cheers,
    A
    ‘Slip-ups?’ Reece exclaimed. ‘Smuggling out data? Doesn’t sound very above board, does it?’
    My heart sank. ‘There’s got to be a simple explanation. Dani was a good person.’
    Reece raised his eyebrows as he clicked on the next message.
    From: [email protected]
    To: [email protected]; PS2000@ gmail.com
    Cc: [email protected]
    Hi, Aiden already knows but I thought I would keep you in the loop. Getting hold of the data is not a problem, and I can ensure no one knows we’ve accessed it. As soon as A gives me the go-ahead I will get everything sorted.
    Dani
    I couldn’t hide from the truth any more. My cousin had been involved in some sort of dodgy activity with Aiden and these other people. Dani might have been flaky, but her computing skills were one hundred per cent. Clearly she hadn’t been unwilling. And it looked as if the result might be worth a great deal of money.
    So did all this mean that Dani’s death could have been murder after all?
    I looked at Reece. He was frowning at a web page with a blue banner across the top. The logo beside it said Vaughan-Bayard.
    ‘Pharmaceutical-research company,’ Reece said. ‘UKbased, main site’s pretty near here. Ring any bells?’
    The name did sound familiar. ‘Dani worked there,’ I said, remembering. ‘She never told me much, but I think it was a pretty big organization with a small IT department.’
    ‘Aiden’s email mentions things “going well at Vaughan-Bayard’s end”. Seems safe to conclude that whatever was going on involved the company. He and Dani met through work, right?’
    The other people, Patrick and Charlotte, might be work colleagues too, I thought. I opened my mouth to say this to Reece – but before I could speak he said, ‘I’ve just come up with a fabulous plan for what to do next.’
    Hearing the smug note in his voice, I rolled my eyes. ‘Oh yeah?’
    ‘There is, however, a problem. You’re gonna hate it.’

REECE
    Sophie eventually left just before dinner-time. When I came in after walking her to the bus stop, I found Mum in the dining room, standing by the French windows, staring out across the garden.
    ‘You OK?’ I touched her shoulder.
    ‘The new locks have been fitted,’ she said. I could see that she’d been crying.
    ‘Why don’t we have a cup of tea?’ I said. ‘Looks like you need one. Neve’s in bed, right? You want to talk?’
    ‘Tea won’t make things any better, Reece,’ Mum said wearily. ‘The past two days have been very stressful. The police don’t seem to think the burglars will come back, but still . . .’
    I almost told her what Sophie and I suspected but stopped myself. If Mum knew the break-in had been because of Soph, she’d go ballistic. Part of me felt like a traitor; my family were suffering because of a friend I’d invited round. But I pushed those feelings aside. They were pointless. Dropping Sophie in it wouldn’t make things any better.
    ‘One day you’re getting along