Like This, for Ever

went on, ‘since the middle of November. There was a period over Christmas and the New Year when the keys went missing and I had to get the locks changed. I couldn’t use it then. And I haven’t been the last couple of weeks. With everything that’s going on, I haven’t liked to leave my son alone and he hates babysitters.’
    ‘Why do you go to the boat?’ asked Dana, with an odd urge to reach out and squeeze Anderson’s hand. If more had ever depended upon an answer to a question, she honestly couldn’t remember it.
    Roberts looked down at the table, then at his solicitor, then back at her. ‘I go to meet my girlfriend,’ he told her. ‘I didn’t tell you earlier because I was trying to protect her. It’s become obvious that that isn’t going to be possible.’
    Dana told herself not to panic. ‘Why the secrecy?’ she asked.
    ‘Because she’s married. But I imagine you already guessed that.’
    It might not be true. It might be a delaying tactic. If he didn’t admit the girlfriend’s name straight away, that would be a sign that he was just playing with them.
    ‘We’re going to need her name,’ said Anderson.
    Stewart nodded his head. ‘I know,’ he said. ‘Her name is Gillian Green. She’s my son’s form teacher. Her husband is his games teacher. You can see now why I can’t entertain her at home.’
    No. They could not have wasted the past three hours on a man who was guilty of nothing more than an affair with a married woman. She was going to kill Lacey Flint.
    ‘Was she with you at the boat on the sixteenth of February?’
    ‘She was. When we heard the fuss going on around us, and talk of the police being called, I told her to slip away quietly. I was going to follow when I’d locked the boat up. I didn’t get chance, so had to wait till it was all over. I sat on the dark boat and waited. Your people knocked at exactly 11.42. I ignored them.’
    Dana could feel the tension building again in the back of her neck. He didn’t look as though he was lying.
    ‘Why do you meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays?’ she asked him.
    ‘Her husband coaches a football club till eight, then does his own circuit training at a local leisure centre. After that, he goes to the pub. He’s rarely home before midnight.’
    Dana felt Anderson’s eyes on her. She turned. His eyebrows were raised.
Daniel Green
, he’d written on the pad in front of him. She nodded.
    ‘And the black glove you’ve been getting so excited about is hers, by the way,’ Stewart went on. ‘It’s not a child’s glove, it’s a one-size stretch glove. She uses them for playing tennis.’
    He had an answer for everything. Did he? She reached into her case and pulled out an evidence bag. ‘Can you tell me what this is?’ she asked, putting the bag on the table in front of Stewart. He bent forward to look at the clear plastic vials inside.
    ‘It’s my medication,’ he said.
    ‘For what?’
    He looked directly at her. ‘I’m a haemophiliac. I inject myself a couple of times a week as a preventative measure. Otherwise, if the knife slips when I’m chopping the carrots, I could bleed to death. Actually, I don’t use knives if I can avoid it. Hardly worth the risk.’
    No, this was not all slipping away from her. ‘Your GP will confirm this?’
    ‘Of course. Would you like her name and number? I also made a point of telling your custody sergeant when he booked me in. Did he not mention it?’
    An answer for everything.
    ‘So why was your son surprised to find it?’ asked Anderson, who seemed a lot more on the ball than she was. ‘Why did he mention it to one of our officers?’
    ‘Barney doesn’t know about my condition. Wisely or not, it’s one of several things I decided to keep from him.’
    ‘Why?’ asked Anderson. ‘Surely it would be a precaution for him to know. In case anything happens.’
    ‘Barney is terrified of blood. Probably because he found his dead mother in a bath of it when he was four. I’ve always taken the view that knowing I’m in danger of bleeding to death as well would be a bit too much for him to deal with.’
    ‘We’re going to have to talk to Mrs Green,’ said Dana.
    ‘I know. Is it worth my asking you to be discreet?’
    Dana stood. ‘My godson could be in the hands of a killer,’ she said. ‘And you’ve already wasted enough of my time. Frankly, saving your girlfriend’s marriage isn’t high on my list of priorities.’
    ‘One second, Ma’am.’ Anderson’s hand