Like This, for Ever

time. On the other hand, her cooperation almost certainly meant she didn’t believe there was anything to be found.
    ‘She looked guilty when we told her Barney was missing,’ said Mizon.
    ‘You think so? I thought she looked scared. I think she could be fond of him.’
    ‘So neither Mr nor Mrs Green are where they should be on Tuesday and Thursday evenings,’ said Mizon.
    ‘They can’t be working together,’ said Dana. ‘Mrs Green can be alibied by Mr Roberts.’
    ‘She and Roberts could be, though.’
    Dana nodded. ‘We need to find something on that boat. A hair, a fingerprint, something. Anything.’
    It was approaching midnight by the time Dana got to the lock-up yard that led to the houseboat community. She showed her ID to the constable at the gate and made her way gingerly across rubbish-strewn concrete and then down the steel ladder to the boats.
    ‘Oh, feel free,’ muttered a voice from the cockpit of the first boat she stepped down on to.
    ‘Sorry to disturb you, Sir,’ she replied, making her way around thebow of the boat, the way she’d seen Mark do several times in the past. ‘It’s more polite,’ he’d explained once. ‘Sort of like walking around the edge of someone’s garden rather than directly through their living room.’
    ‘Evening, DI Tulloch,’ the chief SOCO greeted her when she’d climbed down into the cabin of the yellow yacht.
    She made herself smile. ‘Please tell me you have something.’
    He shook his head. ‘It’s a bit of a love nest,’ he replied. ‘Certainly some evidence of sexual activity. Including a half-full packet of condoms in a cupboard in the heads. We’ve also got wine, candles, some nice glasses, olives.’
    Dana looked round the cabin, surprised. She’d imagined it narrow, low and cramped, fitted out with plastic seats and hard edges. Instead, the main saloon was high enough even for the men to stand upright, and panelled in a warm-coloured wood – cherry or walnut. The wall-lamps were mock Edwardian, sumptuous and gleaming in the harsh lights the forensic team had brought on board. The chart table looked like a gentleman’s desk and the bookshelf above it held copies of Dickens, Trollope and Austen, instead of the maps and pilot books it had been built for. The upholstery was dark-red leather, and ornate brass handles shone everywhere. The cabin felt like the private study of an old London club.
    To one side of the saloon was a fold-out dining table, which looked easily big enough to strap a young boy to, but …
    ‘If five boys had their throats cut in here, the place would be swimming with blood, wouldn’t it?’ she asked. ‘Even a good clean-up would leave traces.’
    ‘It would,’ the SOCO agreed. ‘Mind you, we’re finding traces of detergent and disinfectant, which would suggest recent cleaning. Another thing of interest is several small patches on the ceiling where the varnish on the wood has peeled away.’
    Dana looked up to where police marking tape indicated the sites the SOCO was referring to. She could see nothing.
    ‘The sort of mark Sellotape leaves behind when it’s pulled off,’ the SOCO explained. ‘Could be nothing. Or it could be where he stuck up clear plastic sheeting to stop the blood staining the walls and ceiling.’
    ‘Which?’ said Dana. ‘I need to know which.’
    The SOCO pulled an
I understand, but there’s a limit to my powers
face. ‘Tomorrow we can have the boat lifted and moved to where we can look at it properly,’ he said. ‘If a lot of blood has been washed away, there’ll be traces in the bilges, even if the cabin itself is clean.’
    Tomorrow was no good to her. Tomorrow Huck could be lying dead on a beach somewhere. Dana’s phone started ringing again and she stepped back on deck to take the call. It was Anderson, calling from Lewisham.
    ‘Good news, Boss. You might want to get back here pronto.’
    Funny, how you could be so keyed up that the expectation of good news felt as difficult to deal with as the bad. ‘What’s happened?’ Dana demanded, hardly daring to hope that Huck had been found.
    ‘We picked up Dan Green in the pub. The one several of the circuit trainers told us he might be in. Guess what we found tucked into the inner pocket of his gym bag?’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Huck’s mobile phone. Cheeky sod was carrying Huck’s phone with him.’
    Dana looked up and closed her eyes; the fine drops of rain felt like starlight on her face. Oh God, they were close, they