Like This, for Ever

been an animal they’d heard in the water. It had been something much bigger. Harvey had sworn he’d seen an arm, large protruding eyes in a pale face. He hadn’t been lying. Mistaken, possibly, but not lying, he’d been too scared. So had his older brother. Barney had never seen Jorge lose his cool before.
    A flock of birds was flying towards him, low in the sky, following the course of the Creek as though it marked some ancient, avianpathway. As they passed overhead, Barney looked up and, for a second, their sleek graceful shapes changed before his eyes, becoming shorter and squatter. Their flight was no longer straight and smooth through the air but undulating and sensuous. Beaks shrank and eyes grew bigger and brighter. For a second the birds became bats. Then the moment passed and they flew on.
    Telling himself to get a grip, Barney took a step closer to the water. What he was dealing with was bad enough without any supernatural rubbish thrown in. Christ, if the police managed to prove a blood-sucking creature of fiction was responsible for the murders, he, for one, would be hugely relieved. He was the last person in London to be scared of vampires. Keeping his eyes away from the patch of concrete where the remains of Tyler King had lain, he stepped from the yard on to the first of the boats.
    If the theory he still didn’t want to give words to, even in his head, were true, someone would be on the boat. His dad was supposed to be working late, giving lectures and meeting students at the university. If he wasn’t, if he was here – well, he’d think about that when he had to.
    He was much closer to the water now. The river was full and fast and the tide probably at its highest. Could there be a better way of getting rid of blood than in a fast-flowing river when the tide was on its way out? Especially one that fed into one of the largest rivers in the world? Blood, even the blood from a whole body, would disappear without trace in this river. As always when he thought about blood, Barney started to feel a bit light-headed.
    He could think about that later. First he had to know if anyone was on board. Remembering how Hatty had climbed on to the boat on Saturday and knowing he had to create no noise or movement, he swung first one leg over and then the other. Then paused for a moment. What would his dad do, if he caught him here? If he had to choose between his son and his freedom, which would he pick?
    He hadn’t come all this way to go home with no answers. Dropping low, Barney crawled along the deck to the nearest window, the one that looked out from the main saloon on the starboard side. The curtains were drawn but there might be a gap.
    The first two boys to be killed had been found at DeptfordCreek. That probably meant they’d been killed here. When a third body needed to be disposed of, the killer had found a new dumping ground. He hadn’t wanted to draw too much attention to the Creek. He hadn’t wanted the police to find the place where he kept and killed them.
    The curtain on the first window was fully drawn and Barney could see no light behind it.
    His dad had had new keys cut for the boat over Christmas and, ever since, had been unusually secretive about where he kept them. He could have invented the missing keys, to make sure that no one but he could access the boat. And the damp the locksmith had reported? Could that have been the result of someone trying to wash the boat down?
    Barney carried on crawling.
    His dad had been on the boat on Saturday night, when Tyler King’s body had appeared from the water. Barney had seen him, so had Hatty, she just hadn’t recognized the sweater. Yet he’d lied, claiming to be home all night. He’d even lied to the detective. No one lied to the police unless they had something big to hide.
    Impossible to see through any of the windows. Barney crawled along the cabin roof and slid his fingers under the hatch. This time it didn’t move. It was going to be impossible to see inside, but if he lay still and listened, he’d hear anything that happened below. He let his head fall silently against the wood of the hatch.
    He’d been in position for only two minutes when he heard movement below. A bump. A low moan. Then a laugh. His dad’s laugh.
    ‘Good evening, Barney,’ said a voice above him.

43
    LACEY STAYED WHERE she was on the bank. The last thing she needed right now was to get into a scuffle with a kid around deep water. It was the right call.