TOYL

me.’
    ‘Nothing’s wrong,’ lied Emma, flashing a reprimanding glance at Will. ‘Not that we know of, anyway.’
    Fortunately Miranda accepted the lie and calmed down.
    ‘Do you mind if I just pop to the bathroom?’ Emma asked.
    ‘Of course not,’ Miranda replied.
    Emma got up and, from behind Miranda’s shoulder, gestured for Will to follow.
    ‘I’ll go and make us all a drink,’ Will said. ‘Tea with one?’ he asked Miranda.
    ‘Thanks, Will,’ said Miranda, staring into space, ‘you’re both a big help.’

    ***

    ‘What are you looking for?’ Will asked, as Emma searched their father’s study.
    ‘I don’t know,’ Emma said. ‘Anything that might help – something must have triggered Dad to call you, and made him leave like that.’
    They found the envelope in the bottom desk drawer, containing the newspaper cutting reporting Stephen’s suicide.
    Local loner discovered in canal.
    Parents distraught.
    Emma peered into the envelope and found the accompanying note.
    ‘My God,’ Will said, staring at the note. ‘They know what really happened.’
    ‘Dad’s gone up there. I hope he doesn’t do anything stupid.’
    ‘He has a gun.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘He borrowed it from a friend,’ Will explained.
    ‘We’ve got to get up there,’ Emma announced, ‘before this gets any worse.’

66

    ‘Do you think Miranda will be all right?’ Will asked, as they sped along the motorway.
    ‘I hope so,’ Emma replied, concerned that she was already feeling tired, with over a hundred miles of darkened road still to go.
    ‘We’ve been too hard on her, haven’t we?’ Will commented. ‘She didn’t deserve getting caught in the fallout between Dad and us. We should have kept her out of it.’
    ‘I know,’ Emma agreed. ‘I just hope for her sake – for all our sakes – that Dad doesn’t get himself into trouble.’
    ‘He’s trying to make things right,’ Will commented, ‘to make up for the past few years.’
    ‘He could make things worse,’ Emma said, ‘if he goes storming in there with a gun. Who knows what could happen.’
    ‘Do you think there’s a chance that Dan and Lizzy are okay? Do you think whoever has them might just have kept them there, and not hurt them?’
    ‘For the past two weeks I’ve been praying that Dan is okay,’ Emma said. ‘But I just don’t know. We’ve just got to hope that they are both all right.’
    ‘I won’t forgive myself if anything has happened to them. This is my fault – someone’s taking revenge for what I did, and you’re the one suffering.’
    ‘You didn’t kill Stephen Myers,’ Emma stated. ‘Remember that.’
    ‘But I helped to dispose of his body,’ he replied. ‘I was part of it. And whoever sent Dad that newspaper cutting knows that.’
    ‘I wish the police had taken me seriously,’ Emma lamented. ‘I don’t think they’re going to send anyone up there, are they?’
    ‘Doesn’t sound like it, from what you told me,’ Will agreed. ‘You could have told the police the whole story, you know. If you’d have told them everything, they might have been more ready to believe you. I’m ready to take responsibility for what I did.’
    ‘It would have slowed everything down. They’d have wanted to bring us in for questioning. I know what Gasnier is like. We don’t have time for all that. Anyway, I need your support – I don’t want you locked up in a police station.’
    ‘But I’m just saying, if you want to tell the police, then I’ll completely understand. It might even be good for me. I’ve been holding onto this secret for too long.’
    ‘You’re a good person, Will,’ Emma said. ‘Don’t ever forget that.’
    It was one o’clock in the morning by the time they reached Stephen’s parents. Emma slowed to a stop on the opposite side of the road. She and Will sat there for a few seconds, just looking up at the house, which was shrouded in darkness.
    ‘I can’t see Dad’s car,’ said Will, scanning up and down the street.
    ‘No.’
    ‘We might have got here before him,’ Will offered. ‘We did make good time.’
    ‘Maybe,’ Emma replied. ‘Are you ready?’ She reached for the car door.
    Will nodded.
    They crossed the road, with no sign of movement along the whole street, and knocked on the door.
    There was no answer.
    Emma tried another few times, before knocking on the front bay window.
    ‘What now?’ Will said when there was still no movement.
    ‘I don’t know,’ she replied, looking