Page 33 of No Safe Place

Thursday | Afternoon

Lily

‘A girl murdered,’ Scott said. ‘Right outside your place.’

He drove over a bump at speed and the jolt to her stomach made Lily double over, the seatbelt cutting into her neck.

He shot a glance at her. ‘You okay, babe?’

She nodded, breathing through the sickness. Scott carried on.

‘Even you have to admit,’ Scott scoffed, ‘it’s all a bit weird, isn’t it? You two have a massive argument and suddenly—’

‘How did you know we had an argument?’ Lily twisted in her seat. ‘I never told you that.’

Scott gave her a pitying look. ‘Why else would you have been at mine when I got home?’

‘Oh,’ Lily said, softly. It made sense.

‘Plus,’ he went on, turning the radio down as he spoke. ‘You stank of booze and fags.’

Her cheeks flushed.

The road sign in front at the traffic lights had two red H symbols. One pointed towards King’s College Hospital, where David had been admitted. It might be where they’d taken Sam – her body. Heat crept up Lily’s neck.

The other pointed to the Maudsley psychiatric, and Callum.

Another disapproving sideways glance. ‘I’m going to have to change the sheets. I can’t stand the smell of stale smoke.’

Lily wondered whether her hair still smelled. It sometimes did, after they smoked indoors, even after a shower. It didn’t help that Scott refused to buy proper shampoo, and used environmentally friendly blocks of antiseptic-smelling hair products that never managed a proper lather.

‘While you’re visiting Callum,’ Scott went on, taking the left at the lights. ‘I’ll go to work, do a few hours on the ward. They’re short-staffed; they’ll appreciate an extra pair of hands.’ He put a hand on her knee, squeezing the joints. ‘I want to be there, to bring you home.’

Lily stiffened in her seat, and he took his hand back to change gear.

Focus.

She shouldn’t be thinking about Scott, and his suffocating, stressful brand of affection.

Callum needed her.