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Chapter Thirty-Seven

Dove had cordoned off the area by the time we arrived. ‘I’m so sorry,’ I said. ‘You were supposed to have the evening off after taking my shift.’

‘It’s okay,’ she replied. ‘Shit happens, and Sam understands. It’s the nature of the job. I was closest and we needed someone here as soon as possible.’

‘It’s definitely two bodies?’ Yanni said. Dove nodded grimly in reply.

‘Is it a double murder?’ I asked hesitantly.

‘I’m not sure,’ Dove replied. ‘It’s two bodies, but… ’ She glanced at Yanni. ‘I’ll let you see for yourself. You can decide what you think.’

I turned to Eva. ‘Come on, girl. You need to go on your lead for this.’ She stood still whilst I snapped on her lead. The last thing I wanted was for her to go trampling over any evidence, but at the same time I knew she might pick up something with her nose that we couldn’t see. I didn’t want to leave her in the car when she could be the one to find us vital clues.

As we followed Dove deeper into the forest, my stomach twisted into knots. I wasn’t sure what we were about to find, but I had a sinking feeling I already knew who one of the victims was. I desperately didn’t want to be right, not when I’d already seen how upset Toby’s mother was about him not coming home.

As I stepped into the clearing, the first thing I saw was a red plaid shirt. It was identical to the one Toby had been wearing in the photo. ‘Oh my God,’ I whispered. ‘Poor Mrs Brown… ’

The guilt that struck had me resting my weight on my knees. Twelve hours ago, I’d been talking to Yanni, saying how Toby was obviously Warren’s killer. I’d wanted him to be Warren’s killer. And while I knew my stupid thoughts had absolutely no bearing on what had happened here, I still felt guilty that I’d had them.

‘Will you be okay?’ Yanni asked gently. ‘If you can’t deal with this, you don’t have to—’

‘No, I’ll be fine.’ I straightened up. My voice was steadier than I felt. ‘Where’s the other body?’

‘Just over there.’ Dove pointed to a thicket a few feet away from Toby’s body .

The grass was tall and thick. I held Eva close to me on a short lead, partly to stop her walking too far ahead but also because I wanted her near me to stop me being overwhelmed. The emotions filling the air were tense: fear and guilt prevailed. Yanni and Dove felt bad that they hadn’t caught Warren’s killer in time to stop this – and they were also worried that this wasn’t the end. I needed Eva’s steadying presence.

As we approached the thicket, the first thing I noticed was a shock of white hair with blue streaks running through it. ‘Is that… ?’

‘Angelica Loren.’ Yanni said solemnly.

‘What the hell?’ I didn’t know who I’d expected the other body to be, but if Warren’s murderer wasn’t Toby then it had to be Angelica, right? Seeing her there, lying on her back, threw that theory straight out the window. If they were both dead, who the hell had killed them and Warren?

Wordlessly, Yanni slipped on gloves and handed me another pair. She edged a little closer. ‘It’s difficult to tell from the blood loss, but those look like claw marks on Angelica’s chest,’ she said as she crouched down.

Dove agreed. ‘It’s the way they’ve cut through the fabric. There are five gashes, four long and one shorter. Do you know what type of animal claw leaves marks like that? ’

I didn’t know if Dove’s question was rhetorical, because Yanni and I certainly knew. It was a bear. Just like she was. And like Toby.

‘How do we think Toby died?’ Yanni asked, avoiding having to respond.

‘A bullet wound,’ Dove replied grimly. ‘Looks like a silver bullet, possibly the same type that killed Warren.’

I took in a moment to process her words. Maybe I hadn’t been so wrong with my first assumption that one of the pair had killed Warren. Only maybe it hadn’t been one of them, maybe it had been both of them. ‘Hold up. Are we thinking that Toby swiped at Angelica, probably with the intention of killing her, but she fired off the shot before she bled out?’

‘That’s certainly what it looks like,’ Yanni said. ‘But why?’

I remembered what Gilbert had said in Jennifer’s house about Angelica liking younger men. Pei had sensed that Toby was seeing someone again, someone whom he loved so much that he could resist a siren’s advances – well, a half-siren, at least. And while Jennifer had only been five years older than him, maybe Gilbert was right in thinking that he liked older women.

‘Could it be…? Do you think they were together and Warren found out about their relationship?’ I mused. ‘An d that was why they killed him? Maybe there was an altercation.’ Although Angelica and Warren were in the middle of their divorce, it wasn’t final. I could imagine Warren would be upset to discover the relationship, particularly as Toby had dated Jennifer.

‘It’s possible.’ Yanni nodded slowly. ‘Very possible.’

As I stared at the bodies, another thought struck me. ‘Wait! Mrs D is still at the station, right? She wanted to keep herself in custody?’

‘She is,’ Yanni confirmed.

‘So she has to be innocent because there’s no way these deaths aren’t connected to Warren’s. They have to be. Dove already said it looked like the same type of silver bullet.’

‘I said it was possibly the same type,’ Dove corrected. ‘We can’t know that until the forensics come through. But I agree, these deaths are connected to Warren Storcrest’s and Mrs D couldn’t have had anything to do with them.’

‘It does look that way,’ Yanni agreed.

‘We can let her go?’ I asked, desperate to have one positive from all this mess.

Yanni nodded. ‘We can let her go.’

I waited for the bolt of relief to hit me, both my own and a mirroring one from Yanni, but after a moment I realised they weren’t coming.

It turns out that good news isn’t so good when there are already three dead bodies on the ground.