Page 100 of Twisted Lies

‘Jeez,’ Penn said, scratching his head.

‘You said something about Sarah struggling with the last part of the training,’ Kim said, bringing her back to their victim.

‘Yeah, her mother was ill at the time and she almost caved, but she managed to stick it out.’

‘How do you know?’ Kim asked, raising one eyebrow.

‘Sorry?’ Leanne said, but Kim knew the woman had already sussed where she was going.

‘Given the secretive nature of your work and the vulnerability of your witnesses, I would have thought that contact between protection officers was strictly forbidden. So how do you know she struggled? Did you keep in touch?’

Leanne hesitated before nodding. ‘We kept in touch for a while, offered each other support. Shared problems; but we never divulged details of our families, I swear.’

‘Were you in touch recently?’

Leanne shook her head. ‘Not for a few years.’

‘Why not?’

Leanne shrugged. ‘Just stopped calling each other.’

‘When?’

‘About five years ago.’

‘Around the time you left your last family?’

Leanne coloured. ‘Maybe.’

‘Why?’

‘Can’t tell you that.’

‘Is that when you changed your name?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Why?’ Kim pushed.

‘Can’t tell you that.’

‘For fuck’s sake, Leanne, will you just—’

‘I’ve told you enough,’ she said, standing. ‘I know nothing more that can help you find this psycho lunatic, so I’ll bid you all farewell,’ she said, glancing once more at the whiteboard.

‘Leanne, just wait a—’

‘Sorry, but no. This shit just got way too real.’

Eighty-Six

‘Thank the lord for that,’ Frost said after ending the call from the police. She could return to her home around midday.

‘But I might just take you with me,’ she said, rubbing Barney’s head as he snoozed on the sofa beside her.

Frost had no idea what time the inspector had returned during the night, but she was aware that Barney had been with her then he hadn’t and then he had again.

It was only now that she considered the drive of the woman she loved to taunt. Called out late at night, back home to sort her dog out and then gone again before Frost had risen at 7.30a.m.