Page 141 of Worse Than Murder

‘Claire?’ Is she all right?’ Alison asks, her eyes wide in disbelief.

Tania shakes her head. ‘She’s unconscious. Paramedics have taken her to hospital.’

‘Who attacked her?’ Alison asks.

‘Iain,’ Lynne says quietly. ‘We were walking through the woods to the restaurant. We saw the police car parked around the back. He said he’d take care of it while I went into the cellar and set it on fire.’ She talks with the expressionless tone of someone detached from the situation. ‘I just went along with it. He said we needed to destroy the evidence. I didn’t even question him. All those sightings over the years. I needed to confirm that we’d really put him there, that he really was dead.’

‘Lynne, where is Iain now?’ I ask her.

She shrugs. ‘I don’t know. Back home, I suppose.’

I jump to my feet.

‘Where are you going?’ Alison asks.

‘To get answers to the questions I still have, and to put an end to thirty years of torment.’

‘I’m coming with you,’ she says.

‘No. You need to stay with your mum.’

‘No. I need to hear the answers for myself. I’m struggling to believe a single word of this. I need to hear it from him.’

I take Tania to one side while Alison settles her mother. ‘Will you stay with Lynne?’

‘Of course. But what’s going on?’

‘I’ll explain it all to you later. Give us half an hour and then phone Gill Forsyth. Tell her to come to the stables.’

‘Why? What are you going to do?’

‘Iain has been lying and manipulating for thirty years. He’s a master at it. He’s not going to admit to anything we put to him. Looking at Lynne, I doubt she’s going to be in any fit state to testify against him. I need to force him into doing something that he can be arrested for.’

‘What?’

‘Killing me.’

It’s less than a five-minute walk from Alison’s cottage to the farm where Iain and Lynne live. Me and Alison walk side by side in silence, the atmosphere surrounding us is fully charged. I have no idea of the questions I’m going to put to him or the response I’m going to get. Literally anything could happen in the course of the next half an hour, and I don’t mind admitting I’m scared. I’m scared that I’m going to find out exactly what I’m capable of.

There’s a smell of smoke in the air. As we turn the corner, I look back. I can just make out black smoke on the horizon, rising from the destruction of Nature’s Diner. This has been a horror of a night. I shouldn’t be here. I should phone Gill myself and get her to take over. I’m not a detective right now. I’m a woman. I’m a fucking angry woman, and that makes me incredibly dangerous.

We reach the house and I’m about to knock when Alison pulls out a set of keys from her pocket. She unlocks the door, pushes it open and steps inside. I follow. There’s no turning back now.

‘Lynne?’ Iain asks, coming out of the kitchen. He stops, mid-stride, when he sees who his visitors are. ‘Oh. Where’s Lynne? Have you seen Lynne?’

‘Where do you expect her to be?’ I ask.

‘She should… I don’t know. I woke up and she wasn’t there. I came downstairs and she’s nowhere to be found. I thought…’

‘What? What did you think?’

‘She might have gone out for a walk.’

‘Have you tried looking for her?’

I look him up and down, take in the jeans, the walking boots and his jumper. I’ve no idea what time it is, but it’s pitch-dark outside, and I know we should all be tucked up in bed and fast asleep right now.

‘I was about to,’ he says. ‘I was getting worried.’