It was Bradley’s desk. She’d never seen his father – or anyone else – behind the desk. Bradley might have written the note and put it in her book. Maybe Candice had nothing to do with it. It might have been Bradley who’d seen her kill Dana. She quickly grabbed a pen and turned away from the desk, her heart pounding in her chest.

Still, she thought, settling down and pretending to work on a crossword, Candice may have seen the note – I saw what you did to Dana – inside the book, which was in her hand. And Lauren told her the book was hers. It was probably just as well that Candice was dead. Snoopy bitch. But Bradley … He must be the one who’d seen her.

Later, after Candice was found, she realized that Bradley must be afraid that she had also killed Candice. She thought that maybe he’d lost his nerve, was too afraid now to approach her and ask for money. He knew what she’d done. She knew she had to kill him.

When Riley ran outside into the dark, and Bradley followed, she saw her opportunity. She grabbed her coat. Her leather gloves were inside the pockets. Ian was with her but she urged him to go after Riley quickly, pretending to struggle with her boots. Alone on the porch in the dark, she picked up the boot scraper and slipped quietly in the direction she’d seen Bradley take. When she finally came upon him she let her rage take over – she struck him with everything she had.

Then she froze in the night, listening, worried that someone had heard him fall. But it was too windy to hear much of anything. No one came. She could just hear, faintly, Gwen calling for Riley, panic in her voice. Lauren stayed in a crouch and moved away from Bradley, abandoning the boot scraper by his body. She headed for the other side of the hotel, far away from the body. Soon after, she saw the light appear at the front door and saw David and Matthew coming outside to join them.

When she heard the shouting, she made her way over to where she’d left Bradley dead. But then things didn’t go the way they were supposed to. David was there, holding the fading torch, Gwen beside him. She saw James hovering over Bradley, and she tried to go to him, to offer help, to check Bradley’s pulse, to see if he was really dead. But David wouldn’t let her near him. He stopped her. He wouldn’t let her go to Bradley, even when she pummelled his chest and sobbed. She thought she seemed pretty convincing. But she hadn’t been able to get near the body. He wouldn’t let her help carry Bradley inside, either.

She wondered then if David was on to her.

It was unfortunate that she’d had to reveal the truth about her and Ian. That they hadn’t been together that afternoon, after all. She’d undermined him, suggested he was the killer without looking like she was doing it. It was lucky, that lie about his brother. She loved Ian as much as it was possible for her to love anyone, but ultimately, he was disposable. It was necessary. She would find someone else.

Of course, they have no motive. She’s not worried they will be able to find the connection between her and Dana. They’d been in the same foster home for only a couple of weeks. People came and went there in a constant, sad procession, with their pitiful plastic bin bags holding all their worldly possessions. They were in foster care, not in the criminal system. And it was in another state. Lauren’s life since has been a clean slate. She’s never been caught for anything she’s done.

She’s been so careful. She touched Dana in front of everyone – that’s why her DNA will probably be on her. Candice, too. If they find trace evidence of her it will be meaningless. And Bradley – she’d been wearing gloves, and there were so many of them around him, and they’d moved him. The evidence must be hopelessly contaminated.

But they must have something on her, she thinks anxiously, something definitive. Maybe they found her earring. That must be why they brought Ian in again, to identify it. She feels little prickles of moisture rise on her skin.

She’d noticed, in the dark, early hours of the morning, that she was missing an earring. She could have lost it anywhere, long before she went outside after Bradley. There had been no struggle. She’d lifted the boot scraper and brought it down on his head and he’d dropped without a sound. But she was worried: what if she had lost the earring when she killed Bradley?

Just in case, she removed the remaining earring when no one was watching, and slipped it onto the end table beside her.

Now she’s glad she thought ahead. If they do have her earring – if they found it near Bradley – she will insist that she took both of them out before Riley ran outside, and put them down on the little end table. The killer must have seen her do it. The killer must have taken one, and deliberately planted it near Bradley’s body.

It’s perfectly plausible. Especially as they won’t have any other evidence against her. It should be enough for reasonable doubt.

They won’t get anything out of her.

Chapter Thirty-seven

Sunday, 6:00 PM

THE ROAD CREWS are out in force, ploughing, sanding, and salting the roads. They will soon be able to let the survivors drive to the station in town to give their statements. Sergeant Sorensen has been advised by telephone that a detective will be arriving any minute. They’ve done pretty well so far, she thinks, without one.

A technician approaches her holding up a laptop. ‘I was able to get past Candice White’s password. I pulled up what she was working on.’

Sorensen raises her eyebrows. ‘And?’

‘It looks like a romance novel. About two women who fall in love and adopt a baby.’

‘Really?’ Sorensen says, surprised.

He nods. ‘Yup. Have a look.’

Sunday, 6:30 PM

Ian has been outside for the last half-hour, running the cars, warming them up, and trying to scrape the ice off the windows. It’s already dark outside, but the hotel is brightly lit.

Gwen stops on the front porch, looking out. Her car has just been pulled out of the ditch and brought back to Mitchell’s Inn.

It seems wrong to get back in the car without Riley. So horrible to leave without her, to abandon her here. She’s still in the forest, with various people photographing her, examining her, under floodlights. Gwen is sure she’ll never forgive herself.

She becomes aware of David coming up to stand beside her. She doesn’t know what to say to him. Is there any future for the two of them? Immediately, she feels disloyal to Riley, to her memory. How resentful she would be.

‘Gwen,’ David says. It’s just the two of them on the porch. ‘Are you okay?’ His genuine concern almost makes her break down. She wants to press her face into his chest, but she doesn’t. Instead she just nods quickly, blinking back tears.

She turns to him suddenly. ‘Did you suspect it was Lauren?’

‘Yes,’ he admits. ‘She touched Dana, and she touched Candice, too, in front of everyone. It’s a smart thing to do if you’re worried about the possibility of having left trace evidence. It’s very difficult to not leave forensic evidence. And she tried to get to Bradley, too, but I stopped her. Physically stopped her. That’s when I suspected her. But I didn’t know, not for sure.’

‘I had no idea it was Lauren,’ Gwen says. She’d been shocked by Lauren’s arrest. Ian whispered to her and David afterwards that they’d found Lauren’s earring outside, and that he figured it had to have been near the murder scene, because they’d quickly arrested her.

David says, ‘She didn’t get near Bradley after we found him. So if they found her earring near him—’

‘I liked her. I trusted her,’ Gwen says. She looks up at him in disbelief. ‘Why would she do it?’