Silence.
“I know you think someone is helping her. Someone from this station. Someone from the team. But it isn’t me.”
“But I already know it’s you.”
“You can’t. I have an alibi. YouknowI have an alibi. Yes, I was in the nick, but I was talking to Jackie Tyler in Missing Persons at that time. I was there for forty minutes at least, going through couples who’d gone missing—”
“She says you weren’t.”
“No, no, no—that’s wrong. She made a statement saying—”
“She’s retracted it. She got the timing wrong.”
A heavy, bewildered silence. For the first time, tears sprang to Charlie’s eyes. Helen continued:
“She didn’t think it was important at first, but she now remembers that it was early afternoon that you came to her—”
“No, no—she’s lying. I was there. I did spend that time with her—I can tell you the name of every couple we went thr—”
“You’ve let me down, Charlie. And betrayed us all. If you had a shred of decency or honesty about you, I could have helped you, but it’s in the hands of Anti-Corruption now. They will be here in five minutes, so get your story straight—”
Charlie’s hand shot out and grabbed Helen’s.
“It’s not me.”
A long beat.
“I know you don’t like me. I know you don’t rate me. But Iswearit isn’t me. I—”
Now the tears were coming thick and fast.
“I would never... I couldn’t. How could you think I would ever do something like that?”
Said with fierce passion. Then she broke down—deep, guttural sobs.
“It’s not me.”
Helen watched her, then:
“It’s okay, Charlie. I believe you.”
Charlie looked up, disbelieving.
“But...”
“Anti-Corruption isn’t coming. And Jackie never retracted her statement—she’s given you a cast-iron alibi. I’m sorry it had to be this way, but I’ve got no other choice. I need to know who’s doing this.”
“So?”
“You’re in the clear, Charlie.Nobody need ever know we’ve had this conversation and it won’t be on your sheet.Get yourself cleaned up and get back to work.”
And with that, she was gone. Charlie buried her head in her hands. Relief and exhaustion mingled with disgust—she had never disliked Helen Grace as much as she did at this moment.
Outside, Helen took a breath. She felt sick to her stomach. Not for what she had put Charlie through, but for what her innocence meant. There was only one possible culprit left now: Mark.
60
Caroline’s whole body was rigid, her ears straining for sounds of movement. It had been four days since she’d been liberated and she’d hardly slept a wink since. Visions of Martina played in her head—the gasping for breath, the bulging eyes—but it was fear that was really keeping her awake. The euphoria of survival had slowly given way to a gnawing terror. Why had she been released? What terrible fate awaited her now that she had proved herself to be a killer?
