Free The Last Girl by Jane Casey Page A

countered. ‘Something different. Something unexpected. So far it’s the only strange thing we can be sure of, and even though there’s nothing to say it’s connected, I still think we should find out where she was meant to be.’
    ‘With the boyfriend, maybe.’ Derwent clicked his fingers. ‘But she broke up with him instead and went home, so he killed her, and her mum for good measure. Case closed.’
    It was a good thing I was used to sarcasm from that quarter. ‘I’m not suggesting it’s as straightforward as that. It’s just an anomaly. Anything out of the ordinary should be investigated.’
    ‘It’s worth finding out more,’ Godley said. ‘Do we know who the boyfriend is?’
    ‘He’s Mr Faceless McAnonymous in the pictures and I bet Kennford didn’t have a clue he existed.’ Derwent scrawled something in his notebook. ‘We’ll have to ask Lydia who her sister was banging.’
    Alarm bells were going off in my mind. If Derwent took that line with her we could forget finding out anything at all. ‘I’m not going to ask her that straight out. She’s not likely to tell me, even if she knows.’
    ‘How would she not know? They were twins.’
    ‘Doesn’t mean they were close.’ I looked at Godley instead of Derwent, hoping he would referee. ‘When we went and searched their rooms, Laura’s was a mess, but it gave you the feeling she enjoyed life. She certainly had everything any teenager could want in the way of gadgets and toys. Lydia’s was like a nun’s cell. I don’t know how much they had in common apart from DNA and shared womb space, but they definitely led different lives.’
    The superintendent nodded. ‘She sounds shy, from what her dad said. Josh, you should take a back seat for that interview. Actually, don’t go. I don’t want you scaring the girl out of talking. Maeve has a better chance of gaining her trust if she goes on her own.’
    ‘So you’re keeping me out of it again.’ Derwent’s chair thudded down on the carpet. ‘It’s a pretty important interview and you want to send Kerrigan alone?’
    ‘She’s more than capable.’
    I tried to look more than capable. Una Burt was frowning at me but not with disapproval; more as if she’d never really noticed me before. Maitland had crossed his arms across his barrel chest and was grinning, all set to enjoy the show. Colin looked bored, but then he was generally uninterested in human interaction.
    ‘She’s not sufficiently experienced and she’s far from infallible,’ Derwent insisted.
    ‘I don’t have any doubt about her abilities.’
    ‘Well, I do. And she’ll miss the post-mortems.’
    ‘I imagine we will cope without her.’
    I could feel my face burning. It was bad enough to be criticised in front of senior members of the team. The fact that Derwent and Godley were actually fighting about me was mortifying.
    Godley put the cap on his pen with an air of finality. ‘You’ll get your chance to be useful later, Josh, when we’re dealing with Kennford.’
    ‘I don’t like her going on her own. It’s too important to run the risk of fucking it up.’
    ‘Drop it, Josh. I’ve made my decision.’
    Derwent opened his mouth to keep arguing but I got in first. ‘There is another option. Someone else could come with me.’
    ‘Who?’ Derwent demanded.
    ‘I thought Liv Bowen would be a good person. She’s not intimidating and she’s a good listener.’
    ‘You don’t need anyone else to hold your hand.’ Godley sounded dismissive. I wondered how much of his faith in me was real and how much was generated by his determination not to back down in the face of Derwent’s scepticism.
    ‘It’s not for handholding. You know how useful it can be to have two officers instead of one when you’re interviewing someone who’s likely to get emotional. I don’t want to get caught up in feeling sorry for her. I’m going to need time to think about what I ask her, but she still has to feel we really care about her and