It had taken every ounce of Justin’s willpower to control himself when Alicia had come home with the man who might well be Sophie’s father. Now he was restraining himself from asking her to stay, instead of going to her sister’s and leaving things hanging between them. But then, knowing what he now did, Justin guessed it was him, rather than a houseful of tainted memories, she might prefer to be away from.

He supposed he should be grateful, given the lack of police resources, that the detective in charge of the hit-and-run case had turned up personally. They were giving the break-in some priority, but the scene of crime officers seemed to be taking their sweet time trying to establish whether they might have any forensic evidence to go on, meaning Alicia would most likely take up Radley’s offer of a lift to her sister’s. How ironic that when Justin had asked him to leave, wanting the bastard out of his house and away from his wife, the police had requested he wait around – to eliminate any fingerprints he might have left, they’d said.

He’d gleaned from Radley’s expression that he’d been more than happy to oblige, eager to hang around Alicia. Was he getting some perverse kick out of it, humiliating the man whose wife he was having a seedy affair with? Justin glanced contemptuously to where he stood in the middle of his lounge, looking at him as if he were weighing him up. Prat. Justin sucked in a terse breath and turned his attention to Detective Inspector Taylor, willing him to hurry it up.

‘What about the writing?’ Alicia asked him, as DI Taylor scribbled in his notebook.

‘We might have been able to get a handwriting analyst on it. Unfortunately, now the mirror’s smashed and spattered with blood…’ Shrugging hopelessly, Taylor looked regretfully towards Justin.

Justin glanced down. It had been a kneejerk reaction. Probably the only one who would understand why he’d reacted that way was Alicia, because she knew the circumstances under which he’d found his family.

‘So, it’s just the items you mentioned that you think are missing?’ Taylor double-checked, referring to his notes. ‘One half-carat diamond ring; one ladies’ Radley watch; one ladies’ nine-carat gold bar-and-chain bracelet; and one yellow gold locket, enhanced with a white gold floral motif?’

Alicia nodded. ‘I’m not sure about Sophie’s things. I’ll have to speak to her,’ she said, sounding and looking more exhausted than Justin had ever seen her. ‘The locket,’ she added, as Taylor closed his notebook, ‘it has photographs of my children in it. The one of Lucas was the last one we’d taken of him.’

Hearing the heartbreak in her voice, watching the tears slide slowly down her cheeks, Justin choked back his own emotion. He had the photo of Luke on his phone, but it was the significance of it being stolen on the day of his funeral that was breaking her heart. He was halfway towards her when Mr Magnanimous himself beat him to it. ‘I’ll take you to Jessica’s, when you’re ready,’ Radley said, smiling sympathetically.

Alicia looked up at him, and then got to her feet.

And Justin felt her slip away from him another inch.

‘No,’ she said, taking him by surprise. ‘It’s kind of you to offer, but I think I’d rather take a taxi.’

Radley also looked surprised, Justin noted, or possibly slightly irritated. ‘Oh,’ he said, his smile now on the tight side. ‘Are you sure? It’s no trouble.’

‘Positive,’ Alicia said, nodding adamantly. ‘I have some things I need to do. You might as well get off.’

She wasn’t looking at him, Justin noticed, but Radley was looking at her, definitely perturbed. The man was obviously a cocksure son of a bitch who wasn’t used to being turned down.

‘I’ll show you out,’ Justin said, pushing his hands in his pockets and nodding towards the front door. He would quite like to physically escort him out, but he guessed that wouldn’t be a smart move with police in the house.

Closing the front door behind him, having declined to shake the hand the bastard had the gall to offer him, Justin took a second and then went back to the lounge.

Finishing her call, to a taxi company, it sounded like, Alicia wrapped her arms about herself in that way she’d adopted. She looked cold, haunted, alone with her grief.

She shouldn’t be on her own, not now. He had to stay here until the forensics officers had finished their business, but… ‘Why don’t you call Jessica?’ he suggested. ‘She won’t mind coming to fetch you.’

Alicia shook her head. ‘I’d rather she didn’t leave Sophie. And I don’t want Sophie coming with her and seeing police here.’

Justin understood. Sophie would have to know, but they could break this news to her gently, he supposed. There would be no way to soften the blow regarding her parentage.

Swallowing back his anger, which would serve no purpose right now, he walked across to Alicia. Whatever was happening between them, she needed not to feel the kind of emptiness he knew she would be feeling. The kind of desolate loneliness that would drive her further into herself. He’d been there. He might not have surfaced, if not for her. If he wasn’t misreading things here, which clearly spelled out that three was a crowd – and he didn’t think he was – then maybe he should be the one to bow out.

Not gracefully though. He would fight for Sophie. Though he felt jaded to his very bones, he would never give up on his daughter. Never. As long as she needed him, he would be there. And if one day she didn’t… Justin quashed a stab of anguish in his chest. He would cross that bridge when he got there.

Alicia didn’t relax into him as he eased her into his arms. She didn’t tense, though. Justin didn’t read too much into that, but he was taken aback when she rested her head lightly on his shoulder, staying like that for a second, before looking up at him, her eyes awash with such raw emotion that it tore him apart. ‘Will you ring me?’ she asked him, her voice small and defeated. ‘If you hear anything?’

Feeling a sharp lump slide down his throat, Justin nodded. ‘I will, I promise,’ he said hoarsely, and pressed his forehead lightly to hers.