I woke up alone in the oyster shed to the sound of a gull cawing and wheeling overhead. The stars had dissolved and the night sky had paled. The sun was beginning to rise across the estuary, its pinkish rays making long metallic ribbons across the water, the bleak beauty of the landscape replaced by something almost pretty.
It was a moment before I realized that it had been the sound of knocking that had actually woken me up.
Inspector Doyle stood at the door of the shed. ‘Someone said you’d come out here to get some sleep.’
‘I was almost delirious. I just needed a rest.’
‘How are you feeling?’ he asked, coming inside and sitting on a rickety chair.
‘Felt better,’ I replied, noticing my dry throat.
‘Where’s Martin?’
‘Still at the house.’
I looked at him expectantly. ‘Have you spoken to Sophie Cole yet?’
‘My colleagues have. From what I can gather, she’s got a broken back, legs, ribs. We’re waiting on a full evaluation but she’ll probably have to stay in hospital for a few days before being transferred somewhere else.’
‘Has she been charged?’
He nodded. ‘Intent to commit grievous bodily harm. And for perversion of the course of justice.’
I was disappointed. I knew that Sophie had wanted to kill me. The charge didn’t seem to fit the crime.
‘What about Donna?’ I said, sitting up. ‘Have you found her yet?’
Doyle paused before he spoke.
‘Apparently she’s in France. Sophie Cole has given us an address. A couple of my officers are on their way to check it out.’
‘France? What’s she doing there?’
Fragments of memory came back to me. Phil watching Donna go through international departures at the Eurostar terminal, Martin buying his grandparents a farmhouse in the Loire.
‘Hiding out,’ said Doyle simply.
I shook my head to indicate that Doyle was going to have to explain further.
‘Donna Joy staged her own disappearance. Donna and Sophie. They were in it together.’
I paused to take it in. Imagined what was going on behind the scenes. Was Sophie Cole already trying to plea bargain, pushing blame onto her missing friend?
‘She wasn’t abducted?’
Doyle shook his head.
‘We’re not sure why they did it, yet. Hazarding a guess, I’d say they wanted to frame Martin to make some fraudulent claim on the business.’
I nodded. ‘That was what Martin thought. There’s a clause in his partnership agreement that if Martin brings the business into disrepute, Alex Cole can acquire his shareholding.’
I sat up higher against the day-bed but immediately felt dizzy and brought a palm to my forehead.
‘Are you all right?’ said Doyle with a look of concern.
‘I think so.’
‘You should go and get yourself checked out at the hospital. I obviously need to take a statement from you, but that shouldn’t take long. Then I can give you a lift into Colchester. I have to go back to the hospital too.’
He hesitated.
‘I’m sorry you had to go through this, Fran. You should have left it to us. What you did was bloody dangerous.’
‘I know,’ I said, still feeling shaken. ‘But when you’re desperate, you’ll do anything to try and put things right.’
‘I assume that’s why you lied to us.’
I tried to read his tone but couldn’t tell if his remark was support or criticism.
‘I knew how bad it looked, following Martin and Donna that night. That’s why I told Sergeant Collins that I went straight home after I went to Donna’s studio. I was wrong, but I was scared.’
My heart was beating fast. I knew where all this could end; being charged with an attempt to pervert the course of justice, disbarment from my profession.
‘Just don’t get into any more trouble,’ he said with the comforting ghost of a smile, and I felt my whole body relax.