The Half Truth(43)

Tina watched the line of children as they filed though the school doors, satisfied that he was safely ensconced within the confines of the building. She returned to the car, where John was patiently waiting.

‘You okay?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ said Tina, giving another look towards the school. ‘He’ll be fine there, I know. Besides, if whoever it was that was in the house last night, if it was Dimitri they wanted, then they would have taken him there and then.’

John flicked the key in the ignition. ‘Don’t jump ahead of yourself. We still don’t know for sure whether someone was there or not.’

‘Save your breath trying to convince me otherwise,’ said Tina. She pushed the clip of her seat belt into the holder and adjusted the tightness of the strap across her body. ‘You know as well as I do, someone was in the house. We just don’t know how.’

‘I’ll check it out when we get back,’ said John. He looked in the mirrors, signalled and pulled out into a gap one of the parents made for him.

‘We,’ she corrected him. ‘We will check it out.’

John raised his eyebrows. ‘Okay, we will check it out.’

She didn’t mean to sound snappy and was conscious of the edge to her voice. ‘I don’t mean to sound bad-tempered, but I’m seriously struggling to keep it together. This whole business is getting to me. If I let my guard down, I’m going to end up a weeping, pathetic woman.’

‘Showing your feelings isn’t such a bad thing, you know,’ said John. ‘Although, I must admit, weeping and pathetic isn’t particularly helpful.’

‘Exactly.’

‘Right, let’s get you home, then, woman of steel.’ He said with his best mock-American hero voice-over.

Tina laughed despite herself. ‘Now I’m picturing myself in a pair of cast-iron pants and a cape.’

‘Wonder Woman-like,’ said John. He looked over at Tina with a smirk. ‘I kind of like that image, hot pants, knee-length boots …’

Tina dished out a playful tap to John’s arm.

The tension in the car eased and she felt herself relax back into the seat. Despite everything, she couldn’t deny that she liked being with John. He had a calming effect on her, his years in the police force clearly coming into play as he took everything in his stride without so much as a stumble or falter in his step.

John stood inside the front door, Tina at his side. He closed the door firmly.

‘So, let’s go through this again. The front door was definitely locked, as I remember putting the chain on and checking.’

‘And I had locked the back door, checked all the windows. I remember talking to Rascal,’ said Tina. ‘What? He understands everything I say.’

John smiled and shook his head. ‘Cat woman,’ he muttered.

‘At least you didn’t put “crazy” in front of that,’ said Tina.

‘We both heard a thud, a bang, call it what you like, but there was definitely a distinctive heavy noise from next door, followed by a different sort of bang.’

‘More like a clatter,’ said Tina.

John closed his eyes and tried hard to remember the unexpected sound. ‘Yes, different to the first. Almost like two pieces of wood banging together, a door or something.’

‘And then I definitely heard movement on the staircase. It really makes a noise. Admittedly the creaking noise was more indistinct, but that’s what I thought immediately, that it was the staircase.’

‘At which point we hot-footed it next door.’

‘And found nothing.’

John wandered down the hall and back again. ‘Has Mr Cooper got any pets?’

‘Nope.’

‘Any chance Rascal or another neighbour’s pet could have got into Mr Cooper’s house.’

‘Nope. And let’s just say a cat did. Unless it’s of the wild cat-lion variety, then I doubt it would have made such a loud noise.’

John looked thoughtfully up the staircase. ‘If I wanted to get from one house to the next without being detected, what would I do?’

He looked at Tina, who shrugged. He continued with his verbal thought process. ‘I can’t go in and out the front or back doors, they are locked and I don’t have a key. How else can I get through? I’m not a ghost, I can’t walk through walls.’ He paused again to see if Tina had picked up on where he was going with this.

‘If you know the answer, then rather than do the whole Sherlock and Watson routine, can you enlighten me?’ She tagged an impatient flick of the eyebrows to the end of the sentence.

‘I can’t walk through walls, but I can make a hole and get from one side to the next.’