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By Root 327 0

could see that the riverbed was a chaotic mixture of rock and stone, in grimy shades of brown, the outer beauty hiding a dark imperfect base. I picked up a flat stone and skimmed it into the water. It bounced along, sending soft waves rippling across the surface. I repeated this over and over again, then bent down and slid the tips of my fingers through the water. The riverbed seemed closer than it actually was. Just like Jane. Yesterday I had grown so sure that I could help her, but the more I thought about it the more I realized how little I knew. All morning I had been reanalyzing my dreams, reliving the attack and trying to identify any other signs she might have given me. The clues swirled around in my head, occasionally slotting together, but still not making an awful lot of sense.

Then I had an idea. I would write down what I knew so far. I took out my hardback notebook and flicked through the pages of lyrics until I found a blank space. I jotted down the few clues I had.

JANE

Attacked?

Murdered?

Connection with Beth? Murdered by the same person?

Leather bag

Bag contained: violin strings, purse, red lipstick and hat.

Sighted in: the forest

The Cupcake Café

When I wrote the clues down it didn’t look as if there were very many at all. Ger said that there might be a link between the places that Jane appeared, but I couldn’t think of any link between the dark forest and the cute Cupcake Café. I didn’t like how there was no single way to solve this. I was used to problems that had a clear formula, a right and wrong answer. I could work out most maths problems in seconds, but I couldn’t even seem to get started on this one. I had the bag, but it hadn’t really offered me any new information. I was pretty sure the bag was vintage, so that would suggest that Jane was murdered some time ago. But I couldn’t be certain. I don’t know why but I also thought that the same person who killed Beth might have killed Jane too. But I knew from my Internet research, and from talking to Colin, that nobody seemed to know who had killed Beth. Maybe her killer was still in Avarna. Still walking around. That thought scared me a little, but it also gave me hope. If the killer was still here, then I had a better chance of finding them. I wondered what Jane had been like. What she’d looked like, what she’d liked to do. I wondered if she’d ever been in this garden, ever sat on this bench.

The gate creaked, bringing my thoughts back to the present. Colin came into the garden, carrying a bin bag and a rubbish picker. He didn’t notice me sitting there. I watched as he picked up cigarette butts from the water’s edge.

‘Hi,’ I said.

He looked over, surprised to see me. ‘What are you doing up so early?’ he asked, coming over and sitting beside me on the bench.

‘Nothing really.’ I closed my notebook and dropped it into my lap. ‘What are you doing?’

‘I told Mary I’d pick up any rubbish lying around here. She wants it looking spotless for the fête on Sunday. Nick was meant to do it for her, but he’s at home sick. She was already stressing about the broken freezer in her shop so I decided to help her out.’

‘What’s wrong with Nick?’ It hurt to say his name, but I wanted to make sure he was OK.

‘Well, supposedly he has a migraine, but I bet he just fancied a lie-in. He was well able to go to the gig in Sligo with us last night. You should have come – it was deadly.’

‘I had something on … So you’re talking to Nick then? I was worried that maybe I’d caused trouble between you two.’ I hoped that what had happened didn’t come between them.

‘I’m talking to him, but he’s still pretty mad at me for almost breaking his nose with the door. He’ll get over it.’

‘Did he say anything about me?’ I was aware I sounded kind of desperate, but I wanted to know.

‘Em … no, not really.’ Colin looked down at his shoes. He was a terrible liar.

‘So he hates me?’

‘Maybe just give him some space for a while. I know he didn’t do anything to hurt you, but … what got into you anyway?’

‘I just … I don’t really want to talk about it.’

‘Ooh, your songs!’ said Colin,