Read Online Closer Still by Jo Bannister - Free Book Online

any sense of it.’
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    By the time she got home Daniel was asleep on her sofa. Brodie didn’t want to disturb him, quietly turned the lights off. But then, instead of going to bed, after she’d checked that Paddy too was sleeping she went back to the living room and curled up in one of the armchairs. Even unconscious, Daniel was balm for her soul.
    And this was how they’d met – almost four years ago – him lying unconscious and her watching over him, worried sick and feeling guilty. And if the reason for it was
different, the feeling of guilt was the same.
    Perhaps because he always – so far as Brodie knew – slept alone, awareness of her proximity percolated down to him and Daniel stirred. Her dark-adjusted eyes saw him groping blindly for the lamp switch and his glasses.
    â€˜It’s all right,’ she said quietly, ‘it’s only me.’ Because there had been an occasion when he’d woken like this, not alone, and it had been people who hurt him.
    By the time he had his glasses on he was fully functional and his concern was only for her. ‘Are you all right?’
    She smiled tiredly. ‘I’m fine.’
    Which was what she’d told Deacon. Unlike Deacon, though, Daniel didn’t move on to his next question but waited for her to answer this one honestly.
    â€˜No,’ she admitted then, ‘not fine. But not hurt. By the time he got to me he wasn’t capable of hurting anyone. At least, not …’
    She hadn’t decided to tell him. In fact, she’d decided not to – Daniel’s devotion to the truth made him a difficult confidant on occasions when Brodie considered dishonesty the best policy. But a part of her needed to share her fears. And Daniel never needed an open door, just a crack to push against.
    He leant forward earnestly, mild grey eyes searching her face. ‘Not what? Not physically?’
    Brodie shrugged uncomfortably. ‘He wasn’t a nice man, Daniel. Dimmock’s a better place without him.’
    â€˜Except that now there’s a killer running round. I’m not sure that’s much better.’
    â€˜Oh, it is,’ she said, too quickly. ‘Believe me.’

    Daniel went on watching her, not crowding her into confiding in him, just somehow expecting it. These last three years, of course. If they’d taught him anything, it was that he and Brodie couldn’t keep secrets from one another and shouldn’t try. ‘Of course I believe you. What’s bothering me is how you know.’
    If she really hadn’t wanted to talk about this she’d have been more careful. She let out a long, broken sigh. ‘I spy, with my little eye, someone beginning with D …’
    Whatever she was doing, Daniel knew it wasn’t a game. ‘Me,’ he said immediately.
    Brodie shook her head. ‘You’ve got an alibi. You were with Paddy. Someone else.’
    She saw the answer lodge in his head, widening his eyes. ‘ Jack ?’
    So she told him everything. Everything she hadn’t told Deacon. Which was also a recurring theme these last three years.
    Daniel heard her out, then shook his yellow head firmly. ‘No. Jack wouldn’t do that.’
    â€˜Sometimes,’ she whispered, ‘Jack’s not a nice man either.’
    She didn’t need to remind Daniel. At the same time, he wasn’t emotionally involved; or not with Deacon. ‘Jack has a temper,’ he acknowledged. ‘One day he could kill someone. But it would be with his fists, not a knife.’
    â€˜He was angry. Loomis threatened us – me and Jonathan. I think, if he thought we were in danger …’
    â€˜ …That he’d ambush him in a dark alley and stick a knife in him?’ But he did her the courtesy of thinking about it.
Perhaps it wasn’t absurd. Deacon had had as difficult a day as Brodie had. She’d gone home to friends and family: