AUTHOR'S FOREWORD

Previously On My Little Eye: Robbie finds out the morning after the night before that he didn't sleep with Laura after all but fell asleep drunk before he could do anything. Laura forgives him and hints that she may give him a second chance. Emily's boss Susie invites Emily to discuss her new article over a few drinks in the evening and Emily gratefully accepts. Cook is almost caught out by the unexpected arrival at the house of James Hathaway who gives Effy some shocking news about the body of Dr Foster being discovered in Bristol together with the bloodstained clothes of an unknown second person. Naomi is taken to the police station for questioning about how her DNA has been traced to the spliff at the second murder scene.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

PART 1

'Okay, okay, I admit it was my spliff you found,' said Naomi as she looked up at Sgt Hathaway with big, tearful eyes whilst her heart pounded like a drum and her palms turned sweaty with apprehension. 'But I didn't kill Mr Wells, I promise you I didn't'

'I'm not accusing you of killing him, Naomi. Just tell me what happened,' said Hathaway gently as he leaned back in his chair and contemplated the clearly nervous young woman. He didn't think for one second that she was the brutal serial murderer they were trying to track down but he needed to know precisely what had happened that night from her point of view. 'Take your time, there's no hurry. I simply need you to tell me the truth about Saturday night.'

Naomi took some renewed heart from the sergeant's reassuring, friendly manner and after taking a deep breath to regain her composure she proceeded to give him a succinct yet accurate account of what had happened after she had left the house to take Harvey for his walk. Hathaway listened in silence and made the odd note here and there in his notebook whilst she gave her account. When she had finished, he looked over at the anxious girl whom he could see was still trembling slightly, a reaction he put down to understandable nervousness about the situation she was in rather than an obvious sign of guilt.

'Did you see anyone else near the scene, either before or after you discovered the body?'

Naomi shook her head. 'No, not a soul. I hardly met a single person all the time I was out.'

'Did anyone leave the house at the same time as you or even just a bit before you?'

Naomi bit her lip as she thought long and hard about this latest question .After racking her brains for a while trying to come up with some positive piece of information for the police, anything which might make up for her duplicity in concealing her connection with the spliff, she had to admit defeat and miserably shook her head. 'No, I don't remember anyone else leaving around the same time as I did, Sergeant. I'm sorry.'

'That's okay, Naomi. If that's the truth, then so be it. I don't want you making things up just to try to help us out or make up for the business with the spliff.'

'What's going to happen to me, Sergeant?' the blonde asked with a faltering voice as she choked back the tears 'Are you going to charge me with possession? Or even withholding vital information in a murder enquiry? Could I…..could I go to prison?'

Sgt. Hathaway gave Naomi a reassuring smile as he coolly closed his notebook and placed it on the interview room table. 'Oh, I don't think there'll be any need for that, Naomi. Seeing as this is your first offence, as it were. But I am required to give you an official bollocking about the foolishness of keeping back important information from the police while we're conducting an investigation. Not to mention giving you a first and final warning about smoking illegal substances, even it is just an occasional innocent spliff. I assume you aren't in the habit of smoking pot or dealing in drugs?' He raised his eyebrows as he looked at Naomi who immediately took the hint and assured him with the most sincere conviction she could muster that she was neither a regular drug user nor a dealer.

'Well, I think we'll leave it at that, then. But I must advise you to take very seriously what I've said. If we find out you've misled us or kept something important back again we won't be so lenient next time. In fact I suspect my inspector will probably want to throw the book at you so you have been warned. Do I make myself clear?'

Naomi let out a huge sigh of relief and nodded meekly and not without a considerable degree of shame and sense of humiliation at receiving such a stern ticking off from Sgt Hathaway who had succeeded in making Naomi feel like she was back in junior school receiving detention for talking at the back of the class. Two minutes later Hathaway was showing Naomi and Professor Greaves out of the station, the blonde almost peeing herself in her knickers with relief as she was released into the wild again. As the pair staggered out into the cool early afternoon air a delighted Eleanor put a comforting arm around her pupil's shoulders and squeezed them reassuringly whilst Naomi flashed her companion a weak, unconvincing smile which sought to conceal how frightened she had been during her uncomfortable ordeal in the police interview room.

PART 2

As Emily and Katie crossed the road and approached the unremarkable, nondescript grey building on the corner, Emily shot a sideways glance at her sister and could hardly fail to miss the tell-tale signs of nervousness and trepidation she was obviously experiencing. Katie was licking her lips, swallowing hard and beads of perspiration were beginning to form on her brow and threatening to trickle down her face which had turned a deathly pale complexion. Emily would not have been able to see her sister's stomach churning or feel her heart racing and thumping but she could have easily imagined it. For one second Emily thought Katie might be on the verge of fainting and so she grabbed hold of Katie's left hand and gave it a reassuring tight squeeze whilst she smiled at her sister and asked her if she was okay.

'Oh yeah, never felt better. I've been looking forward to this all day,' replied Katie with a grimace. It was the best attempt at gallows humour she could muster in the circumstances, given that she was absolutely shitting herself, felt like she was going to throw up and her bladder was screaming at her to allow it to empty its contents there and then on the street corner right in front of everyone.

'You'll be fine once you're inside and actually talking to other people who are going through the same thing as you are, trust me,' said Emily confidently. 'The build-up and the waiting for something unpleasant is always far worse than the event itself. Do you remember when we were little how I used to get the shakes and cry my eyes out whenever Mum took us to the dentist?'

Katie nodded silently and almost but not quite broke out into a superior smirk. She could vividly recall Emily at age nine or ten almost having to be dragged kicking and screaming by their mother to have a filling done whereas she never found a visit to the dentist to be any big deal unlike her more sensitive, squeamish younger sister.

'Well, the truth is having a filling done was never as terrifying or painful as the thought of having it done beforehand. The things we imagine are usually a hundred times more painful and scary than what they turn out to be. I expect it's the not knowing what's in store tonight that's scaring the shit out of you. I bet you anything you like it won't be anywhere near as bad as you think it'll be right now.'

'I'm not scared!' cried Katie defiantly in Emily's face. 'I'm just not convinced it's going to be any help, that's all. I'm not frightened of anyone or anything.'

'That's my girl,' said Emily approvingly and squeezed Katie's hand again in admiration. Katie suddenly became very self-conscious and awkward about standing in the middle of the street holding hands with another girl as people passed them by and hurriedly withdrew her hand with an expression of irritation which disappointed Emily a little. 'Come on, then,' she said with a sigh of frustration, 'In you go, Katie. It's time to face your demons.'

Katie nodded with a visible degree of reluctance as she looked up at the small plain door in front of her and, aided by the tiniest of nudges from her twin, stepped forward and slowly opened it and nervously peered inside.

'I'll be here waiting for you when it's all over and you can tell me all about it on the way home. We can celebrate the success of your first meeting with a nice cup of tea and some chocolate biscuits,' she promised with a warm, encouraging smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

'Perfect,' said Katie with a broad smile that was way too over the top to carry any hint of sincerity. 'What could be better?' she pronounced with heavy sarcasm as she passed through the open doorway and closed the door firmly shut behind her, leaving an uncertain Emily deep in thought on the doorstep. After a few seconds quiet contemplation Emily turned round and began to retrace her steps back across the road. When she got to the other side she plonked herself down on a bench and sat gazing suspiciously over at the little door, half expecting Katie to emerge through it in a minute or two, presumably having given her sister enough time to disappear from sight, thus affording her the chance of escape.

Emily hated herself for showing so little trust and faith in her twin but five minutes later she was beside herself with joy and relief on concluding that Katie had obviously decided not to take the easy, coward's way out. Katie was going to tough it out after all and not let her sister and, more importantly herself, down when it came to the crunch. 'Good for you, Katie!' she said out loud as she got up off the bench and, looking anxiously at her watch, the redhead started briskly making her way across town for her eagerly anticipated meeting with Susie Peters in the wine bar.

PART 3

When Katie closed the door on Emily and the outside world her first thought was to hang around inside for a minute or two near the door and then make good her escape once Emily had disappeared out of sight. She noticed there was an odd little window to the right of the front door and she went over to it, parted the net curtains the merest fraction and peeped out with one eye shut through the wafer thin crack of light to observe Emily walk away and cross the road. She gave a sigh of relief which soon turned to one of anguish and frustration when she saw Emily sit down on the bench and turn her head back towards the door. Katie pulled away from the window with a sudden involuntary jerk of her head and prayed that Emily hadn't noticed the curtains move as she released them back to their former position.

'Fuck you, Emily, you suspicious cow!' Katie groaned as she leant back against the cold hard wall and her shoulders slumped in dejection and abject misery. She closed her eyes and screwed them tight as if attempting forlornly to shut out the harsh reality of the situation she was in. Had there been any sand to hand she would doubtless have tried to stick her head in it. The sound of a noise at the door jolted her out of her wishful thinking and she let out a gasp of surprise as the door opened and a middle aged man came in through the doorway. He shut the door quickly behind him, looked across in amusement at Katie, giving her a sympathetic, knowing smile but continued on his way, heading for the staircase on the left and briskly trotting up the stairs with an assured, purposeful manner.

Katie's mouth and throat felt horribly dry and she was gasping for a drink to steady her shattered nerves and give her the strength to carry on. But how could she get past the watchful eyes of her sister who clearly had little or no faith in her courage and determination to seek urgent professional help, starting that very evening. But then fate took a hand just as she was on the point of admitting defeat and preparing to face the music with Emily outside. She heard the distant crash of a door and, intrigued and gripped with a desperate sense of hope and salvation, trotted forward somewhat hesitantly to try to locate its source. She crossed the hallway and veered off towards the right down what turned out to be a long, dark, musty corridor at the end of which she could hear the unmistakeable echoing sound of footsteps coming towards her.

As Katie advanced down the corridor she could eventually make out the outline of a woman coming towards her, a woman with short blonde hair wearing a dark coat, jeans and trainers. As they came alongside one another Katie blurted out the question that was reverberating in her head. 'Is there a back door here somewhere?' In her febrile anxiety she didn't even bother with the niceties of common courtesy but fortunately for her the woman didn't take exception to the absence of any 'please' or 'excuse me', merely nodding and pointing behind her. Katie forced out a grateful thank you and almost ran the rest of the way until she finally came upon a heavy fire exit door whose bars she pushed down forcefully and stumbled out into the open air with all the relief and desperation of someone escaping from a raging fire inside the building. At last she was free and as she bent over double to get her breath back, sucking in huge gulps of air and feeling her heart thumping at the rate of knots, she knew exactly where she was going to head for next.

PART 4

Slightly out of breath for having covered the last hundred yards or so at a more than brisk pace, Emily entered the wine bar and cast anxious looks all around, seeking out the familiar sight of Susie Peters. An encouraging wave and a cheery smile reassured Emily that her boss had not stormed off in a rage at having been left waiting by her disrespectful junior employee. Seconds later the redhead had sat down at the table Susie had chosen in a corner of the room, sufficiently far enough away from the other patrons to afford the pair of them a measure of privacy and quiet, and apologised profusely for being a little late, a gesture which Susie dismissed instantly with a warm smile. Her boss poured Emily a glass of chilled white wine from the bottle sitting in the ice bucket and handed it to her, picking up her own half full glass to clink delicately with Emily's as she said 'Cheers'.

'Thank you so much for this, Susie,' said a still slightly flushed Emily as she allowed the cool, smooth liquid to trickle down her throat and breathe new life into her nervous, trembling body. 'I feel very privileged, to be honest. I'm not quite sure what I've done to deserve this special attention.'

'You're very modest, my dear,' replied Susie with a hint of a smile on her lips as she looked deep into Emily's eyes, 'which is another one of your qualities that I find so beguiling and appealing. I like women who aren't aware how talented and beautiful they are.'

Emily blushed on hearing the compliments Susie was paying her and looked down at her glass, taking another mouthful of wine to try and hide her embarrassment. She was secretly overjoyed to hear that Susie had such a high opinion of her journalistic abilities – she refused to believe the reference to her looks, she was sure Susie was just being kind there – but was terrified that the article she had started on Lewis and Hathaway might not turn out to be the runaway success that Susie was expecting it to be. After all these flattering compliments Emily was scared shitless about letting her boss down.

'Oh, I don't know about that,' she said shyly, letting out a nervous giggle which forced Susie into a huge smile. 'I'm still trying to find my feet really. I've got so much to learn about this business, I feel quite out of my depth at times. I look at all the others on the paper and wonder how I'll ever be anywhere near as good as them.'

'Talent will always come through, Emily, believe you me. Provided you work hard, listen to the right people at the right times, learn from your mistakes and above all believe in yourself, then I promise you things will work out just fine. I have great faith in you, you know. I see things in you that…..well, that remind me of ME when I was starting out in the business, all those years ago. You simply have to have a bit more self-confidence. I know you'll make it eventually.'

Emily gave Susie an uncertain half-smile. She wished she shared her boss's confidence in her but she was far from convinced she had what it took to make a big name for herself in the newspaper industry. She was well aware it was a harsh, sometimes brutal, cut-throat world, still largely dominated by men and deep down she knew she wasn't one of those naturally hard-nosed, feisty, ballsy, confident woman who tended to make an impact in such an unforgiving macho environment – in short she wasn't a Susie Peters. Maybe though, just maybe, with the right kind of schooling, the right kind of attentive nurturing and personal hands-on development from her kind and generous boss she could be moulded and fashioned into another Susie Peters.

By an uncanny coincidence that was precisely what her boss was thinking at that very moment as she carefully studied the delicate, fragile yet oh so captivating and striking features of the beautiful young redhead sitting tantalisingly close to her. Susie could only marvel at Emily's apparent innocence and naivety in being so blissfully unaware of the effect she was having on her much older, wiser and more experienced female companion and the latest in a long line of self-confessed admirers of her beauty.

PART 5

For the second time inside half an hour Katie Fitch approached the small front door of the grey building at the corner of the street but with nothing remotely like the sense of fear and apprehension of the first occasion. On the contrary she had something akin to a jaunty spring in her step as she opened the door and passed confidently inside, slamming the door shut behind her without a backward glance. She strode forward and slowly and deliberately climbed the narrow staircase, hanging on to the banister as she did so until she reached the second floor where Emily had told her the AA meeting room was to be found.

She moved unsteadily down the passageway to the right of the landing until she had almost reached the end and found herself standing outside room 101 from where she could hear the muffled sounds of voices as she pressed one ear to the door and listened hard. She held her breath as she tried to concentrate on the conversation taking place inside the room but it was all to no avail. Despite her best efforts a loud hiccup escaped her mouth which sounded all the more deafening to her because of the eerie stillness all around her in the corridor which had effect of creating a terrifying echo which must have reverberated along the length of the corridor and quite probably through the closed door as well.

Commendably and unashamedly undeterred Katie was unable to suppress a fit of giggles as she fought valiantly to prevent a second stentorian hiccup from letting rip from way down within her chest. Having won the battle to regain her composure with more than a little difficulty, she told herself to get a grip and concentrate and after taking one final deep breath she hammered on the door and without waiting to be invited she entered the room with what looked suspiciously like a mischievous grin on her face. As she burst forward into the room a sea of faces swivelled round and stared hard at her with a mixture of surprise and wide-eyed curiosity. Realising that her rather dramatic entrance had made her the centre of attention Katie stared back at the group in exaggerated fashion, her goggle eyes bulging wide as she presented a defiant front to the rows of people who were eyeing her up with a combination of uncertainty, apprehension and in some cases, she was certain, pure distaste and disapproval.

'What are you lot all looking at?' was her opening gambit as her face swiftly transformed from its initial endearing bravado into an open sneer of contempt.

'So what if I'm a bit late? This isn't a bloody classroom, is it?'

Mouths shot open and bemused glances were exchanged amongst those present and Katie was just on the point of following up her cheery greeting with another well judged pleasantry when a middle-aged man wearing glasses and untidy hair stood up and politely welcomed Katie to the group and invited her to find a spare seat and join them. Most of the faces that were still fixed firmly on Katie with undisguised fascination turned round again and resumed their former position, presumably relieved that someone had taken control of the awkward situation and had called for order to be restored and for the normal proceedings to recommence.

Katie looked briefly through glazed eyes at the guy whom she presumed to be the leader of the group, weighing up in her fuzzy and befuddled mind whether to challenge his authority or let it go and decided on the latter. She gave a curt nod in response and tottered forward towards the back row of seats with in equal measures a menacing scowl at those faces that were still transfixed by her and a startling lack of grace and poise. Mercifully for her there was a free chair at the end of the row which at least meant she didn't have to negotiate a potentially treacherous path past any of those already seated but instead could collapse into her seat with a thud that echoed all around the room and prompted a few sniggers and titters which made her bleary eyes blaze with barely restrained fury as she looked over towards where the chuckling had come from.

'I'm sorry, have any of you arseholes got a problem?' she cried out to no-one in particular before adding as an afterthought 'apart from the bleeding obvious, of course' which prompted her to burst out into a fit of laughter which ended only when the woman sitting next to her gave her a chilling, disapproving look that suggested Katie might want to consider shutting the fuck up. She did as she was asked and sank back in her seat with a heavy sigh, folding her arms in bored resignation. Hopefully this poxy meeting won't last much longer, she thought, and then we can all bugger off down the pub and have a fucking drink. This god-awful bunch of zombies looks totally brain-dead already. They could do with a bloody good drink just to put some life into them.

Katie listened for a while as the meeting continued where it had been so harshly interrupted with a man aged about thirty with brown hair, sunken cheeks and a slow, hesitant, nervous manner which quickly almost sent Katie to sleep standing up and talking about how he had managed to stay off the drink for two months now and how much better he felt as a result. If that's how he looks since he's been dry, thought Katie, fuck knows what a state he must have been in when he was knocking back the booze. She gradually became aware that the woman on her left was stealing occasional sideways glances at her with a face like thunder and was wrinkling her nose in disgust at something or other. A couple of people in the row immediately in front of her also turned round from time to time to stare at her and Katie would have been hugely tempted to say something abusive and cutting to the lot of them if she hadn't suddenly felt the room start to spin round and her eyes lose focus on everything around her. She felt like she was going to fall out of her chair and she hurriedly grabbed hold of the sides firmly with both hands and willed herself to stay awake and not pass out which she still might have done had her attention not been attracted by a sudden dig in the ribs from the woman next to her who was fixing yet another of her disapproving stares at her.

'Michael's talking to you!' she said, nodding over at the group leader who had stood up again and was looking over in Katie's direction with a friendly and encouraging smile on his face. Katie took a deep breath and forced herself to look across at Michael who in a cheery voice repeated his invitation to Katie to be terribly brave and stand up and tell everyone who she was and why she had come to the meeting.

'Oh shit!' muttered Katie under her breath but felt compelled to attempt to stand up as she realised that all heads and eyes had now turned towards her, not for the first time since her arrival, but this time the faces were kind, friendly and sympathetic and were murmuring polite words of encouragement. She struggled to her feet with an enormous effort of will-power, still hanging on to the side of the chair with one hand but as she stood up she let out the loudest of all the hiccups she had managed that afternoon which instantly sent her into a fit of hysterical giggles. She could see that this had stunned the assembled crowd of like-minded piss artists into an uncomfortable silence which made her laugh even more.

'Okay, right. Well, um….yes, well, you want to hear my story, then, do you?'

'Why don't you just start off by introducing yourself to us,' suggested Michael with an uncertain smile, not knowing whether this was going to prove a good idea or not but feeling that he had to test the water with the new arrival to ascertain the strength of her resolve and conviction.

Katie nodded, puffed out her cheeks and tried really hard to focus on Michael who was standing at the front of the room not ten paces or so away from her but as far as Katie was concerned he might as well have been ten miles away for all the difference that would have made. His outline seemed to have become terribly blurry all of a sudden and he kept disappearing from view only to reappear again moments later in a different place. It was really annoying, she thought, why the fuck wouldn't he stand still? How could she possibly talk to him if he was continually moving about the place? She leaned forward a little to try to see where he had got to now and almost toppled over, just managing to retain her balance at the last second by grabbing on to the chair in front of her. She let out another involuntary giggle and straightened up, this time grimly determined to maintain her balance and hold on to her consciousness.

'My name….. is…. Katie Fitch,' she began, pausing between words as the intensity of the effort required to remember her own name caused her to screw up her face in a study of concentration, ' and…. I know you aren't going to believe this for a second but… I'm an…..alcoholic.' With exquisite timing and a genuine sense of performance Katie just succeeded in getting out the crucial words before the inevitable happened. She lost all consciousness, her legs turned to jelly and collapsed beneath her and she keeled over onto the floor, hitting the ground with a thump like a dead weight and crashing into the two chairs in front of her, taking both the people sitting on them down with her in a mini domino effect.

AUTHOR'S FOOTNOTE

Sorry it's been so long since the last chapter. The laptop is still crap, work has been horrendous and my enthusiasm for and belief in the story is waning somewhat as a result. I did want to write the scenes in this chapter though as I have had them in my head for some time and wanted to transfer them to print however good or bad they come across.

May I say a few words of thanks to 'Anon' who reviewed my last chapter? I'm not too sure whether this is the same person who has given me reviews on earlier chapters – it could be a totally different anonymous reviewer but thank you whoever you are all the same. Your comment was much appreciated and it's great to know someone hasn't given up on me or the story despite the admittedly long intervals between chapters recently!