Page 190 of In Too Deep

Perverting the course of justice sat somewhere near the top of the list of problems heading his way, and the fallout had finally reached the scrapyard. New management had taken over. Which meant Raff might actually get his job back. Small victories.

The trial would come later.

Though Jake wasn’t particularly looking forward to that part. Apparently surviving an attempted murder meant spending days reliving it in front of barristers whose entire job involved asking questions he didn’t want to answer. He had several lengthy stints in the witness box in his future when, personally, he’d have preferred to just get paid for the work he’d done.

Still, for the first time since Harrison had found Lauren in the river and given her a name, people seemed to be talking about her properly. Not as a victim. Not as evidence. Or a body. But as Lauren Pike. A woman who’d laughed and worked and lived and deserved better than what had happened to her.

Jake reckoned that mattered more than any sentence Roman would eventually get.

As for Levenson Construction, the company all but collapsed overnight. Blackridge Holdings terminated its contract for the refurbishment and maintenance of Lancaster Industrial Estate before the week was out. Half the workforce found jobs elsewhere, the remaining contracts dried up, and within days there was barely a company left to save. Jake’s van spent nearly three weeks locked inside a forensic examination unit after having been found hidden in another disused warehouse, put there by Levenson senior himself, before eventually being returned smelling faintly of fingerprint powder and disappointment.

Jake never got paid.

The investigation should’ve felt finished after that.

Most days, it almost did.

Lauren’s family knew what happened to her. Roman was behind bars, facing enough charges to keep him occupied for the foreseeable future. Justice, as Harrison liked to call it.

But Roman’s arrest hadn’t brought everything to an end.

If anything, it made people nervous.

Because Roman had been desperate to belong to something. Something happening right here in Hartswick, involving people with enough money and influence that Roman had been willing to do almost anything to get himself through the door. But what the fuck had he been trying so hard to become part of? Because Roman hadn’t created any of it. That much Jake understood. He’d stumbled into something that had already been happening. Something people had apparently been keeping quiet long before Lauren Pike ever came to Hartswick.

And then there was what he’d said about Robyn.

Jake still didn’t know whether Roman had only been trying to hurt him. Wind him up. Get inside his head because he knew exactly which name would do it.

Or whether the bastard had actually known something.

That thought lingered.

But Jake did something that would have shocked almost everyone who knew him: he left it alone. For now. He’d made a promise. To Harrison. To himself.

He left it to the police.

Because after everything that had happened, after ceilings and crawlspaces and nearly dying in a building scheduled for demolition, he found he quite liked the idea of being alive for a bit.

So when Harrison finally gave him the all-clear to come and collect him for their date, Jake shoved thoughts of Roman, Lauren, and every other secret back into the box where they belonged. And he grabbed two sleeping bags, a tent, a crate of beer, enough snacks to feed a small army, his Bluetooth speaker, and pointed his newly returned van towards Harrison’s cottage.

Harrison climbed in, carrying an overnight bag, and immediately looked suspicious. “Where we going?”

Jake grinned and pulled away from the kerb. “On a date.”

Harrison eyed the pile of camping equipment stacked behind the seats. “Most people just go for dinner.”

“Aye, but this is Yorkshire style.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning dinner comes with scenery.”

That earned him a snort.

The sun dropped lower by the time they left Hartswick behind. The roads narrowed steadily, twisting between dry stone walls and rolling green fields before climbing higher into the North York Moors. The villages shrank. Traffic disappeared. The world opened up. Harrison spent most of the drive with one elbow resting out of the open window, T-shirt and jeans, those Gazelles on his feet, completely at ease.

Jake kept catching himself looking over. Not because Harrison was doing anything. But because he was there. Because a few weeks ago Jake had been wondering if Harrison would ever stop running. Now he was sat in the passenger seat heading into the middle of nowhere without even asking for directions.