The officers took a statement from Zoe in the living room while George stood in the kitchen with a cup of tea he wasn’t drinking and Rex at his feet. He heard her explaining to the police how she had already contacted one DC Patel. It was a timeline going back eight months. She had started receiving letters from her ex-boyfriend, Marcus. He had never quite accepted that their relationship was over. Her voice was steady throughout.
When the officers left, Zoe came into the kitchen and stood across the table from him. Rex went to her, pressing his head against her hip. She put her hand on him without looking down. “I should have told you,” she said. “I thought I had it handled. And then the letters and messages came, and the longer I left it, the harder it was to explain why I’d left it.” She stopped. “I didn’t want you to worry. I hoped the police would catch him before you got to know.”
George looked at her for a long time. “Is that all of it?” he said. She hesitated. “No,” she said. “There’s something else.”