Against a Dark Sky by Katherine Pathak

Dani could tell he was still cross. It made her sad. A few months ago, her partner would have been laughing along with them. It had been Calder’s grumpy reaction to getting sprayed that made the situation so comical. The heart attack had really changed him.
                  She made no comment on it. Instead, Dani scribbled her mobile number onto a business card and handed it to James. ‘We’ll be staying in town for the next couple of days. Call me if you remember anything significant.’

 
    Chapter Eighteen
     
     
     
    T he Batras’ house was a fairly ordinary-looking semi on one of the leafy back roads leading away from Loughton High Street. It was positioned halfway along a row of properties facing directly onto Epping Forest.
                  Bevan knocked at the door. A pretty Asian woman in her early thirties answered almost immediately. She had a baby held in her arms. The face of a little girl poked out between her mother’s legs.
                  ‘Tanisha Batra?’ Bevan showed her warrant card.
                  The woman nodded, automatically standing aside to allow them both to enter. The house was a mess. Dani glanced through to the kitchen, where the panels in the door leading out to the garden had been boarded up. The living room was marginally tidier. Tanisha set the baby down into a bouncer and perched on the edge of the sofa, with the little girl clinging steadfastly to her leg.
                  Dani thought there was something spaced-out about the woman. Her eyes had an unfocused look to them. ‘Mrs Batra, we’d like to ask you a few questions about the break-in.’
                  ‘Okay,’ she said carefully, holding her daughter to her tightly.
                  ‘Did you hear or see anything at all during the burglary?’
                  ‘Yes. I heard the glass in the back door being broken. Amit had woken too. He went to the wardrobe and took out a baseball bat that he keeps in there. Then he went downstairs to see what was happening.’
                  ‘Did you not think to call the police first? Most people have a mobile phone close to hand these days.’
                  ‘It all occurred very quickly. All we knew was that there was an intruder in the house. Amit wanted to protect the children.’
                  ‘What happened next?’
                  ‘I went into the children’s rooms and brought them into the main bedroom with me. I closed the door. There was lots of banging and shouting downstairs. It lasted for about five minutes and then there was silence. I waited for a while, then I left the children upstairs and went down to see what was going on. Amit was lying in the hallway, with blood all over his face. He was unconscious but I found he was still breathing. I called an ambulance.’ Tears were streaming down Tanisha’s cheeks. Her words had become slurred.
                  ‘So you never saw the intruder at all?’ Andy asked.
                  She shook her head vigorously.
                  ‘Did your husband give any indication that he was frightened or nervous in the days leading up to this attack, Mrs Batra. Did you receive any threatening phone calls or letters?’ Dani enquired.
                  ‘No. He’d been very quiet ever since he returned from Scotland. All he wanted to do was stay home with us. I assumed he was sad because Jo was dead. It is a terrible shock when somebody so young dies.’
                  Dani sat forward in her seat. ‘Have you been drinking, Tanisha?’
                  The woman looked agitated. ‘That is none of your business,’ she retorted.
                  ‘It certainly is my business when you are responsible for the care of a baby and a young child.’
      Andy quickly intervened, ‘have you got a