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“Whereabouts up north?”

“Would you believe Filely?”

Dane looked at the screen. He hated coincidences. “No, I wouldn't.”

“Anyway, the Guv wants us to go up there to check it out.”

“Us?” Surely he hadn't heard right.

“Yeah, the two of us. That's you and me. We leave tomorrow, and come back either Thursday night or Friday morning.”

“But the girls…”

“The girls will be fine. You have a live-in nanny remember. Besides, it might not take that long. We might be able to wrap it up in a day and leave Wednesday. We'll take a pool car, that way we can both drive and we're not using our cars for work purposes.”

“A pool car is fine.” He looked at the computer and shut the window. “The girls won't like me going away. And with stuff escalating at Maranatha Farm…”

“The girls will live. Like I said, you have Amy now. And we won't be gone long. Besides, I really don't want to go away right now either, not with Adeline the way she is, but we don't have a choice. It's our case. Maybe this is why God sent you Amy.”

Dane scrawled
ring gas board re reading meter and bill
on a note and looked at him. “Other than to help the girls?”

Nate nodded. “Yeah. Figured if we leave at half six tomorrow morning, we can be there by nine or ten at the latest.”

“Sounds good to me.” Dane drew in a deep breath. “OK, what's going on? Is Adeline sick?”

“What gives you that idea?”

“Hospital visits. Plus your veiled references to not wanting to leave her alone right now and being in a funny mood for days. And she wasn't in church Sunday morning.”

Nate grinned. “Mornings aren't so great right now. But it'll wear off in a few months.”

Dane knew the grin on his face mirrored his friend's as the penny dropped. “She isn't?”

“She is. Ten weeks.”

Dane pushed his chair back and hugged Nate hard. “Congratulations. Have you told Vianne yet?”

“Not yet. So don't tell the girls, please.”

“I won't.” Dane grinned. “Good on you.”

 



 

Jodie looked at him in horror. “You're going away?”

Dane tried to placate her, which wasn't easy at the best of times. When she got in a tizzy, her head very nearly did come off and do a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turn. “Uncle Nate and I are because of
work
,” he emphasized. “My case is connected to one up on the north coast, so Uncle Nate and I have to go up there for a couple of days to compare notes with the officers there.”

“You know, Dad, these days you don't need to leave the office at all. You see, there's this really handy invention called the
telephone
. You use it to talk to people. Sometimes even people on the other side of the world. And there's another, even cleverer one called
e-mail
. You can send files thousands of miles with that one.”

He shook his head. “Miss Clever Clogs. Sometimes you just have to pound the pavement and do a bit of old-fashioned policing.”

Jodie rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “Old-fashioned as in beat a confession out of them, then? A bit of the old ‘come with me son, have a cup of tea, kick in the head'…”

Dane scowled. “That's enough. We don't work like that and you know it. You know very well what modern policing entails. You've seen enough on the TV without living with a police officer to know that.”

“Yeah, any potential boyfriend runs a mile as soon as he finds out you're a cop, cuz they all think you carry a gun all the time,” she said. “And as for pounding the pavements? Shouldn't that be pounding the beaches if you're going to the seaside?”

“Beaches, too, but its November and cold.”

“What about the bonfire? You won't be here and Amy doesn't drive,” Vicky signed.

“We'll be back before Saturday. Probably be home by Thursday or Friday at the latest. We won't miss the bonfire, I promise.”

Jodie folded her arms over her chest and pouted, as only a teenager wannabee could do.

Vicky signed furiously at him.

He grabbed her hands gently. “Honey, I know you don't want me to go, but I'm not leaving you alone. Amy is here. You can text me. I'll call you each night and I
will
be back.”

Tears ran down her face, and Dane felt horrible. He wrapped his arms tightly around her. Maybe he was wrong to leave. He looked up at Amy. “I'm trusting you with them.”

She nodded. “They'll be fine. We'll all be fine.”

“OK.”

“Where are you going?”

“Filely.”

Her head jerked up to look at him. A haunted expression filled her eyes before she covered it quickly. Her hand rose to fiddle with her necklace.

“Do you know the town?”

“A little,” she said.

“Anyway, it's work-related and not a fun excursion.”

Jodie scowled. “It's not fair you're going to the beach and we're not. We didn't even have a holiday this year.”

“You have to go to school.” He paused. “How about we go to Bournemouth in a couple of weeks' time for the day? We could go on a Saturday. You and Vicky can build sandcastles and Amy and I can freeze watching you.”

“Cool.”

He nodded. “OK. Next weekend, because it's the bonfire this Saturday. And if you're good I'll try to book a weekend away before Christmas. Would you like to go to London or—”

“Bournemouth,” Jodie said immediately.

“I was thinking for a weekend we could go to London. See the lights, see the dinosaur museum, go to Hamleys and do some shopping, but if you'd rather go to the beach…”

“London,” Jodie said.

Dane grinned as Vicky signed the same thing. “OK then. Beach next weekend and London before Christmas.”

“But I'm not sharing a room with you,” Jodie said. “Get two rooms then Vicky and I can share with Amy. Cause she can't share your room anyway because you're not married.”

He looked at her. “Exactly.”

Amy shook her head. “I don't know.”

Jodie turned puppy dog eyes on her. “Please, you have to come. I'm too old to share with Dad now. And anyway, he snores.”

“I do not,” he protested.

“Do too,” Jodie argued. “Can Amy come?”

“If she wants to. It's up to her. She might want the weekend off.”

She looked from him, back to Amy. “Please come. You have too.”

“We'll see.”

Dane nodded. “Anyway, it's late and you both have school tomorrow. I'll take you both up. Say ‘night to Amy.”

“'Night, to Amy,” Jodie said, obediently.

Vicky signed it.

“'Night girls.”

He came back down half an hour later. Amy was nowhere to be found. He pulled the curtains in the study and paused. There was a man standing opposite the house, dressed in black, just staring at him. He was about to go outside when the bloke got into his car and drove away. Puzzled, he pulled the curtains and turned around jotting down what he could see of the license plate number before heading back into the hall.

Amy descended the stairs, her hair wet. “They go down all right?”

“Yeah. Do me a favor while I'm away.”

“Yes, I'll take care of the girls. I'll lock up properly. I've lived on my own for years. I know what to do.”

He put a hand on the side of her face, the pad of his thumb rubbing her lips. What was it about her that set his once broken heart aflame? “I didn't mean that. I know you'll take care of the girls.”

Her eyes fixed on him, her hand caressed the back of his neck. “Then what did you mean?”

He leaned closer. “Take care of yourself. Because I'm rather fond of you.”

“I'm rather fond of you, too.”

“Actually,” he lowered his voice, the husky tone surprising him. “I'm more than fond of you.” He crushed her against him, kissing her.

 

 

 

 

13

 

Amy returned from taking Vicky to school, letting herself into the empty house. She wasn't sure if she were relieved or not. It was Thursday. Dane had been gone two days and time just dragged without him around. Not that she saw him during the day, but the evenings were lonely. It wasn't simply his kisses either. His deep voice, the way his presence filled the room, even the way he pushed his hand through his hair as he spoke, made her feel content and safe.

Safe—

Something she wasn't. At least, not any more. She was convinced there was someone watching the house and following her. Or the woman across the road now had a lodger with a dog, because it wasn't her husband hanging around outside every evening. And there seemed to be an awful lot of black cars in Headley Cross all of a sudden.

Or she was simply paranoid.

She deadlocked the front door and decided to distract herself with cleaning. She'd do the entire house, along with changing all the bed sheets and towels.

Dane normally did his own room, but today she'd do it for him, along with his bathroom and the rest of upstairs. After lunch she'd do downstairs. That way if he did come home tomorrow, the house would be spotless.

Amy carried the hoover upstairs and set it down on the landing. She bent to plug it in and then slowly pushed open Dane's bedroom door. She'd never been in there before and for various reasons it felt like violating some inner sanctum.

A noise from the other end of the hall distracted her. Was that coming from her room? She made her way down the hall and pushed open the door. Of course the room was empty. She let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. The book she'd been reading had slid off the bedclothes to the floor. That's what the noise was. She bent to pick it up.

Thudddddd…..

Something hit the window. Amy jumped.

She glanced up. And screamed.

Something red had splattered over the glass. It cast an eerie glow over the entire room. The car accident came to the forefront of her mind.

She wrapped her arms around her middle, her heart pounding. She moved slowly to the window. She would clean it, erase every reminder. Hopefully it would come off easily. She opened the window. Tilt and turn, they either opened on a bottom hinge or like a door so there was a fire exit from each room.

The smell hit her instantly and her stomach turned.

Blood.

A dead bird lay on the ground below the window, a feather stuck to the blood on the window sill.

An innocent “meow” came from the tree and the neighbor's cat peered at her from a branch at the same level as her window. Clamping a hand over her mouth, she dashed for the bathroom.

 



 

Dane sat on a bench on the promenade, overlooking a very cold beach in Filely, both hands wrapped securely around his coffee, trying to gain every ounce of heat from it he could. And to think the kids had wanted to come with him. He glanced sideways at Nate who looked just as cold as he did. “We should be working.”

“We are working. It's called a coffee break while waiting for a contact to show up.”

“
If
he shows. And I meant working in a nice warm office. Not wasting time on a freezing cold beach.”

Nate's breath hung in the frigid air. “Not putting in for a transfer then?”

“No way. Don't care how much the girls beg.” He sipped his coffee.

“Jake Bennett said they'd be here. Just don't forget he's under cover.”

“Yeah, well there is cover, deep cover, and being in over your head.”

Nate looked at him. “You believe the rumors?”

“No smoke without…” Dane broke off, shrugged, and looked out over the water. Someone was coming. He changed the subject. “There's meant to be a vicious tide here.”

A homeless person, bundled in ragged layers pushing a shopping trolley full of bags, stopped next to him. Her face was dirty, her fingernails torn and black and her hair could have been any color originally. She looked at him. “It is. The bodies of those washed away are never found.”

“Oh?”

She nodded. She leaned on the handle of the trolley, her coat rustling against the bags. “Like that young girl several weeks back. She went into the water and got swept away. They said she'd gone swimming. Not the first, won't be the last.”

“I see.”

“Left all her stuff on the beach.”

Nate nodded. “Well if she'd gone swimming, she would have done.”

“Mayhap she did, mayhap she didn't. This girl was different, criminal she was. Huge fuss made at the church, even so. Big service for her.”

“A funeral,” Dane said. “Always happens after a death.”

“Not without a body. They never find them.” She straightened and pushed the trolley, heading off along the prom.

Dane exchanged a long glance with Nate. “OK, no swimming, then.”

Nate sipped his coffee. “No. If I got swept out to sea, Adeline would never speak to me again. Have you heard from Amy?”

“No. Hundreds of texts from the kids though.”

Nate shot him a sly glance over the coffee. “Did you kiss her goodbye?”

“That is none of your business.”

Nate chuckled. “That's a yes, then.”

Dane sipped his coffee. “Company at five o'clock.”

Two figures slowly walked across the sand towards them. Both wore leather jackets and jeans, with hiking boots. One had short dark hair, the other a long ponytail. What was it about bad guys and ponytails? Was it listed in the
Bad Guy Handbook
? Always wear leather and have greasy hair in a ponytail?

“Gents,” Jake Bennett spoke quietly. “We need to make sure you're not carrying before we go any further.”

Dane sighed. “Just the coffee.” He set it down and stood. “But I want the same assurance from you two. I have no desire to get shot any time soon.”