‘The same way it worked the last three times,’ Pat had said with an ease and assurance she didn’t in any way feel. The image of a gentle, joint retirement had recently taken so many knocks through illness and the demands of family and had now taken yet another. But …a baby… The thought glowed bright throughout that wakeful night and early hours.
She forced her mind back to the here and now, to her hurried conversation with Liz first thing this morning.Get a grip, Pat! You’re not just here to yawn.
She forced some brightness into her voice. ‘What I don’t get,’ she said, ‘is why Ffion – or whoever it was – painted a yellow line down a wall in the first place. It’s just such a random thing to do.’
‘I can think of a reason.’ Jax rolled her eyes significantly. ‘It’s just the sort of thing that’d wind Nev up. A big yellow line down the wall – that’d stress him out big time.’
‘Painting a wall to provoke a heart attack,’ mused Pat. ‘As ways to dispatch someone go, it’s novel.’
‘And, as I say,’ persisted Liz, ‘there’s all that Ffion was saying about how someone had been in the house.’
Pat forced her tired eyes wide open. ‘You mean like a burglar?’
‘No, not exactly,’ said Liz. ‘Nothing’s been taken, as far as she can tell. It’s more like there’s been someone having a good look through things.’
‘I’m telling you – she’ll be making all that up,’ said Jax, sucking up the last of the smoothie with a dismissive slurp. ‘To cover up what’s she’s done!’
‘What has Ffion done though?’ said Pat. ‘We don’t know anything, not for a fact.’
The ponytail gave an irritated twitch. ‘We know she shouted at him, don’t we? And then he keeled over with a heart attack. God knows what exactly that woman said to him. It’ll have been something vicious I’m telling you!’
‘Going back to this person who’s been going in the house,’ said Liz. ‘I was thinking maybe they were looking for something in particular. After all, nothing’s been taken, and Ffion thinks they’ve been in a few times.’
‘How?’ said Pat.
‘How what?’ said Liz.
‘How did they get in?’ said Pat. ‘I mean did they break in every time? Or had Ffion kept leaving windows open or something?’
‘Nothing like that,’ said Liz. ‘Ffion reckons they must have had a key.’
‘I gave mine back,’ said Jax. ‘You saw me, didn’t you, Liz?’
Liz nodded. ‘I did indeed.’
‘It’s a good job you hadn’t gone and got another one cut!’ said Pat with a cheerful laugh. ‘Or you’d be right in the frame, Jax!’
Jax smiled tightly. ‘Anyway,’ she said, ‘I have to ask – where’s Thelma? I thought when you asked to meet, she’d be here an’ all.’
She looked around the garden centre as if expecting to see their friend peeping out from behind one of the displayed sun loungers.
‘She’s got something on this morning,’ said Liz vaguely. Neithershe nor Pat had the slightest intention of mentioning the speed awareness course.
‘So, Ffion reckons someone’s been in the house?’ said Pat, taking her turn to get the conversation firmly back on track.
‘She would though, wouldn’t she?’ Jax was now sounding impatient, as she fished her car keys out of her bag. ‘She’s going to be making all that up. I mean it’s not like she can prove it one way of the other, so she can say what she wants.’
‘Oh, she can,’ said Liz. ‘Prove it, that is. Thanks to the CCTV.’
‘CCTV?’ Jax’s voice was sharp. ‘Sidrah’s camera doesn’t show the front of the house.’
‘Not Sidrah’s, Ffion’s,’ said Liz. ‘She ordered one of those internal systems and got it all set up. She just needs to work out how to get it to play back.’
‘Well, good luck with that one,’ said Pat. ‘It took us forever and a day to get our heads round the system at the Yard.’
‘And even if she does,’ said Jax, ‘it won’t show anything.’
‘It might,’ said Liz mildly.
