“Who?” Jake sat up. “Because seriously, I have a lot of heavy implements, a pig farm and the need for fertiliser.”
“You need to stop saying things like that because if someone does turn up dead you might end up being Alex’s number one suspect.” Rayah elbowed her brother in the ribs. “We know nothing about where you came from, Abby. What happened?”
Abby shook her head. “I don’t know what else I can say.”
She felt glare on her. “Not being funny, but if you’re in some form of shit I do need to know,” Scott had taken Eden out of her sling and was rocking her in his arms. “If someone comes looking for you, they’re going to find me. And Keren. And Eden. I’m not saying I don’t want to help, but I need to know what to be prepared for.”
The mob. That was what he needed to be prepared for. Organised crime and two gangs who were tearing Manchester apart. Her sister, Matilda, had managed to get herself involved with a member of one of them while Abby was away, travelling. Six months later, Tilly had disappeared.
Abby looked at Alex and shook her head, just a little.
“Maybe I need to think about moving away.” Which she didn’t want to because Severton and its cult was the only route of information she had left.
Rayah looked from Abby to Alex and back. “This has got something to do with the fires, hasn’t it? And Lena and Lois being kidnapped.”
Abby felt the familiar weight thump into her chest.
“I don’t know.”
“But you think you might know something?”
“Stop it, Ray,” Jonny said. He was Rayah’s fiancé, Severton’s fire chief and father to three children that were currently sitting around another table in the bar’s beer garden. He was also the one who could tame Rayah when she fixed on something that might be slightly dangerous.
Rayah glared at him and shook her head. “I’m not going to do anything, but we all know there’s stuff going on at Felley Manor. That fire – the men who trapped me in that room…”
Abby saw Jonny’s face darken. It hadn’t been a good night. Rayah had stormed off, upset with Jonny and had come across one of her pupils who had told her there had been a man with a gun in her room. The pupil was the child of one of the church members, the cult who lived at the Manor. Rayah had been dragged inside the building, locked in and the two men responsible had set the place alight.
“They’ve closed the investigation.” It was the first thing Alex had said for probably an hour. “The two men were caught and charged with arson.”
“Why did they do it?”
“Garrison concluded it was due to addiction issues.”
“They weren’t high.” Rayah looked at him. “You know it’s bullshit, Al.”
Alex took a long sip of his beer. “I know.”
Rayah picked up Jonny's pint glass as hers was empty, taking a gulp of it. “You also know more than you’re letting on. “
Alex shook his head. “You’re not meant to say any more.” There was a warning in his tone, but a measured one.
Zack took his daughter from Sorrell who had finished feeding. “Be careful, Alex.”
“I always am. But I’d rather you knew as little as possible.” He looked over at Abby. “And don’t pressure Abby to tell you what she can’t.”
“So you know what’s going on?” Rayah finished Jonny’s drink.
Abby felt frozen by Alex’s gaze on her.
“Some of it.” He held his drink up to her. “Just waiting for her to tell me the rest.”
Agreeingto stay at Alex’s hadn’t really been an agreement as such, more of the conceding of defeat. Abby stopped before they got to the front door, her small suitcase in hand and the feeling of grubbiness gone. She’d been able to go home and shower, pack a bag, all the while Alex sat downstairs on her second hand two-seater sofa, reading a book he’d found in her front room on cross country skiing in Alaska, something she’d done in a former life.
He hadn’t said anything or asked any more questions since they’d left Scott’s bar, but he hadn’t needed to. His psychology was strong: wait it out and the other person will start talking.
Or in her case, kissing.
“I’ve got a spare key you can have.”
