“Anyway, it looks like she’s got mixed up in the middle and ended up working for both OCG’s, which was bad timing as there’s a battle for territory on the island. Someone took someone else’s drugs and now it’s a free for all. It’s common knowledge in certain circles that Mia’s Stan’s daughter, so she would be potential leverage.” She rolled her eyes. “Thank god I’m not on that squad.”
“Sounds exciting though.”
“If you like that sort of thing. I don’t. Too many blokes with oversized egos and a sense of morality that’s stuck in the seventies.” She waved her hand, dismissing the suggestion. “So what Mia’s told you confirms what we’re thinking but we don’t know if Cara’s missing, hiding or something else. There’s notrace. The boss is on his way to see Stan, who’s currently doing some time at his majesty’s pleasure over in sunny Manchester.”
“Who’s Blake? You’ve explained who Stan is.”
“Blake’s heading up the Anglesey branch of the Mike Gelding’s lot – we don’t give the OCG’s names anymore, the bosses think it glamourises them. He’s a nasty bastard – sorry, am I allowed to swear in a school? – and I really hope Cara’s hasn’t crossed him.”
“You’re okay to swear as long as it’s not in front of the kids. Who’s Logan then? Or is that just a made-up name?”
“We think it’s a made up name for Blake, so if Mia slipped up and said a name, it wouldn’t be tied to Stan’s rivals. I think Mia will have seen him at some point in the house, but that’s me guessing.” She tapped the cup. “I’ll go and see Romy and give her the same information. It’s all come together over the weekend, especially since the break in on Friday night.”
“Any hunches what’s happened to Cara?” At the end of it, Cara was still Mia’s mother.
“If we find her, she’ll be arrested for supply and possession of Class A drugs, we have enough evidence for that. Mia’s not going to be going back to her.”
“She’ll stay with Romy then.”
Liv shrugged. “Maybe. It’s a huge undertaking for Romy.” She eyed me. “Dish it up. You’ve been here about three weeks. What are your intentions with my friend?”
I gave her the hard stare I reserved for children who were disrupting lessons.
“To get to know her better. For both of us to have fun. For her to get to know me. It was only just over two weeks ago since we first spoke to each other.” Maybe it was a small town thing, all this fast forward on stuff.
“Fair point. You like her though?” Liv looked excited. “You’re the first bloke she’s fancied – that’s real anyway – since Joel.”
“What do you mean, that’s real?” I frowned. “What blokes haven’t been real?”
“Actors she’s crushed on. Book boyfriends. She hasn’t even looked at another man in real life for years, so I’m glad she’s getting back on the horse.” Her eyes danced as they looked me up and down. “Is it horse-like?”
“Don’t you have a missing woman to find?” To be fair, I’d heard worse.
She sighed, stood up and stretched. “I do. And a pile of paperwork to get through before I can knock off shift and get some sleep. I’ll see Romy first.”
“You do that. Can I use you to scare a few Year Six kids while you’re here?”
“What’ve they been doing?”
“Graffiti in the toilets.”
“How do you know it was them?”
“They wrote their own names in their own handwriting. Community service is in order. Thought you could deliver the sentence.”
“With pleasure. They’re not the brightest, doing that are they? At least use your other hand and write someone else’s name.”
“Is that why your name with the year you left’s engraved on the wall next to where these muppets have vandalised?”
Her grin was wider than the Menai Strait.
Liv was around again the next day, this time looking like she’d managed some sleep and looking rather boss-like in the school hall.
Romy sat next to me on the front row, her fists clenched, eyes stony. I’d seen her late Monday night after I’d met with the chair of governors and the builder, an agreement had beenmade around what works would be done to the schoolhouse, the only problem that we’d need to wait three weeks for work to begin. The house was set for an entire rewire, new plumbing and replastering throughout, as well as a much needed new roof. I wouldn’t be able to move back in before Beryl and her husband came back from their cruise, so I’d have a couple of months in a hotel, or in one of the rooms over the Puffin Inn, which didn’t sound like too bad a place to be when the autumn storms came in.
Last night, we’d gone over what Liv had told us both and what Romy had said while we drank Bailey’s-spiked hot chocolate in her garden, no security alarm busted this time. Mia had seemed happier afterwards, talking more both at school and at home. Her session with the psychologist had been positive too – she’d also said how much she loved living with Romy.
The reason for most of the town now being present in the school hall was in part due to Mia. More rumours had done the rounds during the day about what Cara had been up to. The police had been speaking to more residents, having a better idea what questions to ask to pull out information that the person might not have considered relevant, and there was an air of suspicion within the town. Fewer children walked the short distance home on their own, people were locking their doors, alarms were being set.
