“I probably shouldn’t have my hands there.”
“Probably not. Do you think this could work out? I mean, I have a kid plus another. There are better catches.”
I shook my head at her, sneaking a quick kiss. “If there are better catches, why am I here with you?”
“You’ve taken pity on me?”
“I’m not sure this is pity.” I shifted my hips under her. “It’s painful and I’m really looking forward to Friday.”
“I should probably get up. Take my tea upstairs because this isn’t helping your situation, is it?” She shifted off me, pulling a blanket over me. “Or my situation.”
“Fair point. Shall I take the girls to school again in the morning?”
Her smile quivered. “Yes, please. It’s never that someone offers to do that. Seriously.”
“I’m after brownie points. Wondering what I can trade them in for.”
She grinned, the quiver gone. “I’ll come up with a list.”
We had the same routine on Thursday. I walked the girls to school where we were conveniently met at the gates by Miss Piper. We all headed to sign her in and then she took them to class and I went back outside to greet children and parents.
“How’s Romy, Mr Caddick?” Belle, one of the mum’s, called me over. “The police cordon is down from around the cottages now, I noticed.”
“Romy’s okay. Worried, as you would be.” We hadn’t talked about what the party line should be.
Belle nodded, also looking worried. “I need to speak to the police. I left a message for Liv, but she hasn’t got back to me yet.”
“When did you leave it?”
“About twenty minutes ago, so I should give her time, I know. I saw a man around last night who I’m sure I’ve seen with Cara.” She reeled off a description. “My mind could be playing tricks on me, and he could just be a tourist and he’s never been here before, but he was hanging round at an odd time.”
“Whereabouts?”
“Near the Puffin Inn, in the small ginnel just down from it. It was about ten last night – I was on my way home from Freya’s yoga class - ” She paused, her phone ringing. “This is Liv now. I’ll tell her.” She walked away, happier now she was speaking to the right person.
The Puffin Inn would be the obvious place for Mia to be, if Romy’s house was unavailable. It kind of made sense if someone looked there for her, although it would be stupid trying to do anything with the amount of police in the area.
I headed back inside, having ten minutes before we had an assembly, and phoned Roe Holland.
He answered after two rings.
“Tell me this isn’t an emergency?” Was his greeting.
“This isn’t an emergency. One of the parents has just passed this on. She’s on the phone to Liv as I speak – or probably still is.” Belle could talk a lot, so I’d discovered on my first day. I told him what she’d described to me, the details of the man, where he’d been.
The ins and outs of what Roe Holland actually did were a happy blur. The firm he worked for, or owned because I wasn’t sure, seemed to consist of a mixture of good hackers, ex-military and cops, and people like Piper, who could probably blend in anywhere. I didn’t know if what he did was legal, or how it worked with the police, and I didn’t want to know. I’d asked his wife, Freya, about it and she’d shrugged, telling me what she’d heard about sounded like an espionage novel.
I figured that was a pre-prepared answer.
“That’s interesting. He fits the description we’ve got of Blake Harris, who is an absolute mother fucker of a piece of work. Aggravated assault in his distant past, GBH, ABH, intent to supply, and then, like magic, he doesn’t get caught for anything. His boss, Mike Gelding, is after this area of Wales to be his territory and Richey seems to offer a degree of immunity.”
“Bent cop?”
“Possibly. They’ll get found out sooner or later because there are a lot of big names wanting the trophy for sorting this out.”
“Do you think Blake’s after Mia?” I didn’t need to be too interested in the rest right now, although I’d want to know later.
“I think Mia’s leverage for Stan-the-man to hand this run over to Richey-Wannabe-Richer. I don’t think Blake will do that dirty work, it’ll be the job of his minions.
