“Oh, and by the way, one of the two men who broke into Romy’s has been admitted to hospital in Liverpool. Nothing to do with my fist on his jaw, this was a more thorough turning over.”
“Good to know. How’s the security at Romy’s – she sorting it out today?” I didn’t want her there on her own, although I hadn’t interfered too much.
“Like Fort Knox. Amelie and Freya are helping her out, and Finn was there too, as well as security. We don’t think they’ll try there again, although it wouldn’t be bad if they did. So head’s up, text me if you need the internal cameras downstairs momentarily switched off.” He chuckled. “Security briefly saw you getting familiar in the kitchen but they promised they looked away quick.”
“Do all of Puffin Bay know now?” I cursed, having forgotten we might’ve had people passing by.
“Only Freya and she won’t say anything, or anyone on the team. Get in there, new boy.”
“Fuck off.” I laughed and hung up.
SEVENTEEN
Romy
I’d learned in the days after Joel died that many hands made light work. For those few weeks after, dinners were made, there were people there to give me a hand with a squalling baby, organise a washing rota and clean the house. Some of those same hands helped again now to put my home back together.
The intruders had been brief but their work had been extensive, similar to how Cara’s house had been turned over, and her neighbours'. Cushions were slashed, the sofa was a write-off, ornaments had been broken. It was needless and heart-breaking, but it could all be replaced, and looking for that silver lining – I’d needed to get rid of some stuff anyway.
By school pick-up time, the house looked like nothing had ever happened, I even had a new sofa thanks to a local store who agreed to a delivery at lunch time, and it was a sofa I much preferred.
Mia and Heidi came home to a house they knew, but was different, a little like introducing cats to a freshly decorated room.
“Can we have new bedrooms?” Heidi looked at the sofa. “I want a purple one.”
“Maybe we can decorate in the big summer holidays.” Which were going to fast approach, only I had a sense of foreboding lingering which I was putting down to worry.
Security was back, with reinforcements, Roe Holland incessantly angry that someone had managed to get inside the house for less than ninety seconds. He was also still cross that they hadn’t stopped them.
“Can I help paint?” Heidi’s eyes were flittering about the lounge, noticing what was new or in a different place.
“No. You can play on the beach and I’ll paint. Or we’ll get someone to do it for us.” Painting and decorating weren’t my jam. A six-year-old girl – because both Heidi and Mia had birthdays coming up in the next fortnight – wielding a painting brush or roller was also definitely not my jam.
Heidi looked cross. Mia looked interested.
“Am I going to carry on staying with you?” She sat down primly on the new sofa as if she was scared about disrupting any of the velvet. I had the feeling she was trying very hard to be very good so she could carry on staying here, which was also her social worker’s theory.
“Yes, you are. You can stay here for as long as you want.” That was how we’d agreed to explain it. It was more complicated than that; I was having to apply to be a foster carer, which wasn’t straightforward, and it would be for the courts to decide a lot about Mia’s future. She wouldn’t be going home to Cara. If and when Cara resurfaced, she’d be facing a custodial sentence.
Mia burst into tears.
Heidi looked at me, slightly surprised, and then scooted over to her friend, sitting practically on her knee.
“Mummy isn’t that bad.” A stellar review from my daughter, it had to be said. “She lets us eat cake sometimes.”
I sat on the other side of Mia and put my arm around her. “Do you want to stay with me and Heidi?”
Mia nodded, still crying. “But I want my mummy too.”
“I know, sweetheart. The police are looking for her and they’ll hopefully find her safe somewhere.” The truth, without detail that wasn’t needed.
She snuggled into me, Heidi looking at me a little helplessly. I wasn’t sure Heidi knew what it was like to be unhappy or worried, she very quickly got over any adversities and had a sunny disposition, if on the bossy side.
“Did I get Mummy into trouble?” her words bubbled out through the sobs.
“No, you didn’t.”
“I told Mr Caddick that she told me to tell a lie about what the man was called.”
