Molly swiped her hand over the contents. ‘Have you found what you were looking for?’
Quickly, Cam began to shuffle everything back into the bag, his face a shade of crimson.
The silence was deafening but Molly remained quiet. She wanted him to speak and even though she hoped he had a damn good explanation, her gut feeling was telling her he didn’t. She knew he was looking for the phone.
Still staring at him, she felt the tension between them growing.
‘It was a spur of the moment thing,’ he finally admitted, looking sheepish.
‘And you were hoping to find…’ She knew she was talking to him in a tone that she often used with George, to coax information that wasn’t forthcoming. ‘Drugs or your phone?’
Cam hung the bag up next to Bree’s coat. ‘Both, if I’m honest.’
‘And did you find either?’
Cam shook his head.
‘Well, there you go. Do you feel better now after snooping through someone’s belongings?’
‘Of course not.’ Cam exhaled. He didn’t know what the hell had possessed him to do it. ‘I’m sorry, I’m just feeling … I don’t know what I’m feeling but it doesn’t mean that she’s not already sold it on. These sorts of people know people.’
Molly raised her eyebrows. ‘Cam, have you heard yourself? These “sorts of people” are just people fighting for survival, people whose life circumstances aren’t as good as ours. Sitting in that kitchen is a young girl who needs a place to stay for the night. The shelter was full so I offered her a roof over her head. That is all there is to it. Come on, this isn’t like you.’
‘I know and I do hear you, it’s just…’ Cam knew he wanted to share with Molly the turmoil he was going through but he just couldn’t bring himself to say the words. ‘It’s just I don’t want you to get involved in something that’s going to come back and bite us on our bum. I know you always want to make the world a better place but sometimes the future is not what we planned.’
‘What the hell do you mean by that?’ Molly felt that Cam was talking in riddles. ‘And why’s it a bad thing that I want to make everything okay in the world?’
‘I’m not saying it’s a bad thing but…’ He took a breath. ‘You can’t always put everything right in the world all the time. Sometimes you just need to focus on what’s at home. Us. Our family.’
‘You are really overthinking this. She’s just a girl who needs a bed for a night. How many times can I say the same thing?’
‘Have you actually spoken to Sam? Does she advise that this is a good cause of action, bringing someone into your home? Feeding them, letting them have a bath?’
Now it was Molly’s turn to look shifty, as she knew for a fact that Sam would advise against it and she was crossing the line. ‘I just want to help her.’
‘That might be so but promise me you’ll talk to Sam.’
Molly nodded, ‘Okay,’ she agreed. ‘You have forgotten to put her purse back in her bag.’ Molly swerved the conversation in a different direction; she really didn’t want to get into what Sam would advise because she knew Cam would immediately jump on it. Especially when Sam’s advice would be exactly what Cam thought.
Molly picked up the battered old purse; the metal zip was bent and not closed properly. A couple of coins fell out on to the table. ‘See, she’s only got a few pence to her name. Could you imagine living like this?’ She popped the coins into Cam’s hand. ‘We need to put those back.’ The stitching on the purse was unravelled and Molly gave the zip a little tug. They both stared into the purse.
Cam let out a low whistle and pulled out a wad of cash. ‘That’s hell of a lot of money.’ He fanned the notes in his hand, then counted them quickly. ‘There’s sixty quid in there. Where do you think she got this from?’ He cocked an eyebrow.
Molly hesitated. She knew exactly what Cam was thinking and it wasn’t looking good. She shrugged. ‘Surely you’d get more for a mobile phone. Yours was top of the range.’
‘Desperate times, desperate measures. There will always be someone out there to take advantage and a few quid is better than nothing, especially when the phone didn’t belong to you in the first place.’
‘We don’t know that; this could be government benefit or something. We can’t jump to conclusions.’
Hearing the slide of slippers along the hallway, Cam and Molly panicked and guiltily spun around to see Bree walking towards them. Molly still had the purse still in her hand, and quickly held it behind her back so that Cam could take it from her.
‘There you are.’ Bree looked towards them. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, but if it’s okay with you I’m really looking forward to sleeping in a proper bed; it’s been a while. Would you mind if I went to sleep?’
Feeling flustered, Molly took a sideward glance towards Cam before answering. ‘Of course not, I’ll show you to your room.’
‘Thank you. I’ll just get my bag. I hung it up after my bath.’ Bree walked over to the bag and took it off the hook. ‘It has my toothbrush in it.’
Molly glared into Cam’s eyes but didn’t say another word as she left him standing there, and led the way down the hallway to a small flight of stairs leading to the first floor of The Old Bakehouse. She glanced over her shoulder to see Bree had stopped to admire the old black and white photographs of the shop from past times.
