“So…ree,” Newt said. “So…ree. Sorry.”
“So…ree.”
Newt nodded. “You got it. Let’s try again. I’ll be right behind, making sure you don’t slip this time.”
River made it up the steps and Newt climbed after him. He wrapped a towel around River’s shoulders before he put one around his own. River looked so sad that Newt wanted to pull him into his arms and hug him. But if he did, and River got shirty, that was the end of this job and Newt had to put that above everything else. He’d never get another opportunity to earn this sort of money. Not only that, but it would be a job that he could say he’d done when he appliedfor the next, even if he couldn’t say who he’d worked for. Though Max might give him a reference. This job could change his life. And he wanted to change River’s.
“Want to go up to your room and have a shower?”
River nodded.
“I’ll bring your clothes.”
He followed River all the way. River was slow on the stairs and Newt stayed behind him, just in case. When River reached his door, he took his clothes from Newt’s arms, gave him the towel from round his waist, then tipped his head to one side and closed his eyes. A gesture that Newt took to mean he was going to rest or sleep.
“Good idea,” Newt said and went to his own room.
The first thing he did was send the video clips to Max. Then he showered and dressed. When he checked his phone, Max had textedCall me!
“What the fuck?” Max snapped.
“Sack him.”
“Already done. Why the hell has River not told the guy to fuck off? He managed to get rid of three speech therapists, two cleaners, two housekeepers and the occupational therapist. Most of them inside their first visit.”
“That’s impressive. But if he knows you’ve been paying Jorge, he was aware he couldn’t sack him. Just like me. I know physio is hard but River was in pain, proper pain, not just discomfort.”
“I saw. Jorge came highly recommended.”
“Who by? Attila the Hun?”
Max sighed. “Someone that I now suspect might have had an ulterior motive. I’ll be dealing with that arsehole, but River should have told me.”
“How? And maybe he thought itshouldhurt. He’d do anything to get back to where he was.”
“Can you get River to exercise until I arrange for someone new?”
“No problem. I’ll buy a whip off Amazon.”
Max ended the call still laughing.
Newt went onto River’s Amazon account to get his full address, then texted it to his probation officer.I’ve got a job as a live-in carer.Now he just had to hope that his PO didn’t decide to pay him an unexpected visit. Newt set up an account for himself and ordered face masks, jeans, a couple of T-shirts and a hoodie along with a beanie, gloves and a jacket. That just about wiped out his money until Max paid him. He wasn’t going to use the contingency fund for anything unless it was for River.
Once Newt had put the washing on, he went out into the garden for a look around. A heavy frost had turned almost everything monochrome, so the odd little bursts of colour made it look like a painting. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and set off walking.
There was a lot of lawn. It had been his job to cut the grass when he’d lived at home. He’d preferred that to washing cars or watching them being repaired. The lawn wouldn’t need touching until around Easter when the weather picked up. But there were leaves everywhere. He could rake them into a pile and find somewhere to put them. Maybe River could help. He spotted a few empty bird feeders and made a mental note to check if there was something to refill them. If not, he’d use River’s Amazon account or maybe add bird food to the supermarket order.
He kept walking by the side of the stone wall until he came to where it joined a six-foot wooden fence. Either couldbe climbed but he guessed River’s best defence was that no one knew he lived here. He turned and followed the fence down to the bottom of the garden, which was bordered by a much less substantial wire fence. From the house, it looked as though the garden blended into the fields beyond. Maybe River owned those too.
Newt didn’t feel comfortable staying outside for too long in case River needed him, so he made his way back to the house by heading towards the pool building. A sensation of being watched made him turn and when he looked up, he saw River standing at an upstairs window. Newt smiled and waved. River moved out of sight. Now what was wrong? Newt carried on walking and came to a sudden halt. If River could see him from his window, then maybe he’d been able to see him when he’d gone skinny dipping. Which he’d done several times.Shit.
He checked the postbox and found one letter addressed by hand to River Lawson and one brown envelope for Leo Miller and shoved them in his pocket.
By the time Newt was back inside, River was downstairs.
“Your garden is lovely. Little jewelled spiders’ webs everywhere. Is there any bird food?”
River limped to the utility and opened a cupboard.
