‘Hmm,’ comes the reply, which Ash doesn’t know how to decode.
They drop off Iris and wish her luck.
‘I’m going into town afterwards,’ she says. ‘I want to buy some clothes. Either to celebrate or commiserate, whatever.’
‘You’ll smash it, Iris,’ Ash says.
‘I’m not sure “smash” is the right word,’ Carla says seriously, which makes Ash and Iris laugh.
‘I’ll slay it,’ Iris amends for Ash. He laughs a little more at this, but he sees Carla shudder at Iris’s choice of words.
‘Give us a ring afterwards and we’ll come and pick you up,’ Ash says. ‘Take your time.’
Ash wants to go to a car dealership. He’s spotted a second-hand Renault Twingo that would be perfect for Iris if she passes her test. Manual, petrol, forty-five thousand miles on the clock, five and a half grand, powder blue – Iris will love it. It would be an early eighteenth birthday present. When Olly passed his driving test earlier this year, Ash bought a car, too, also as an early eighteenth birthday present, with the money left to him by his father when he died a few years ago. It was intended for the kids’ studies, but Ash has that covered. Just about. As long as they don’t both do more than three years in further education. Olly totalled his car – a second-hand Civic Honda – within a month, weeks before he actually turned eighteen. Took a bend way too fast and ended up overturned – and unhurt, fortunately – in the ditch. Ash decided not to bail him out of that one. Since then, Carla has driven Olly wherever he needs to go, although it looks like Olivia might now take on that role. Ash has promised to buy Iris a car on one condition – that she puts up ‘P’ plates for a few months so that other road users will take her inexperience into consideration. He insisted for Olly, too. Not that it did much good. Ash is very safety-conscious when it comes to cars. Has been ever since Roly ran over Tracey.
When Ash suggests going to see the car together, Carla is unenthusiastic. ‘You’ll jinx it,’ she says. ‘Wait until she’s taken the test.’
He’s never known Carla to be superstitious, although she believes in her own form of karma – what goes around comes around, or some such nonsense. But she’s got a point.Don’t jump the gun, Ash.
‘You’re right,’ he concedes. ‘Bad idea.’
He suggests going for a coffee, but Carla’s response is lukewarm.
‘Well, what do you want to do?’ he asks. He can tell she wants to talk to him.
‘Let’s go for a walk,’ she says.
It’s a blustery day, not one he would have chosen for a stroll. Plus, he’s not wearing the right shoes. Or clothes. Once he has taken Carla and Iris home, he has to come back into Barnstaple and go in to the office. But he dutifully parks his car near the Old Bridge, and they start out along the Tarka Trail, following the river Taw upstream, towards Rock Park. It’s an easy, flat walk, along a footpath. Ash’s feet will kill him after this, but his expensive brogues should remain unscathed.
‘Come on,’ he says to Carla after a few minutes. ‘Out with it.’
His phone beeps in his pocket. He barely hears it over the wind. It can’t be Iris, not yet, and if it was someone at the bank, they would call him, but he pulls out his mobile and looks at the screen. He can feel Carla’s suspicious gaze on him as he reads the text.
‘Work,’ he says by way of an explanation, firing off a quick reply.
She’ll know he’s lying. She can read him like a book. She’ll assume it’s a woman. Once a cheat, and all that. Ash made one mistake – admittedly, a monumental one – years ago and Carla has branded him a womanizer and a cheat for the rest of his life. She’s right to be mad at him – he wrecked everything – but the words ‘monogamous’ and ‘commitment’ no longer scare him, as they once did when he was stupid and immature. Quite the opposite. He wants nothing more than to settle down. He just can’t seem to find the right woman. He can’t help but compare them all to Carla, and none of them comes close.
‘It’s about the shoes,’ Carla begins as he activates the silent mode on his mobile and slides it back into his pocket.
He looks down at his brogues, frowning. Did he mention that thought out loud before?
‘Iris’s shoes,’ Carla clarifies, impatience seeping into her voice.
‘Oh.’ And then he gets it. ‘Oh, I see. What about them?’
‘She threw them out. She must have overheard our conversation. I found her Vans in the kitchen bin.’
‘A precaution, maybe?’
‘Ash, she wasn’t wearing her Vans that day at your place when Ian and his colleague came round. She was wearing her Chelsea boots. How did she know which shoes to throw out? Ian didn’t specifically mention which make of shoe, did he? You didn’t mention a make when you told me.’
‘No, he didn’t. I didn’t. Good point. Did you ask her about it?’
‘Yes.’ Carla pushes her sleek, dark hair out of her face, but the wind blows it back. ‘She got really upset and then changed her story. She’s now saying she was at the scene of the crime, but Josh was already dead. He’d been dead a few days, according to Iris.’
That throws him. ‘Really? She said that?’ He thinks for a moment. ‘Well, we’ve got nothing to worry about then.’ He turns to face Carla. This is not what she expected him to say – he can tell by the look she gives him. ‘What I mean is, if itwasher footprint in the woods, that explains it.’
‘I suppose so, but—’
