‘Look,’ Kelly said. ‘This is getting out of hand. I’m going to meet somebody who may or may not have something to tell me. Nobody else knows.’
‘Or it could be a trap,’ Johnny said.
‘You’re paranoid because of last night.’
‘And you’re not!’
‘Come on, you two, you both want the same thing, which is for Lizzie to be safe, and with a couple of strapping lads in uniform,or lasses, obviously, I will be absolutely fine here and so will Lizzie.’
Johnny and Kelly looked at each other.
‘It is broad daylight,’ Johnny said. ‘But I’m not leaving until the uniforms get here.’
The doorbell rang and Kelly went to answer it. She’d already had a text on her phone telling her that a squad car was on its way, and she peered out of the window to confirm it. She recognised them and opened the door. Two coppers nodded at her and Kelly introduced them to Ted and Johnny, then showed them into the lounge. Then she went over instructions. One of the coppers asked if she could take a look at the layout of the house and Kelly showed her around.
Meanwhile, Johnny gathered some things for his outing to Rydal Caves. He didn’t have the time or inclination to analyse if his decision to leave with Kelly was because of his ego or his sense of loyalty to her, but one thing was for sure, the opportunity to spend some time with her and be useful in her life, even if it didn’t last long, was something he knew he wanted more than anything else.
Thoughts of meeting up with an old military contact were forgotten.
Chapter 52
The Rydal Caves were created by quarrying in the nineteenth century. Now a popular tourist attraction, Kelly had little hesitation about meeting Sandy Cooper there. It was public, busy and open. But she was also fully aware that Sandy Cooper would likely have another agenda. The woman wasn’t straightforward and she wouldn’t be easy to catch out.
And she’d been at a murder scene without giving Kelly any explanation as yet. She’d blatantly lied about how well she knew Angelina.
However, Johnny’s mindset was elsewhere. In some ways, she thought his Superman impression was heartwarming and touching, yet his need to protect her came a year too late. If only he’d have tended to her better when they were together, they might still be two halves of the same life.
But they still shared a daughter and when Kelly looked across at him sitting in her passenger seat, vigilant as ever, watching over her, she couldn’t help but feel contented. Even just for a moment, it was enough. It was like before. But thinking about the past was a slippery slope into nothing. She’d made her decision to quit on their relationship because he’d lied to her about still being married to Carrie. He had long standing debt with her and splitting it put Kelly’s financial security in danger for a time.
It was sorted now, he told her. Carrie had disappeared for good this time, along with half his money.
‘You owed her,’ she told him. ‘You should have done it sooner.’
They’d been over it a thousand times and neither wanted to flog a dead horse. Sometimes leaving stuff in the past was the best place for it.
In fact, she was enjoying his company. Seeing him with Ted warmed her heart and watching him with Lizzie made her appreciate deep inside that Lizzie would always have a great father. She reckoned that was what she always wanted, for her daughter to have more paternal security than she’d had.
Her relationship with John Porter had been tricky. He’d been an old-school cop, impossibly strict and arrogant, and it had meant that what he brought in discipline and firmness he lacked in warmth and nurturing.
It left two women feeling inadequate in their different ways. Kelly suffered a pang of guilt when she counted the months since her last meeting with her sister, Nikki. It wasn’t her fault they’d had John Porter for a father. But it was too late for them. There was no way back. Nikki had her own life with her husband and the kids. Discovering they had different dads lessened the guilt.
‘What are you thinking?’ Johnny asked.
Kelly had been holding the wheel tightly and she relaxed, knowing she’d been caught out.
‘This case is bugging me.’
‘That’s not all,’ he said. He knew her so well.
She turned into the carpark nearest the road that carved its way through the valley from north to south between the great mountains either side, parked, and they got out. The weather was stunning and perfect for a trip to the caves. They provided a welcome and cooling break on a hot summer’s day. Water gathered at the foot of the caves and in the spring, it was so full one had to jump over it or wade through it to reach the back of the main cave, but in summer it was almost dried up. The water reflected incredible colours across the roof and the cavernous nature of the space reminded Kelly of big churches. The feeling of spirituality was the same.
She changed the subject and told Johnny about the people she was meeting. She explained that Sandy was the scientistresponsible for the legal arm of the company’s products, and that she’d said ‘both’ to her over the phone, indicating somebody else was coming.
‘And now you tell me?’
She grimaced. ‘It might be nothing.’
He stared away across the River Rothay for a moment. She knew he’d gone to a place where plenty of comrades had taken their last breath, either in battle or afterwards at their own hand. In the short time she’d known him – about seven years – she’d been to more than ten funerals of soldiers and officers with him, all by suicide. He looked back to her and she knew that he was back with her.
