‘Probably something psychological,’ I said automatically, still looking at the leaflet. ‘Who is he? No one dangerous, I hope?’ I said, fishing for info.
‘Oh no, nothing like that. I just really, really need to get hold of him. And he’s avoiding me. Avoiding everyone, actually,’ she said, with an eye roll of annoyance. But there was tension around her mouth. She was making out that it wasn’t serious but I could tell she was desperate for any information. But without knowing who she was, I couldn’t bring myself to offer Cooper’s location up. I glanced down and noted the wedding ring on her hand with a tinge of anxiety. I wasn’t sure if she’d seen me looking but she quickly whipped her hand off the counter as her phone started to ring.
She answered, but put her hand over the receiver. ‘Sorry, have to get this. My number’s on the poster – please do ring if you see him. And don’t tell him about me – he might get the wrong idea and scarper again. Hello, Adelaide speaking,’ she trilled, already turning away. She was out of the shop before I could scrape some words together to call her back. I wasn’t even sure I wanted her to come back.
I looked down at the picture of Cooper again. He looked younger, maybe as much as five years younger. Or perhaps he’d just gone through a lot recently. It was hard to tell. There was a little salt in his hair in that picture, and he was smiling, which made it harder to tell if he had those permanent crinkles around his eyes yet. He was dressed differently, smarter, in a white shirt and dark blue tie with navy suit trousers. What really hit me was the confetti on the grass behind him. The half of a rose arch intruding in the background.
The picture looked as if it had been taken at a wedding.
Addy had looked around his age, maybe a little younger. She had the same sort of dry, intelligent voice and I could easily see them sitting in bed together doing a crossword and sipping coffee of a weekend. If they had been a couple, though, if she still was his wife, why was he hiding out in Leaford? And why was he acting the part of a penniless drifter in his charity-shop knitwear, when his wife was carrying a Kate Spade bag around and wearing a massive diamond on her finger?
The bell went again and I looked up, but it was just Emma coming back from her break. She was carrying a can of Monster and had a library copy ofSpirit and Destinytucked under her arm.
‘FYI, the bakery’s shut. I saw Maeve in the newsagent’s and she said they had a pan of caramel boil over and the floor’s under about an inch of… what’s wrong?’
I slid the piece of paper across the counter towards her and watched Emma’s eyes widen when she saw the picture. I looked past her and out of the front windows but there was no sign of Addy, and no way to tell which way she’d gone. Damn it!
‘There’s a woman going round asking if anyone’s seen Cooper,’ I said. ‘Long dark hair, stripy top – did you see her as you came in?’
‘No, I was looking at my phone,’ Emma said, nibbling her lip. ‘Why’s she looking for him, did she say?’
‘She took a call before I could really get much out of her. But she said if I did see him, to call her without telling him she’d been around. Which seems like a massive red flag. She was worried he might run off if he knew about her.’
Emma’s eyebrows were in her hairline. ‘Jesus… well, you should warn him that she’s sniffing around, right?’
‘What if she has a good reason to be looking for him?’ I said, glancing down at the poster again. ‘Like… they might be married or something?’
Emma made a noise of indecision, then tapped the picture meaningfully. ‘You know him better than you know her so… I say give him the benefit of the doubt. If you even suspect that she’s trying to blindside him, you should tell him.’
Caught in indecision, I gnawed at my thumb and glanced at the window again. Despite my indecision, deep down I was sure Cooper wasn’t dangerous or shifty. He deserved my help.
I grabbed my bag from under the counter. ‘Hold the fort?’
‘Consider the fort held,’ Emma said, giving me a salute. ‘Ring me if there’s trouble and I’ll come running, with the entire coven if need be.’
‘Thanks,’ I said, struggling into my teddy fleece and rushing for the door. ‘If Richard comes by, tell him I’m out to lunch!’
Chapter 31
Was it fate, orjust my need for a footwear-based pick-me-up that had inspired me to put the bloody My Little Pony boots on that morning? They’d been dried out and I’d polished them over with clear wax, and now I was risking them again in a mad dash up the towpath. Well, maybe ‘dash’ was putting it too strongly. I was fast-walking, adding in the odd sort of scuttle every now and again. I hadn’t properly run anywhere since I went up to an F cup in sixth form.
I took the shortcut to the towpath and hurried upstream towards where Cooper was moored. It wasn’t until I saw the boat still exactly where it had been the day before that I realised I’d been expecting him to be gone again. I was relieved to see it still there. Still more relieved to see no sign of Adelaide on the towpath, though, if she’d rushed up here, she could already be inside. I couldn’t rule out the possibility that someone else had seen Cooper and knew that he was the man living in the much-discussed narrowboat.
As I got closer, the curtain in the living area was nudged aside and I saw Charlie’s furry face through the gloomy glass. He barked sharply, and a moment later he was swept away and the curtains tugged closed again.
I glared at the curtains. That wasn’t going to fly today. It was time for Cooper to put his big-boy pants on and deal with me like an adult. Of course, if I said that to him, he’d probably only point out that I wasn’t exactly wearing my ‘grown-up’ boots. Instead of annoying me, the idea made me smile.
Emma was right, I did like him. Damn it!
Taking extra care to avoid falling in, I stepped over onto the boat and rapped hard on the door. Predictably, no response came from inside.
‘I know you’re in there!’ I called through the door. ‘And I know you know it’s me!’
Charlie was barking inside and I thought I could hear someone moving around, probably trying to herd him into the bedroom to muffle the sound. I knocked again. Okay, so it was less of a knock and more of a pound.
‘Cooper! Even if you don’t want to talk to me, I need to tell you something – someone came to the shop looking for you and—’
The door was wrenched open and Cooper stood there looking at me in mingled shock and horror. The sight of him made my heart do a tiny flip in my chest, like a gymnast on the high bar. My first instinct was to hug him, and I quelled it. He was wearing grey joggers tucked into thick woollen socks. I noted little dabs of green and brown paint on the grey fabric and wondered if he’d been decorating. He was also wearing the jumper – my jumper, with the sleeves rolled well up away from any painty mishaps. The jumper that had led me to him in the first place. I saw him glance down, clocking my boots, and I wondered if he appreciated the strange twist of fate that had brought us together again, just like that first day.
