‘I don’t want you to go, Scott. I don’t want you to meet that man.’
‘I know. I don’t want to go, either. But I have to.’
She jumped into his arms then. Straight out of her chair and into a fierce embrace. Held him like she never intended to release him again.
‘Is everything all right?’
This from Daniel, standing in the doorway.
Gemma turned away, both to hide her upset and to scoop the money furtively back into the envelope. Scott forced a smile onto his lips.
‘Hey, bud! How were things at the centre today?’
‘Okay. I didn’t do much. Just some drawing.’
His spirit was clearly low, his frame sagging. It tightened a noose around Scott’s heart.
‘Hey, suppose we have bacon and eggs and beans for tea? Fancy that?’
‘With waffles?’
‘We can have waffles. Are you up for that?’
Daniel nodded. ‘That would be nice. Can I put the telly on?’
‘Sure. Go ahead.’
He watched his son lumber to the sofa and fiddle with the remote, then he turned to Gemma again.
‘Go and sit with Daniel,’ he said. ‘I’ll get the tea on.’
He watched her drift away. There was nothing left to discuss.
The evening came and went, but the tension only increased. Untasted mouthfuls of a meal were separated by perfunctory snippets of conversation. When Scott packed Daniel off to bed, he broke The Rule and hugged him, knowing that he might never get a chance to do so again, but at the same time telling himself not to be so melodramatic, that it would all work out. Daniel seemed confused, panicked by the cocktail of emotions in himself and his parents.
After that came empty hours in front of the television, Scott and Gemma together but separate, each cocooned in their own solemn thoughts. He kept checking his watch, and was aware that Gemma side-eyed him each time.
When it seemed she could bear it no longer, she said, ‘I’m going to bed.’
‘It’s only ten o’clock.’
‘I don’t want to see you leave. I want you to go out quietly, and then come back to me and climb into bed and tell me everything has been sorted out.’
‘Gemma, don’t worry. It’ll be okay.’
‘I do worry. I haven’t stopped worrying since you brought Joey Cobb into our home. I need it to stop now.’
She leaned in to kiss Scott long and hard, then stood up. ‘You stay safe. No heroics. No stupidity. I don’t care about the money. I just want us all to be together again.’
He watched her disappear, and felt lonelier than he ever had in his life, the weight of what was to happen sitting heavily on his shoulders.
33
Rather than trust the directions he had hastily scribbled down earlier, Scott used a navigation app on his phone to direct him to Shiverton Lane. He was truly out in the sticks now. The occasional cottage or farmhouse, but mostly fields of cows and sheep, ghostly statues in the silver moonlight.
He slowed the car and pulled onto a grass verge, then took out his phone and called Ronan. He answered immediately.
‘Yeah?’
‘It’s me. Scott. I’m on Shiverton Lane, like you said.’
‘Okay, good. Have you seen a sign for Hamley Mill yet?’
‘I don’t think so. I’ve pulled over.’
‘Start driving again. Put your phone on speaker and keep the line open. Look out for a brown sign.’
Scott did as he was told. He drove slowly, his eyes peeled. A Mercedes zoomed up behind him and then overtook, disappearing within seconds. After that, there was no traffic.
‘You’re getting close,’ Ronan said. ‘Slow down.’
Braking to a crawl, Scott wondered how it was possible for Ronan to see him. Where the hell was he hiding?
‘I see it now,’ he said. ‘You want me to take the turn-off ?’
‘No. Drive about another hundred yards, then pull in and turn off your engine.’
Scott took a wild guess at the hundred-yard distance, then found the most level piece of verge he could before stopping the car.
