Tears fell from Dante’s eyes. ‘Don’t say things like that, Dad.’ He sniffed.

‘The truth is always the hardest pill to swallow, Dante. That’s why I’m having this meeting with you all. We all need to be on our guard.’ Alex pushed his hair back with his hand, which immediately fell back into place over his face. ‘We’ve let things slide a little. And I include myself in that. I am not pointing blame.’ Alex’s usual cheerful voice was monotone and serious, showing no emotion. ‘If we tell the police Maggie, they will move us on today for sure. Is that what you want? This place is yours and you have made it a going concern. I’m not going to take that away from you, so that choice is yours and only you can make it.’

Looking around the table, Maggie saw her children’s worried faces. ‘For now, we say nothing. But, I agree, we have to be more vigilant. After all Alex, how much longer will we end up staying here?’

‘I take it you mean when the court case comes up? I really don’t know love. I haven’t looked that far ahead. Although…’ He faltered. ‘I do have fifty odd thousand stashed away in the cellar. If you need to get out of here quickly and I am not around, you have money. It belongs to all of us and it’s only to be used in an emergency, okay?’

Maggie sat back in her chair and folded her arms. ‘Well Mark really does pay good wages, doesn’t he?’ she snapped. ‘Anything else you’ve kept from us?’

‘Stop it!’ Deana shouted. ‘For God’s sake, let’s not argue with each other. There are people out there wanting to tear us to pieces, and we’re doing their job for them. Dad, it feels like you’ve already given up with all your talk about dying and a bullet in your head. And Mum, you want to tell the police, but you don’t want to leave here. How does that work then?’ Reaching over to her brother, she stroked his hand on the table. ‘We are Silvas. We don’t give up that easily.’ Feeling better once she had said her piece, Deana sat back and looked from Alex to Maggie.

A grin crossed Alex’s face and he reached out for hers and Dante’s hands. ‘Well, I guess that told us. I’m proud of you two. You’ve had a lot to cope with and you’ve done it without complaint. You’re right. We will see this through, but you now know that you have back-up. There is money. We keep alert and check in with each other. Believe me, whatever is going to happen, is going to happen soon. If we have been found, they are not going to wait.’

20 THE BARE FACTS

Once downstairs, Alex could hear the grumbling chef, Phil, barking orders at the other kitchen staff. Popping his head into the bar, he saw the cleaner singing away polishing the tables under Pauline’s evil watch, while she was eating a bacon sandwich. ‘How come she thinks she’s cleaning when every day she polishes those tables with the same old dirty duster? What bloody difference does it make?’ she said, nudging Alex in the ribs.

She had a point, thought Alex and looked towards Betty in her cleaning tabard. ‘Why does she wear a tabard with the local council logo Phyllis?’

‘She comes straight from the leisure centres and schools. Probably uses the same bloody duster. I’ve watched her and all she does is spray polish in the air when she hears Maggie coming downstairs.’ Phyllis continued taking a bite of her sandwich and slurping on her mug of tea, which was marked with a giant P on the front. Alex thought that was pretty pointless too, especially as the other barmaid was called Pauline! They were good staff though, and he had come to like them. Phyllis seemed to collect gossip before she arrived and he had to admit, he now looked forward to it.

Seeing the pub door open, he looked up and winced. The Zumba class! It was their mission to get rid of all their extra Christmas pounds before their summer holidays. ‘Aren’t you doing the Zumba class any more Phyllis?’

‘No, I’m bloody not. Paid every week and nearly had a heart attack while turning purple and never lost a pound.’

Biting his tongue, Alex smiled as Phyllis took another large bite of her bacon sandwich.

He shrugged. ‘Personally, I think exercise is overrated. I prefer a bacon sandwich.’ He needed to get out of there before they all turned up with their water bottles and specially bought tracksuit bottoms and tops. Women, he thought to himself, they were a mystery to him and always would be.

‘What are you laughing at?’ Maggie asked as she proceeded to come down the stairs. Her blonde hair was tied back into a ponytail, and she had her water bottle in hand.

‘Nothing, just Phyllis keeping an eagle eye on Betty the cleaner. Nothing gets past her.’ As he heard the music and the Zumba instructor starting her warmup, he made himself scarce. ‘Deana!’ he shouted upstairs and seeing her head pop around the balcony, he beckoned her down. ‘Outside.’

Once they were alone, she looked at him quizzically. ‘What have I done now?’

‘Just checking that thing I gave you is well hidden, but accessible if you need it. Also there is something bigger stored in the hallway by the coat rack.’ Giving her a knowing look, they both knew what he meant.

Deana nodded. ‘All safe and sound Dad. Mum doesn’t go in my room any more now I’m a grown-up and entitled to my privacy.’

‘Just checking, love. By the way,’ he said. ‘Do you remember that young Luke we helped out?’

She nodded. ‘Course I do. He looked like a car crash.’

‘Well, I saw him the other day and he asked after you. Just thought I’d let you know.’ He grinned teasingly. Especially when he saw the disgusted look on her face.

‘I wouldn’t recognise him if I passed him in the street. Don’t even know what he looks like under all that bruising and blood. Why is he asking about me?’

‘Just courtesy, I suppose.’ Alex knew he was fishing to see if she had seen or heard from him. He found it odd that Luke had asked, but maybe he was overthinking it. He was a father and she was his little girl after all.

Deana threw her head back and rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. ‘That’s where you’ve got the money from, isn’t it? I take it he has been in touch about the plants we helped him with?’

‘Yes, we sold the plants and to be fair, Luke is an honest thief and paid up.’

‘Fair enough. I presume he is just grateful you saved his arse.’ As an afterthought, a frown crossed her brow. ‘So if you get fifty k, what do I get? I helped him too,’ she laughed. ‘Don’t I get a percentage?’

‘Well, I’m not sure what he wants to give you.’ Alex winked. ‘But he was asking about you.’

Slapping him on the arm, Deana laughed. ‘Don’t be rude, he doesn’t look like he’s got it in him.’

‘How would you know? You just said, you don’t know what he looks like.’ They both burst out laughing. Just then Maggie reappeared and smiled at them both. ‘What are you two laughing about? And what are your plans for today Alex?’ she asked.

‘I’m going to get some new bolts for the back doors,’ he answered. Looking up, he saw Pauline passing through the hallway. ‘Those ones up there look a bit old to me,’ he corrected himself.

‘Old? Bloody hell Alex, I doubt they’ve been replaced since they built the place. I’m going for my tea break now Maggie, if that’s okay.’ Without waiting for an answer and making her way to the kitchen and small sitting room, Pauline shouted back to them, ‘Do you want one?’

Grinning, Alex shook his head. ‘This place just gets better and better. The staff are offering us our own tea and biscuits now.’ Alex laughed and leaned in closer to Maggie so that only she could hear.

‘I’ve also got to go to the police station today, Maggie. Another glorious day in their back room.’ Rolling his eyes to the ceiling, he sighed. ‘Just keep your eyes open while I am gone.’ He was about to walk out of the door, when surprisingly Percy was stood there about to knock. ‘Shit Percy, you made me jump! What is it?’

‘I need a word,’ Percy whispered, and looked around furtively. ‘Outside.’

‘Well, as I was going outside anyway, I’ll come.’ Alex wondered what other snippets Percy had in store.

‘Some friends of mine, they are from Liverpool… they were wondering if you knew anyone called Luke?’

Taken aback, Alex tried keeping his composure, ‘Luke who?’ he asked nonchalantly.

‘Just Luke. He’s a bad lot and owes them money and stuff.’

Puzzled, Alex tried to get a bit more information from Percy. ‘What’s that got to do with me, Percy? A lot of people come in the pub, but I don’t know all of their names. Can’t be arsed asking most of the time.’

‘No I don’t think he comes into the pub. But they bought something the other day and they wondered if it was from this Luke bloke. He hasn’t been seen for a while, but a van like Mark’s was seen in the supermarket car park. They wondered if Mark might have said something to you about it?’

‘Percy, I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. If it was Mark’s van then ask Mark why he was at a supermarket. Why do people go to supermarkets Percy? To bloody shop of course! I’m not sure what this has to do with me.’

Stammering and blushing slightly, Percy bowed his head. ‘No, no offence Alex. It’s just that you hear and see a lot in the pub, and I wondered if you had heard anything.’

‘Well, I do hear a lot, but I’m not sure what it is that I am supposed to have heard.’

‘You spoke to a friend of mine the other week. He was in his car – a BMW – and you spoke to him apparently. He asked who you were.’

‘I didn’t know you had any friends Percy.’ Drumming his fingers on his chin, Alex recalled that night instantly, not that he was going to reveal this to Percy. ‘It doesn’t spring to mind Percy. What else did he say?’ Alex snapped, although a thought did cross his mind. Maybe they hadn’t been found at all. Maybe it had just been Percy’s friend asking about him and Alex had jumped to conclusions. ‘Is this the same bloke that you said asked about me the other day? Because I suggest you tell him that if he wants to know anything about me, then he should come and bloody well ask me.’

Realising he had annoyed Alex, Percy shook his head. ‘Oh no Alex, it’s not the same bloke, honest. No offence mate. I just thought I would ask.’

‘Well now you’ve wasted my time with your conundrums. I’m going out and if I bump into anyone from Liverpool in a BMW on the way, I will talk to them and tell them to mind their own fucking business about me.’ Alex stormed off, leaving a very sheepish Percy in his wake.

As Alex walked, his mind wandered. He knew someone would have been watching that night when he’d dropped off the plants. Thankfully, he had been dressed as Mark and in Mark’s van, but that could become a problem. He needed to inform Luke that they had their suspicions about him still being alive. The fire investigators had never announced they had found the remains of a body in the house and there had been no police investigation regarding it. So they could think that Luke had escaped somehow and that he had maybe caused the explosion himself. That was, of course, after he had taken what he could of the plants and sold it back to them. Was that why Percy was asking him about Luke? Alex had given Percy the message from a ‘friend’ himself and they now wanted to know if this mysterious friend was Luke, back from the dead.