No Going Back (16 page)

‘Hiya. I said I'd call. What are you up to?'

‘We're go-karting and it's fab!'

‘Who's we?'

‘Me, Amanda and Ryan. And, Dad, Mum even had a go.'

‘Did she?' Daniel said, impressed. She was clearly making an effort.

‘Yeah, but she was
useless
.'

‘So, is it Ryan's birthday or something?'

‘No. Amanda just said it would be fun, and it is – it's awesome!' The sound of engines rose to a crescendo as the karts revved up. ‘Look, Dad, I've got to go. I'm in the race after this one. It's the semi-final,' he added proudly.

‘Oh, well done! OK. I'll ring you tomorrow. Now go and win that race for me.'

Thoughtfully, Daniel rang off. Was this surprise outing an effort by Amanda to get Drew onside after upsetting him with talk of moving back to Bristol? Had she read his email's ‘sent' folder and been alarmed by the content of his messages to Daniel? He couldn't imagine that go-karting had ever featured on Amanda's wish list. Whatever the case, it obviously hadn't been the moment to broach the subject of the proposed move with her.

Daniel brought up an online telephone directory and entered ‘Matsuki' and ‘Bristol'. Unsurprisingly, there was only one entry, and after taking a mental deep breath, Daniel phoned the listed number.

‘Hello?' A female, young and unmistakably oriental.

‘Hi. Um, could I speak to Joey, please?'

‘I'm sorry, Jo-Ji is not here.'

‘Oh. When would be a good time to call?'

‘Who is it speaking?'

‘Daniel Whelan. I used to work with Joey. I believe he's got my dog Bella now . . .'

‘Yes, he has Bella, but Daniel, I'm sorry, Jo-Ji is in hospital. He was in a road accident three days ago and he has to stay for at least another week, they say.'

Daniel passed on his commiserations and, ringing off a minute or two later, sighed and shook his head.

‘Buggered again, Taz,' he said. ‘So what now, huh?'

Taz looked up under his brows without lifting his head. He was more interested in Daniel's meal than the conversation.

Had Jono known that Matsuki was out of commission when he made the suggestion? Daniel wondered, feeding Taz a chunk of fish. Probably not. It was probably just fate having a laugh again.

So what now? There were other people – ex-colleagues – he could call, but his conversation with Jono had left him wary.

Damn Naylor! If
he'd
been clean, the problem wouldn't exist, but the possibility of the sergeant's connection with Patrescu was one Daniel couldn't afford to disregard.

The idea of blowing the whistle on Naylor was dismissed without consideration. Even supposing Daniel – with the black marks already against his name – could get anyone at Yelverton to listen to him, it would be messy. Word would spread like wildfire in a provincial station like that and Naylor would just as swiftly warn Patrescu. By the time anything was done about Moorside House –
if
anything were done – the Romanians, the girls and the evidence would be long gone.

If that happened, Daniel knew, Katya could kiss goodbye to her little sister for good.

SEVEN

S
till wrestling with the problem of what to do next, Daniel slept badly and awakened in a less than sunny frame of mind.

Mechanically, he went through the actions of making toast and coffee and feeding Taz before setting out for Tavistock through a windblown drizzle to collect the lorry and start work.

A dreary morning wasn't improved when he stopped for his morning break and was on the receiving end of a call from Amanda.

‘Hello?'

‘I just wanted to let you know that Drew won't be able to come to you next weekend. He's busy.' She flung the statement down the phone as if it were a challenge, which, in essence, Daniel recognized, it was. He kept his own voice even.

‘Why, what's he doing?' Next weekend was
his
weekend – his and Drew's.

‘We're taking him to Butlins for the weekend.'

‘We?'

‘Darren and I.'

Darren. The boyfriend, presumably. He
would
be called Darren, Daniel thought uncharitably.

‘Does Drew know about this?' he asked. ‘He didn't mention it when I spoke to him yesterday.'

‘He's eight years old,' Amanda pointed out. ‘He's not old enough to make his own arrangements. I do that.'

‘He's old enough to know what he'd
like
to do, surely?'

‘Oh God, I might have known you'd be awkward about it! He'll enjoy it – there's loads to do there for kids.'

Daniel sighed. ‘All right. I'll see him the week after instead. Can I speak to him now?'

‘What for?' she demanded suspiciously.

‘He's my son – do I need a particular reason?' Daniel was struggling to keep his temper. ‘I said I'd ring him, that's all.'

‘You're not going to try and put him off?'

‘Oh, for God's sake, Amanda!'

‘Well, don't go upsetting him again. He was moody for days after he saw you last week.'

‘That wasn't my fault.'

‘It was because of you, though,' she retorted. ‘I sometimes think it might be better if he didn't see you so often. It's very disruptive for him. I don't want his schoolwork to suffer.'

‘Don't even go there!' Daniel warned. ‘If he's upset because he thinks he wants to come and live with me full-time, how is seeing me less going to help? And while we're on the subject, what's this about moving back to Bristol?'

‘Oh, he told you about that, did he? It's only an idea, nothing definite.'

‘No? Drew says you've been viewing houses. Is this part of your plan to separate Drew and me? Because it won't bloody work, Amanda – I'll tell you that now!'

‘Don't be ridiculous!' she protested. ‘I wouldn't do that.'

‘No?' At one time, he wouldn't have believed it of her either, but now he wasn't sure.

‘No! I was just looking, but can you blame me? I get lonely sometimes and all my friends are back there.'

‘But Drew doesn't want to go, does he?'

‘He'd get used to it, and maybe it would take his mind off this stupid idea he's got. I mean, it's all right for you – you don't have to live with his moods. He's like a bear with a sore head.'

‘All right for me? I'd love to live with him – moods or not. Leaving wasn't my choice, remember?'

‘It was your choice to meddle in what didn't concern you and mess up a perfectly good career!' she snapped straight back. ‘You didn't stop to think how it would affect me or Drew, did you? I mean, at least if you'd been invalided out like George Collis, you'd have got a pension and we'd still have our friends.'

‘George has to walk with elbow crutches,' Daniel exclaimed incredulously. ‘Is that what you'd have preferred for me? Anyway, you've still got
your
friends – you made sure of that when you cut me loose. Not one to let loyalty get in the way of your social life, were you?'

‘Loyalty to what?' Amanda retorted. ‘To a husband who was never at home? Who put work before his wife and kid? I lost count of the number of things we had to cancel because you were “needed at work”. I swear you thought more of those bloody dogs than you did of me!'

‘Well, at least they didn't desert me when the going got tough!' Daniel was stung to reply. ‘I was a policeman when we met, Amanda. You knew what the job was.'

‘But it wasn't
like
that to start with . . .'

He had to admit she had a point. In the last few years, general understaffing and an increase in officers on long-term sick leave had made the idea of regular hours a joke. His spell in the Dog Unit had been the best. Dogs don't do overtime, and his shifts had been as regular as clockwork, though he couldn't recall that it had made much difference to the atmosphere at home.

‘Look, Amanda, I'm working. Let's leave it, shall we? We're never going to agree. I'll try Drew later on his mobile.'

Daniel tossed the phone down on the seat beside him, irritated that Amanda still had the power to rattle him, although realistically it was the power she had over his relationship with Drew that bothered him the most.

Aware of his mood, Taz sat up on his blanket in the footwell, flattening his ears sheepishly.

Daniel stroked the dog's head, pulling at one dark, velvety ear.

‘It's all right, lad. Woman trouble, that's all.'

Daniel wasn't normally a big fan of parties, but when Tamzin rang to invite him to one that evening, he allowed himself to be persuaded with comparatively little protest. Whether this was due to his restless mood after Amanda's call or his reluctance to face Katya with no plan to offer, he didn't know. However, the thought of an evening spent in Tamzin's agreeable company, with good wine and food and no need to tax his brain with anything but the most banal conversation was suddenly quite tempting.

In the event, the idea that the party might be fun lasted all of ten minutes after their arrival, though the tedium of the prevailing conversation about Alexander somebody's new yacht, Abigail's new horse or the advantages of the Maldives over the Seychelles for one's holiday was balanced by the culinary splendour of the buffet.

Drifting to his side after a couple of hours, Tamzin extricated Daniel from the verbal clutches of a mildly flirtatious middle-aged lady and drawing him away, on the pretext of wanting to introduce him to someone, whispered, ‘You're a fraud, Mr Whelan. Skiing in Aspen on a policeman's pay? I don't believe you've ever been there!'

‘I didn't precisely say I'd
been
there – just said it was one of the best places to go. I've never skied anywhere more exciting than the dry slope at the leisure centre when I was a kid,' he confessed. ‘But that wasn't what she wanted to hear.'

‘Oh, and do you always tell people what you think they want to hear?' she enquired archly.

‘Anything for an easy life – you know me.'

‘Yeah, right!' Tamzin said dryly. ‘Do you think we should make a move soon?'

‘If you're ready . . . ?'

Ten minutes later, in the darkness of the Discovery, Tamzin glanced sideways at Daniel as she drove. ‘You made quite a hit. Everyone thought you were lovely.'

‘Well, I've been on my best behaviour.'

‘My aunt particularly liked you,' Tamzin went on, ignoring his flippant reply. ‘She said she was glad I'd found someone nice at last.'

Daniel had a vague recollection of a brisk, wiry, fiftyish lady who'd asked him if he had ever ridden.

‘That doesn't say a lot for your previous boyfriends,' he joked, skipping lightly over the hint of permanency in her remark.

‘Well, some of them
were
a bit alternative,' she admitted with a laugh in her voice. ‘I think I was rebelling against the Oxbridge set I'd grown up with. Did you go to uni?'

‘Nope. College and then straight to police training at eighteen.'

‘You knew what you wanted, then?'

‘My dad was a police officer. Still is, as far as I know.'

‘You're not in touch with him?'

‘No. He walked out when I was eight. Drew's age.'

‘Oh, I see.' Tamzin hesitated, perhaps waiting for him to expand, but when he didn't, she said, ‘I told Auntie Jane that you were only temporary, that you'd be moving on sooner or later. She was disappointed.'

Daniel's heart sank. He sensed an emotional storm brewing. Why had he thought this would be an evening free of mental stress?

‘You will, won't you?' Tamzin said as the silence lengthened.

‘Eventually, I suppose. I haven't made any plans as yet,' Daniel hedged. ‘Besides, my options are limited. Police skills aren't a lot of help in the job market.'

‘Well, you could always come and train racehorses with me,' she suggested lightly. ‘And on that subject, I'm one rider short in the morning, so I'm banking on you helping me out.'

‘OK.'

‘Really?' His placid agreement had clearly caught Tamzin by surprise.

‘Yes. Why not?' he said.

‘No reason. That's great,' Tamzin said. Then, on a different note, ‘Oh, what's going on here?'

They had topped a rise and could see lights out on the moor to their right and, in a roadside car park, a gathering of emergency vehicles, fluorescent markings glowing and blue lights flashing.

‘Someone lost or injured, perhaps,' Daniel said. ‘There's a chopper circling too.'

Tamzin slowed the Land Rover as they drew close to the scene of the activity, but a yellow-jacketed police officer waved them on.

‘Shall I ask him what's going on?' Tamzin said, continuing to brake, but Daniel shook his head.

‘I shouldn't bother. He probably won't tell you.'

His thoughts flashed back to the night he'd searched for Katya and her sister. If only he'd taken matters in his own hands and called the rescue services then, he thought, he wouldn't be in the fix he was in now. But dwelling on if onlys was a destructive occupation – bitter experience had taught him that – and he'd had no real reason to distrust Patrescu at that first meeting; the doubts had come later.

Too late.

Sunday dawned bright and sparkling, the previous day's dampness turning to hoar frost, which rimed every branch, twig and blade of grass, and each ice crystal was lifted to diamond brilliance by the rays of the rising sun.

Warm breath from the horses' nostrils plumed and dissolved in the cold, dry air, and the rhythmic clatter of their hooves filled Daniel's ears, as they filed up the lane towards the gallops.

Immediately in front of him, the chestnut mane of his mount sloped up to a pair of long, honest ears. Behind the saddle, a striped blanket kept the fine-skinned thoroughbred loins warm and the top of a silky tail twitched from side to side with each hind footfall.