No Going Back by Lyndon Stacey Read Free Book Online Page B

doubt.’
    â€˜Well, she might get out of the area altogether, but if Elena is her sister and she’s close by, I have a hunch she’ll stick around. I might try leaving word at all the local stables. If it’s what she knows, it’s just possible she’ll try again. After all, she’s got to eat.’
    â€˜I can have a word with the one in the village,’ Tamzin offered. ‘And also the trekking centre over at Goats Tor. I know Hilary quite well, and she’s usually looking for staff with Easter coming up.’
    â€˜Thanks, that’d be great.’
    Tamzin turned back to her chopping board but made no attempt to continue with her preparation.
    â€˜Why are you doing this?’ she asked after a moment.
    â€˜Doing what?’
    She swung back to face him. ‘Going to all this trouble to find the girl? I mean, most people would have given up and forgotten about it after this Reynolds guy said she was back home. Why not you?’
    Daniel shrugged. ‘I told you. It just didn’t feel right. The more I thought about it, the less I liked it. I couldn’t just do nothing.’
    â€˜Some people would.’
    â€˜Yeah, well . . .’ Daniel didn’t know what to say.
    â€˜OK. You don’t have to answer this, but what did you really do before you started working for Fred? You said you were a civil servant. Policemen are civil servants, right? Were you a policeman?’
    Slowly Daniel nodded. ‘For ten years.’
    â€˜So why all the secrecy? You’re not undercover, are you?’
    â€˜No, nothing like that. I’m not in the force any more.’
    â€˜Am I allowed to ask why? I mean, I thought it was normally a lifelong career thing – a calling.’
    â€˜It is.’ The horror, tragedy and humiliation of his last weeks on the force flashed uninvited into Daniel’s mind, and with an effort he closed the memories down, saying tersely, ‘I left. Stress basically.’
    Again a half-truth. He was getting too good at those.
    â€˜Well, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. It must be a terribly stressful job,’ Tamzin said with a note of relief. ‘I know I couldn’t do it. But I wish you’d told me sooner. I was imagining all sorts of things! I mean, I even wondered if you’d been in prison or something.’
    Her easy acceptance of his white lie made Daniel feel uncomfortable, but if the alternative were unpalatable to him, how much more so would it be to her?
    When Tamzin and Daniel had finished their meal, they retired to what Tamzin called the snug, but which was in fact the cottage’s only sitting room. There they sat on a blanket-covered leather sofa, wedged between two of Tamzin’s three dogs, drinking wine in front of the small wood-burning stove that heated the whole building. Taz had been brought in from the car and now lay in the doorway, one eye sleepily fixed on his master.
    Daniel sighed with rare contentment, and Tamzin slanted a look at him.
    â€˜I think that’s the first time I’ve known you be really relaxed,’ she commented. ‘When we’re out anywhere, you’re constantly on the watch. You probably don’t know you’re doing it, but your eyes are everywhere. If someone moves, you see it. If someone new comes in, you watch them. It puts me on edge too.’
    â€˜God, I didn’t realize I was such bad company,’ Daniel said. ‘Sorry. Old habits, I guess.’
    â€˜It’s OK now I know. But all the same, it’s good to see you kicking back.’
    There was silence for a moment, punctuated by the sound of a log collapsing in the burner.
    â€˜What’ll you do if you find Kat?’ Tamzin said then, pulling her feet up on to the sofa and leaning against him.
    â€˜I don’t know. I’ll have to play it by ear, I guess. If she does turn up, we must be careful not to scare her off again. Best tell people to say nothing