‘Special, is she?’
‘Very. And I’ve already fucked it up once, so I don’t wanna risk losing her again. Maybe next time, eh? I’ll give you a ring. Maybe meet up for dinner, or something?’
‘Mebbe.’ Harry winked at him.
‘Anyway, it was good to see you.’ Rob held out his hand.
‘You too,’ Harry said, giving it a quick, hard shake. ‘And good luck with the missus.’
Rolling his eyes as if he fully expected to get a rollicking, Rob climbed out of the car and tapped on the roof. Harry raised his hand in a farewell gesture and pulled away from the kerb, and Rob released a long, tense breath as he watched the car go.
He stayed where he was until he could no longer see it, then pulled up his collar and walked quickly down the road. Head down as he turned the corner, he didn’t notice the Mercedes idling in the shadows ahead.
Harry had killed the lights and was watching Rob in the rear-view. When he’d turned the corner, Harry reversed smoothly back and then jumped out of the car. Ducking down at the side of the wall encircling a glass-littered car park, he watched as Rob looked furtively around before entering one of the terraced houses on the opposite side of the road. When he’d closed the door, Harry squinted at the number of the house on the corner and then counted backwards in twos until he reached Rob’s house.
Back in his car, he made a phone call.
‘It’s me,’ he said when it was answered. ‘I need you to get me a number, ASAP . . .’
Suzie was sitting on the sofa when Rob let himself in, and she smiled up at him when he came into the room after hanging his jacket up.
‘How did it go?’
‘Bit shit, to be honest,’ Rob lied, leaning down to kiss her. ‘There were about forty of us after the same job, and some of them have been in the building trade for longer than I’ve been alive, so I don’t reckon I’ll stand much chance.’
‘Surely they’ll consider you if the others are that much older?’ Suzie said, getting up and heading into the kitchen where she’d been keeping his dinner warm in the oven. ‘I thought you needed to be fit to work in construction?’
‘I’m not sure I’d want it even if they offered it to me,’ Rob said, sitting at the table and smiling when she placed his plate in front of him. ‘It sounded like they expect their crews to travel long distances at short notice.’
‘Oh, wasn’t it a fixed position?’ Suzie asked, taking a can of beer out of the fridge and opening it for him.
‘Nope.’ Rob shook his head and stuck his fork into the food. ‘What is this?’
‘Chicken chasseur,’ Suzie told him, wrinkling her nose as they both looked at the congealed mess on the plate. ‘It looked a lot better than that when I served it up.’
‘My fault for taking so long,’ Rob said, scooping a forkful into his mouth and giving her the thumbs up.
‘You don’t have to pretend you like it,’ she laughed. ‘I can make you a bacon butty instead, if you want?’
‘It’s fine,’ Rob insisted, taking a swig of beer to wash the weird taste out of his mouth. ‘So what did you get up to while I was out?’
‘Apart from mucking dinner up? Not a lot.’ Suzie shrugged. ‘Me and Holly watched telly for a bit, then she had a bath and went to bed, and I came in here to work on those photos.’
‘Get much done?’ Rob forced another mouthful of glop down.
‘Not really. I wasn’t in the mood, so I decided to leave it for now and concentrate on looking for Josie instead.’
‘Any luck getting hold of that woman?’
‘No. And the one I spoke to tonight wouldn’t even tell me her name, so I’ll have to keep trying until she answers the phone again. I’m sure I’ll recognize her voice when she does.’
‘And how’s she been?’ Rob jerked his chin up at the ceiling.
‘Quiet,’ Suzie said. ‘But that’s to be expected, I suppose. She feels safe here with us, but I’m sure she’d rather be at home with her mum.’
Rob nodded and ate one more forkful of food before pushing his plate away. ‘Sorry, babe, I can’t eat any more.’
‘I didn’t really expect you to eat as much as you have,’ Suzie said, smiling as she scraped the residue into the bin and washed the plate. ‘Want me to make that butty?’
‘Nah, I think I’m ready for bed.’ Rob yawned and stretched his arms above his head.
‘Don’t be thinking you’re going straight to sleep.’ Suzie gave him a meaningful smile. ‘We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.’
‘If I have to,’ Rob sighed.
Laughing, Suzie flicked soap suds at him and then quickly dried her hands before sitting on his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck.
‘Thanks for letting Holly stay,’ she said, as if she’d given him a choice in the matter. ‘I know it’s cramping your style having her here, but—’
‘Sshhh . . .’ Rob placed a finger over her lips. ‘I don’t want to talk about her any more tonight.’
‘OK,’ Suzie agreed. ‘Let’s talk about the agency instead. I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier, and I’m not sure I like the idea of letting you work while I sit at home doing nothing. I’ve put a lot of thought into this, and I really think I can make a success of it. But I don’t want it coming between us, so I was thinking . . . how about you come in on it with me?’
Rob made a face as if that was an interesting prospect. But he had other things on his mind, so he said, ‘I’d rather talk about . . .’ He pulled her head down and whispered the rest, and Suzie leapt up and reached for his hand.
‘Come on, then, lover boy . . . what you waiting for?’
Two long but very pleasurable hours later, when Suzie had, at last, fallen asleep, Rob slid
