Stephen had still not returned when Daniel dropped in to Lorna’s on his way home and far from the explosive atmosphere Daniel had dreaded finding at the house, it seemed that Shane, now wearing his own clothes once more, had succeeded in winning Lorna over, at least partially.
‘It’s a pity about his background, he seems a nice enough lad,’ she told Daniel as they drank coffee at the kitchen table.
‘He can’t help who his family are, any more than the rest of us. Where is he now? Or should I say, where are they?’ he said, as Zoe was missing, too.
‘Down in the yard, filling haynets for tonight. Shane wanted to do something to help and Zoe went too, predictably. It’ll be the first haynet she’s filled in years!’
‘Amazing what infatuation can do,’ Daniel observed. ‘Have you heard from Stephen?’
‘No. I imagine he’s trying to make a point by staying away all day, but actually we’re all much happier when he’s not here. Oh, dear! Is it awful of me to say that? He is Harvey’s son, after all.’
‘I can’t see that that makes any difference, he’s not a blood relative, and anyway, you forget – I’ve met him and he is obnoxious!’
Faintly, they heard the swish and crunch of tyres on the gravel outside and a car door thump shut.
‘Speak of the devil,’ Lorna said with a resigned expression.
Moments later, Stephen had let himself in through the front door and was shaking his wet coat onto the flagstones of the kitchen floor.
‘Thanks for that,’ Lorna said drily. ‘Can’t you put it in the boot room?’
‘If you want.’ Stephen took the coat through to the room where Daniel knew there was a low sink for washing muddy dogs and a heated bench for drying them. As he came back, he said, ‘Heard any more from the police?’
‘Not yet. Only that they’re assigning us a family liaison officer. She’ll apparently call in tomorrow. One thing you should know, though …’
She was interrupted by the sound of the back door opening and suddenly the two wet spaniels burst into the kitchen, tongues lolling from open mouths and stumpy tails wagging at eighty miles an hour. They circumnavigated the room, greeting the humans and stopping for a quick how-do-you-do with Taz, then Bailey stopped beside Stephen and shook vigorously, covering his lower legs with a shower of muddy water.
‘Oh, for God’s sake! Bloody dogs!’ he exclaimed, stepping backwards and looking down at his trousers in disgust.
‘Zoe! Call the dogs, please. They’re soaking!’ Lorna called out.
‘Well, how was I to know the door would be open?’ came the indignant reply.
The dogs disappeared into the boot room and the door clicked shut, only to open again as Zoe and Shane, divested of their wet coats, came into the kitchen.
Stephen transferred his attention from the state of his trousers to the newcomers and his frown deepened.
‘What the fff …?’
‘Hello, Stephen,’ Zoe said airily.
Shane Brennan lifted his chin in the face of Stephen’s obvious hostility and stared him straight in the eye.
Good on you! Daniel thought, liking the boy more with each meeting.
‘Please don’t tell me this is the bloody Gypsy who’s caused all the trouble,’ Stephen implored Lorna.
‘This is Zoe’s friend, Shane,’ Lorna said as if making the introduction at a party. ‘My stepson, Stephen.’
Shane nodded in Stephen’s direction but Stephen wasn’t prepared to play along.
‘You’re not serious?’ he asked Lorna, totally ignoring the younger man. ‘The bastard who led Zoe on and then stole your jewellery. Two days ago you told her to stay away from him and now you’re inviting him into your house! Have you gone mad?’
‘He didn’t steal the rings!’ Zoe flared up instantly. ‘I told him they were mine. He had nothing to do with it!’
‘He ran off with the money, though, didn’t he?’
‘It wasn’t like that!’
‘Be quiet, both of you!’ Lorna said sharply.
‘But he’s twisting everything …’ Zoe complained.
‘Quiet!’ she repeated. ‘This is my house and I won’t have a slanging match in my kitchen. Nor …’ she went on over the top of renewed grumbling from both sides, ‘will I be told who I can or cannot invite into it. So if you can’t be civil to each other then don’t say anything at all. And that goes for both of you.’
Shane fidgeted.
‘Perhaps I should just go,’ he said quietly to Zoe.
‘No!’ she cried. ‘He doesn’t have to, does he, Mum? He can’t go home.’
‘No. To be honest, he’s the best behaved of all of you,’ she said.
‘Well, if you think I’m going to stick around with that – that heathen, here, you can think again!’ Stephen stated.
‘Well, of course, it’s your decision,’ Lorna replied coldly.
Stephen stared at her in disbelief.
‘You were glad enough to see me when I arrived; when you called me, I might add.’
‘That’s true. I thought you should know that your father was missing and, I’ll admit, I did feel rather nervous after those two men came looking for him, but I’d forgotten just how insufferable you can be when you choose to.’
‘Way to go, Mum!’ Zoe murmured, echoing Daniel’s own sentiments, but was quelled by a fierce look from her mother.
‘Well, if that’s how you feel,’ Stephen said through gritted teeth, his face flushed with fury.
‘I’m afraid it is. I’ve tried to get on with you for Harvey’s sake but I have to say you don’t make it easy. Now, this is your father’s house and you’re welcome to stay but please, for the love of God, try and keep your nose out of what doesn’t concern you and your comments to yourself.’
For a long moment, Stephen said nothing, his face reflecting the struggle that was raging inside but then he apparently came to a decision.
‘I’ll stay because I want to find out what’s happened to Dad, but I’m not sharing a house with a flaming Gypsy! If he’s staying here, I’ll find a room in the village.’
‘Suit yourself,’ Lorna told him.
Daniel cleared his throat.
‘Um … My offer still stands, if that would help.’
‘That’s kind,’ she said. ‘It’s up to Shane, really.’
‘Actually, we had a better idea,’ Zoe put in. ‘If I’m allowed to speak, that is …’ Attention turned to her and she went on. ‘We were looking at the hayloft – Shane and I were, just a minute ago – and we thought he could easily stay there. It only needs a bit of a sweep out and we can find him a sleeping bag. It’d be perfect.’
‘But it’s got all those old boxes in there,’ Lorna protested.
‘There’s still plenty of room and he doesn’t have to stay in there all day. It’s only for sleeping, really.’
‘A hayloft?’ Daniel enquired doubtfully, imagining hay and straw in bales and loose, rats and mice and rafters strung with cobwebs.
‘It’s not as bad as it sounds,’ Lorna told him. ‘It was converted into living accommodation by the people before us and has running water and electricity – even a chair and the bare bones of a bed, though no mattress. He could have the one from the box room, I suppose,’ she added, thoughtfully. ‘If he really wants to, of course. It’s a bit spartan.’
‘I don’t mind,’ Shane said. ‘I’ve slept in a lot worse places.’
‘I bet you have!’ Stephen muttered.
‘We were thinking he could have the cushions off the chair instead of a mattress,’ Zoe said.
‘I see you’ve got it all worked out,’ her mother said. ‘Well, I’ll leave you two to sort out the details then, if you’re sure you’re happy with that.’
Shane nodded, his face giving little away, but Zoe’s delight more than made up for his lack of expression.
‘That’s brilliant!’ she cried, taking his arm and shaking it. ‘Thank you so much. Let’s go and sort it out now.’
‘I imagine Shane might like something hot to drink, seeing as you’ve only just come in,’ Lorna suggested. ‘And I should warn you, there’s a condition attached. The room is for Shane only. It is completely out of bounds for you.’
‘What? Not during the daytime, though …’
‘Any time. Take it or leave it,’ Lorna stated in a tone that brooked no argument.
‘Oh, Mum!’
Her mother shook her head.
‘It’s no good Oh Mumming me.’
‘But that’s embarrassing! I’m not a baby.’
‘No. You’re fifteen and a minor.’
Zoe’s face assumed a petulant expression but Shane soothed her.
‘It’s OK, Mrs Myers. We don’t – I mean, in my culture … What I mean is, marriage is important to us,’ he finished with a rush, his face reddening. ‘It’s why mostly we get married quite young.’
‘How quaint. A virgin,’ Stephen commented, and then put his hands up as Lorna shot him a warning glance.
‘But you didn’t?’ she asked the Traveller boy.
‘I was engaged before. But the girl, she got poorly, so we had to wait and then, well, she died last year,’ he finished.
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ Lorna said. ‘That’s sad. She can’t have been very old.’
‘Seventeen. It was her breathing. Asthma.’
Stephen made a noise that could have signified disbelief, gathered up his phone and keys from the table and headed for the door.
‘Do I take it you’re staying?’ his stepmother asked.
‘Just till we find out about Dad,’ he said.
‘Well, don’t you want a cuppa? I was just going to make one.’
‘Later, maybe,’ Stephen said without turning his head, and moments later, the door shut firmly behind him.
Accepting an invitation to the evening meal, which Stephen took in splendid isolation on a tray in the sitting room, Daniel didn’t leave Abbots Farm until late that evening, at which point nothing further had been heard from the police regarding Harvey’s disappearance. This didn’t surprise him overmuch. He knew from experience that the family wouldn’t necessarily be instantly apprised of every development. Time would be taken to evaluate any new information before the decision was taken as to when, or indeed whether, it should be shared with the waiting relatives.
Some of the conversation over the meal was inevitably about Harvey, and Zoe commented that Shane’s extra muscle might come in useful if the two men who had come searching for him were to show up again.
Lorna, who seemed to have done a complete about-face where the Traveller boy was concerned, said that she sincerely hoped his muscle wouldn’t be called upon. Daniel, for his part, thought it unlikely that Leather Jacket and his friend would risk another visit to the property now they knew the police were involved, but if they did, he put more faith in Shane’s protective abilities than Stephen’s.
He left with the promise that he would do his best to finish work early the next afternoon and meet Shane outside the pawnbroker’s that was holding Lorna’s rings.
For once, luck was on Daniel’s side. Aware of his mission over the weekend and interested to hear an update on that and the rest of Lorna’s troubles, Fred Bowden greeted him with the news that the workforce was up to full strength once more, with the return of the driver who had been on sick leave, and then offered to take on a couple of Daniel’s more local drops in the van to shorten his day.
Taking advantage of this offer, Daniel finished his last drop at just after four o’clock and, having hosed down the lorry, was in Tavistock heading for the retail premises of the pawnbroker, which styled itself as an All But New retailer, at just before five.
Ahead of him, outside the shop, he could see Shane Brennan lounging against the wall waiting for him, as he had promised he would be, and Daniel hoped that within a very short time this part, at least, of the Myers’ problems would be resolved. Lorna had transferred the necessary funds into Daniel’s current account – a cash injection that, he thought wryly, would give his bank manager a severe shock were he to become aware of it.
When Daniel was within fifty yards of the pawnshop, he saw Shane straighten up as something on the other side of the road caught his attention. Following his gaze he saw, in the mouth of an alleyway between two shops, two men forcibly restraining a much smaller figure and realized, with a muttered oath, that it was Zoe.
Shouting ‘Oi!’ Daniel broke into a run and, weaving between parked cars, ran across the road towards the three, eliciting a blast on the horn from an approaching motorist.
Swift as Daniel was, Shane was there before him, grasping the shoulder of the nearest man and pulling him away from Zoe, who cowered back against the wall. The man, who Daniel recognized as one of the two who had visited Lorna, swung a right hook at the Traveller but Shane was ready for him. Ducking easily, he bobbed up inside the man’s guard and caught him a stinging blow on the jaw that rocked him back on his heels.
Following him into the fray, Daniel pulled the second man round, twisted his arm in a lock that forced him to his knees and growled into his ear, ‘Who sent you? You’ve got ten seconds before I break your elbow!’
To add credibility to his words, he applied pressure to the joint, drawing a squeal from his captive, who he could see was once again the man with the scorpion tattoo.
‘We’ve been here before, haven’t we?’ he added with a grim smile. ‘Other arm this time, though. I like to be fair.’
To his left, Daniel could see Shane’s man getting slowly to his feet, wiping a thin dribble of blood from his lip. The Traveller stood over him, daring him to make another wrong move.
‘Myers owes money,’ the tattooed man said between gritted teeth.
‘We’d guessed that much,’ Daniel told him, applying a little more pressure. ‘Tell us something we don’t know.’
‘Aaah. He’ll fucking kill me if I blab!’ the man cried.
‘And I’ll break your arm if you don’t,’ Daniel promised. ‘Your choice. Pain now or trouble later.’
‘You can’t do that. It’s broad daylight!’
‘Nobody’s looking,’ Daniel told him and indeed, a glance round showed him that the few souls who were in the vicinity were hurrying out of it with heads down and eyes averted. ‘Besides, you started it!’
In spite of the words, he was well aware that even as he spoke, the chances were that someone, somewhere, was on the phone to the police and just at the moment he was almost as eager to avoid that particular confrontation as he felt sure his captive was.
With the attention no longer on her, Zoe slipped between Shane and Daniel and out on to the pavement.
‘I’m waiting,’ Daniel told his man, leaning once more.
‘All right! Fuck it! All right, I said!’ the man squawked. ‘Gregg – Felix Gregg! Now fuckin’ let go!’
‘Are you fuckin’ mad?’ Shane’s man hissed furiously at his partner. His anger was music to Daniel’s ears; it meant that in all probability the name his man had given him was the right one.
‘There, it wasn’t so hard, was it?’ Daniel asked, letting his man straighten up. ‘Now if I were you, I’d leg it before the police get here, unless of course you want to press charges? No,’ he observed, as flinging back further obscenities, the two men took to their heels, as of one accord, down the alleyway, ‘I didn’t think you would.’
When they had disappeared from his sight, Daniel turned to find that Zoe had found security in Shane’s strong arms and buried her face in the front of his jacket.
‘Are you OK, Zo?’ he asked.
She turned her head and nodded, her long lashes spiky with tears.
‘What the hell did you think you were doing? I thought we’d made it clear that you shouldn’t be out and about on your own …’
‘School’s only just back there,’ she said pointing up the road. ‘I knew you’d be here. I didn’t think it would matter …’
‘Well, now you know.’
‘She’s learned her lesson,’ Shane put in quietly. ‘She doesn’t need a bollocking.’
Daniel sighed.
‘No. You’re right. But that was too close for comfort. What did they say to you, anything?’
She sniffed and felt in her pocket for a tissue. Her mascara had started to run and her pale face looked even more wan than usual.
‘They wanted to know where Harvey is – well, they called him my daddy, as if I was a kid. I said I didn’t know and that the police were looking for him, too.’
‘What did they say to that?’
‘Nothing really. They just looked at each other, and one of them started to say something and then you two came running over.’ She blew her nose and mopped delicately under her eyes with a corner of the tissue.
‘All right. Well, as long as you’re OK. Now I think we’d better get off the street before someone arrives with awkward questions. We’ll have to report this but not here and now, I think.’
Crossing the road they pushed through the door of the brightly lit pawnbroker’s, where they encountered a hurriedly dispersing crowd of staff and customers, who had clearly been drawn to the window by the drama across the way.
At the service counter, the young man who served them was polite and efficient, and if his gaze seemed irresistibly drawn to Shane’s grazed knuckles, it wasn’t to be wondered at. It probably wasn’t every day that they had a scene from some TV action show played out on their doorstep.
As Daniel entered his PIN number to complete the payment, a flash of fluorescent green caught his eye and he turned to see a police car cruising slowly down the street. It slowed to a halt opposite the shop before pulling away once more, its occupants apparently satisfied that the reported disturbance had resolved itself without their intervention. Within seconds the car had disappeared from view and Daniel turned back to the matter in hand.
‘They think if they take long enough, it’ll all be over before they get here.’ This cynical observation was made by an older man who had been hovering a little behind the one who was serving, perhaps wary of trouble from the newcomers, in view of what they had just witnessed.
‘Disturbance? I didn’t see anything, officer,’ Daniel said.
‘Me neither,’ the man agreed with a laugh. ‘So what did Mr Gregg’s boys want with the little lady? It’s not their usual style.’
‘It’s a long story,’ Daniel told him. ‘Suffice it to say, they’ve got the wrong end of the stick. So, do you know Felix Gregg?’
‘Not know, exactly, but we know of him. Let’s say he sends a lot of custom our way.’
‘So what is it? Bookmaking? Gambling? Lending?’
‘All of the above. Usually steers clear of minors, though,’ he added with a glance at Zoe, who stood within the protective circle of Shane’s arm. ‘Your young lady, is she, Shane?’
Shane nodded, giving Zoe’s shoulders a squeeze. Zoe smiled faintly, her eyes on the display case under the glass counter.
‘Well, that’s all sorted, then,’ the young assistant said, handing Daniel the receipt. ‘And here are your items. Thank you for doing business with us.’
Daniel took the three small ring boxes, the contents of which had been carefully checked by Zoe at the beginning of the transaction. He held them out to her.
‘There you are. Hold on to them this time, OK?’
Zoe nodded, slipping the rings into a tapestry bag she wore over her shoulder, but her eyes were still on the cabinet. She pointed at a row of watches near the front.
‘Harvey had one like that,’ she said.
The assistant looked blankly at her.
‘Do you want to buy a watch?’ he asked.
‘No. It just looks like one my stepfather used to own, that’s all,’ she said.
At her words the youngster’s older colleague moved forward to take his place. ‘It’s a popular watch; mass produced,’ he said.
‘Expensive-looking for a mass-produced one.’ Daniel raised an eyebrow. ‘And a good make.’
‘Yeah, well. Obviously, what I mean is, you can buy them in good quality jewellers. It’s not a limited edition, or anything. But it’s a very nice watch.’
‘My stepfather’s one had an inscription on it. My mum gave it to him for their anniversary.’
‘That’s nice,’ the man said, without moving. Then, finding himself fixed by an unblinking stare from Zoe’s wide grey eyes, ‘Are you interested in buying the watch?’
She shook her head.
‘No, I just wondered …’
‘It doesn’t have any inscription, if that’s what you’re thinking,’ he told her.
‘Oh, OK. It just reminded me of Harvey’s, that’s all.’
‘Has he lost one?’
‘No. That is, we don’t know.’
‘Do you mind if we look at it?’ Daniel asked. ‘Just out of interest …’
‘Of course. No problem. I’ll deal with this. I expect you’ve got plenty to be getting on with,’ the man told his younger assistant, who coloured slightly and disappeared through a door at the back of the serving area. The man took a key from his pocket and unlocked the cabinet.
Moments later, he produced the watch and laid it almost reverently on a soft mat on the counter top, as if it were indeed a precious designer piece.
‘May I?’ Without waiting for the answer, Daniel picked the watch up and examined it closely, noting the logo of a very exclusive maker painted in gold on the dial. ‘Do you have a magnifying glass?’ he asked.
‘Somewhere around,’ the man said, casting about him vaguely. ‘Why, is there a problem?’
‘Not as far as I know,’ Daniel said.
After opening and closing a couple of drawers, the man opened his hands, palms upward, and announced that the magnifying glass seemed to have gone walkabout.
‘Never mind.’ Daniel unzipped an inner pocket in his jacket and took out a chunky penknife. ‘I’ve just remembered there’s one on here. Useful for lighting campfires, I suppose, if you’ve left your matches at home.’
The assistant smiled humourlessly and watched as Daniel inspected the watch even more closely.
Eventually he closed the penknife and put the watch back on the mat.
The assistant was waiting with raised eyebrows and Zoe was also watching him intently.
‘Everything OK?’ the man asked.
‘Yes. Why wouldn’t it be? It’s genuine, as far as I can see.’
‘So, are you interested in making a purchase?’
Daniel shook his head ruefully.
‘No, it’s beyond my budget, I’m afraid.’
‘It’s half the price you’d pay for it anywhere else.’
‘So it may be, but even if I had that kind of money to spend on a watch, it wouldn’t last five minutes with me; I’m a bit hard on my watches. I do know someone who might well be interested, though. He’s been looking for one of those for ages.’
‘Yes, well, it’s a very good watch,’ the man said smoothly, scooping it up and back into the cabinet. ‘Beautifully made. Very exclusive. Pieces like this tend to do better at auction, so your friend had better be quick.’
‘Yes, I can see how it’s worth so much. It’s not often you get that combination of exclusivity and mass production, is it?’ Daniel agreed with wonderful innocence. ‘I’ll send my friend along to have a look.’
The man favoured Daniel with a narrow-eyed look but quickly recovered his smile and silky smooth manner.
‘Good. I’ll look forward to seeing him.’
Safely outside the shop, Zoe said, ‘For a minute I thought it might actually be Harvey’s, when you asked for a magnifying glass.’
‘And it might still be,’ Daniel said. ‘There wasn’t an inscription – you could see that, anyway, but where was it on his? Round the outside?’
‘Yes. Round the rim.’
‘That’s what I thought. I might be mistaken but that surface looked suspiciously rough under the lens. It could be wear and tear but it looked too even for that, as if the surface had been filed.’
‘And your friend?’ Shane asked.
‘Sergeant Naylor,’ Daniel said. ‘I think he should take a look sooner, rather than later. I might just ring him now.’
In the event, Sergeant Naylor was impossible to contact at that moment, being off duty, but Daniel was promised that his message would be passed on to the officer in charge of the case, right away.
‘I hope it is,’ Daniel said, after relaying this exchange to the others. ‘In spite of my rather poor attempt at a cover story, I have a feeling our friend in there wasn’t fooled.’
‘If that was Harvey’s watch …’ Zoe’s voice tailed off. ‘That’s not good, is it?’
‘No, it’s not.’ There was no point in denying it; Zoe was an intelligent girl. ‘But it needn’t be the blackest scenario. It’s just possible that if he’s in real financial trouble, he might have pawned it himself, or even that he gave it to this Felix Gregg guy as settlement of a debt and he’s sold it on. There are several possible explanations, and hopefully the police will get to the bottom of it. The older man seemed to know you, Shane,’ he added then and left the statement hanging.
Shane shrugged.
‘Yeah, the family do a bit of business with them from time to time,’ he said. ‘That’s why I came to this one with the rings.’
Discovering that Shane had recovered his motorbike from a mate who had been repairing it for him, Zoe announced her intention of riding pillion to the house until Daniel pointed out that she had no protective clothing.
‘Shane’s got a spare helmet,’ she told him. ‘I’ve used it before.’
‘I very much doubt he’s got a spare set of leathers to fit you, though,’ Daniel said, and then, as she started to protest, ‘No buts. If you’d seen the aftermath of as many motorcycle accidents as I have, where the riders weren’t wearing the correct kit, you wouldn’t even contemplate it. It’s not just a graze we’re talking about; even at low speeds the tarmac will take the flesh off right down to the bone.’
Zoe made a face that showed that, in common with many of her age group, she didn’t really think something of that sort would ever happen to her, but she gave in and accompanied Daniel back to the car park where he had left Taz guarding the Merc. The dog stood up and stretched hugely, making the kind of chatty German shepherd noises that indicated his happiness to see Daniel back.
‘You left the back up,’ Zoe said.
‘Well, I don’t think anyone was likely to try and steal it, do you?’
She watched Daniel fondling the dog.
‘He always looks so friendly. Would he really bite someone?’
‘Absolutely, if I told him to, or if someone tried to steal his car. But he’d warn them first and once they’ve seen his teeth, most people don’t take it any further,’ Daniel said ruffling the fur on Taz’s head. ‘You’re a big scary monster, ain’tcha, boy?’