Page 3 of The Thug And His Doll

“Toby,” she warns.

I let the kid’s hand go. “And your name?” I ask, resting back in my seat, curious who this woman is, and why I’ve never seen her before. I know everyone in this town.

“That’s none of your–” she begins, but her son cuts her off.

“It’s Amelia Pearson, but everyone calls her Lia,” Toby replies proudly, oblivious to the stuttered way his mother draws in a breath. For a small kid, he sure has impressive vocabulary. I’m guessing he’s around four or five, but I could be wrong.

“Well, Lia, pleasure to meet you,” I say, curiosity getting the better of me as I ask another probing question. “Are you just passing through or visiting family?”

“Like I said that’s none of your–”

“We’re on an adventure!” Toby pipes up. “We left my Papa sleeping, and this place is as good as any place to stop, right Mama?”

Lia’s skin pales as she flicks her gaze from her son to me, and back again. “That’s enough, Toby. We should get going. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”

“So you’re just passing through then?” I question, feeling the tension rolling off her.

This woman is spooked, and I don’t think it’s just me who’s doing the spooking. Given what the kid just said, she’s running scared. That knowledge triggers me in a way that I wished it wouldn’t.

“Yes. Exactly,” she replies tightly, casting her gaze over her shoulder to Daphne who seems to be taking her merry time fetching the bill.

“I thought you said we could stay this time? I wanted to go on the swing, Mama. You promised me.”

“Maybe it’s best if we just kept going, sweetie,” she says. “They’ll be other playgrounds.”

“Not with a huge caterpillar slide!”

“We’ll find another playground just as good.”

“But you promised,” he whines. “You said this would be the last time. I want to stay here. I don’t want to sleep in the car again. It’s cold, Mama.”

“I–”

“Wait, you’re sleeping in a car?” I interrupt, knowing it’s none of my damn business, but asking anyway. Why is she sleeping in her car with her kid? It’s fucking winter, and soon the snow will drop and the temperature will plummet even further. It’s only then that I notice that she’s not as well turned out as the majority of the women in Princetown are, and whilst her kid is as clean as a whistle, as much as any kid at such a young age can be, on closer inspection Lia looks a little… dishevelled, for lack of a better word.

“Toby, please,” she whispers, refusing to meet my gaze and searching in her handbag for her purse, presumably.

“Hey, is everything–” I begin, but Daphne appears, laying the bill on the table, cutting me off before I can finish my sentence.

“There we go, darling,” she says, casting a look over at me, frowning at the look on my face no doubt. “Everything okay?”

“It’s fine. We’re fine,” Lia insists, grabbing the bill and quickly casting her gaze over it. She opens up her purse, her cheeks colouring a deeper shade of pink as panic scatters across her face.

“Sorry. I erm… Just give me a moment,” she mumbles, unzipping her purse, upending the contents as she counts through the coins that have tumbled onto the formica table.

“Take your time,” Daphne replies kindly, giving me one of her looks as she passes by.

Pretty sure she’s thinking the same as me. Pushing up from my seat, I follow Daphne to the back of the cafe, out of earshot of Lia and her son.

“Can’t get enough of me, huh?” Daphne asks as she steps behind the counter and busies herself sorting through the freshly washed cups and plates, stacking them onto the shelf behind her.

“How much does she owe?” I ask, ignoring her question and flicking my gaze to Lia as she counts out the cost of the bill, piling up the coins onto the small silver dish Daphne left to collect the money.

“Six pounds, eighty pence,” Daphne replies. “Why?”

“I got this,” I say, throwing down a twenty to cover her bill and mine, then adding another fifty on top. I’d leave more, but it’s all the cash I have in my wallet. “When I’m gone, give that to the lady. Looks like she could use it.”

Daphne raises a brow, her look one of curiosity. “When I said you needed a woman, I didn’t mean the first one you came across, and especially not one who’s as jumpy as a jack rabbit.”

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