Page 18 of Too Close To Home

Anyone would bristle.

So Harrison tried for some neutral ground. “Been in Hartswick long?”

“Coming up twenty years.”

“Long time.”

“Aye.”

“Your experience will come in handy.”

“That it will.”

The tone wasn’t rude, but it was flat enough to make the point: I know this place. You don’t.

Calder rested his elbow near the door, gaze fixed on the misted road ahead. But when they reached the narrow turnoff towards the moor, Harrison caught the hint of tension in his jaw. A tiny clench quickly smoothed over.

Harrison registered it. Filed it.

Whatever waited at the end of this road, Calder already felt it coming.

So Harrison tried to get to know him. Build rapport. “You local yourself?”

“Aye. Born ’n’ bred.”

“Family?”

“Wife. Two sons. Both flown the nest now. Did well, them two. One went to Exeter. Other one Kings.”

“London?”

“Aye.”

“Nice.”

Calder gave a small nod. “Cost me enough, mind.”

Harrison laughed. “I can imagine. City living is pricey.”

“Worth it, though. Both moved out now. Finally means me and the wife can get the extension done. She’s been after a downstairs bathroom for years.” Calder glanced across, his gaze dropping to Harrison’s hand on the wheel. His left. Where the gold band caught the faint light as Harrison changed gear. “You married, too?”

There was a note of doubt in it. Subtle, but there. As if he couldn’t quite place Harrison in that life. He’d probably detected he was gay, and the age-old preconceptions that weddings and marriage and rings were for the heterosexual made him not see Harrison as the sort who’d dragged a wife and kids up from London to start a new life in a town like this.

He wasn’t wrong either.

“Widower.”

That word still sat wrong in his chest. Heavy. Final. As if it belonged to someone else, every time he said it.

“Ah. Right.” Calder shifted uncomfortably. “Sorry to hear that.”

Harrison let it go. Got back to work.

“You worked a missing-person case here before?”

Calder’s exhale was thin. “We’ve had things crop up over the years.”

“Anything recent?” Harrison pressed.