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Granny poked her again.
‘Sorry,’ Nicole said. ‘It’s another week of food stamps.’ This was the joke Granny was expecting her to make. Nicole made it every week. She sat very still, the ticket in her hand. Usually, she would put it on the arm of the chair and throw it away later, but that day she slipped it into her pocket, out of sight of Granny.
She felt as if she was moving, hearing, speaking underwater as she went through the motions of helping Granny get to bed. Everything was the same, but different. When she finally got Granny settled, the old woman looked up at her from her lovely, plumped-up pillow and said, ‘My neck hurts. Why don’t you put the pillow at the angle I like it?’
Nicole stared at her. ‘Let’s get you more comfortable, then.’ She eased the pillow out from underneath Granny’s head.
‘But I don’t want—’ Granny started to protest, and Nicole said, ‘Shhh,’ and she pressed the pillow over Granny’s mouth and held it there until the old woman stopped moving. Then she put the pillow back and made sure it was nicely plumped and Granny looked comfortable before leaving Granny in bed and going home. The ticket felt as if it was burning a hole in her pocket. The next day she suggested to Tom that they make a surprise visit to see Granny.
‘She hates surprises,’ he said.
‘She won’t if you’re there. She seemed lonely yesterday.’
Tom found Granny’s lifeless body moments after arriving. ‘She looks so peaceful,’ he said, choked up. ‘She does,’ Nicole murmured. ‘She had a good life,’ he said to the GP who came to certify the death. ‘She raised me,’ he told the undertakers who collected her body. When everyone had left, he said to Nicole, ‘At least she didn’t suffer.’
Nicole pretended to find the ticket on Granny’s kitchen table when they started to clear out the flat. A few days later she said to Tom, ‘Shall we check the numbers? We might as well.’
Bless him, when he realised Granny’s ticket was a winner, the first thing he said was, ‘It’s like she’s trying to look after me, from beyond the grave.’
‘Definitely,’ Nicole agreed. ‘Isn’t that lovely?’
She shakes herself a little, to rid herself of the memory. She wishes Hal Steen would arrive and considers going out and telling the officers in the squad car to expect him, but there’s no sign of them through the window. He told her to sit tight and she will.
79
FRIDAY
Hal
Hal parks at the Manor House. The front door is open, and lights are blazing from it and from the windows. He’s spoken to Jen on his way here. He knows what Sasha Dempsey told them and he knows that Olly Palmer is missing as a result.
Jen’s there to meet him. ‘What’s happening?’ he asks as soon as he gets out.
‘We’ve searched the Manor House comprehensively, but I think he’s melted into the woods.’
‘So, we search the woods.’
‘Shouldn’t we wait for back-up?’
More officers are on their way, but there won’t be many of them. Not at this time of night. They’ll have to wait until morning for a full response. ‘How long has he been gone?’
‘About forty minutes.’
‘Add another half an hour to that by the time anyone elsegets here and he’s already got too much of a chance of getting away from us completely. But Olly Palmer’s no athlete. I’ll bet he hasn’t got very far yet. I’m going to have a word with Nicole Booth, and I’ll join you.’
‘We’ve searched the house and the immediate area outside,’ Jen says, ‘but the house and grounds are a rabbit warren. He could be anywhere. We’ll go wider if you want.’
‘Good,’ he says, though he has the feeling they’ve already lost Olly and Jen knows it too. He makes the short drive to the Barn.
Nicole opens the door. She stands, arms hugging her chest, Anna Creed beside her. He updates them. ‘Keep all doors and windows shut and locked. Don’t let anyone in except us, okay?’
‘Okay,’ Nicole says. His heart goes out to her. The pair of them look vulnerable; he’d like to have someone here, but he needs his officers to cover the main road, where Olly could escape the peninsula.
‘Alright,’ he says. ‘If you see Olly Palmer, call us immediately. Don’t approach him under any circumstances. We’ll check in on you regularly.’
He re-joins Jen and Finn at the Manor. Everything is still tonight. The trees, lit from beneath by the torchlight, tower over them. The three of them are never going to find Olly, he thinks, but they must try. He curses himself for not paying closer attention to Sasha and Olly during the investigation, for not listening better to Jen and Anna. There were so many other leads and distractions. He’s made mistakes and he’s going to have to live with them.
Jen talks quietly, almost in a whisper. ‘We’ve done the area around the stables. I thought we should fan out, take an area each. Hal, you take the orchard.’
