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‘Do you want me to get him to call you when he gets here?’
‘No. I want to ask you something. Can you meet me? It’s important.’
A trickle of guilt crawled down Thea’s spine. Had Ava seen her with Lucas that morning? ‘Let’s meet up for coffee in the place around the corner from your house. Would that suit you?’
‘That would be great. In half an hour?’
‘Half an hour’s fine. I’ll see you then, Ava.’
‘Yeah, thanks. Don’t tell Lucas, will you?’ The call ended abruptly, as if Ava didn’t want to hear any of the reasons that not telling Lucas might be a bad idea.
‘Right.’ Thea looked at her phone. Whether she liked it or not, she’d just agreed to meet up with Ava behind his back. To discuss an important matter of an unknown nature. Thea sighed, and scribbled a note for Lucas, leaving it on his desk.
* * *
An hour later, Thea walked back into the incident room at the hospital. Lucas was sitting at his desk, concentrating on something on the screen of his laptop.
‘Lucas.’
His face broke into a smile when he saw her. Maybe it was waking up with him that morning that made that smile so much more potent. Or knowing that he had a tattoo. Or how his body felt when she lay next to it.
‘Hi. Where have you been?’
‘I had to go and meet someone.’ Better get this over with. ‘I met Ava for coffee, actually.’
‘Ava? She didn’t say anything about meeting you.’
‘No, she called me after you left. She got my number from your phone. Apparently you should password it.’
‘Clearly.’ The penny dropped. ‘So you and Ava have had a secret coffee assignation. Is this anything I’m supposed to worry about?’
‘I don’t think so. In fact, I think it’s probably a very good thing.’
‘So why are you being so vague?’ The look he shot her was laden with suspicion.
‘Because…’ Thea dropped her car keys on her desk and sat down. ‘Because she thinks you might not like what she had to say and I’m supposed to talk some sense into you.’
‘Okay. That’s making me feel better already. How were you thinking of talking some sense into me?’
‘I’ll work that one out if the need arises. It’s really not that bad.’
‘A minute ago it was very good. Tell me quickly before things deteriorate any further and it becomes a disaster.’
‘Safiyah’s got a boyfriend. He goes to the school around the corner. Ava thinks he may be the link we’re looking for.’
‘That’s it?’
‘The boyfriend hasn’t been tested yet. Safiyah’s tried to persuade him to come forward, but he won’t because he doesn’t want to get her into trouble.’
Lucas rolled his eyes. ‘At least he’s showing concern for Safiyah, however misguided. How does Ava know all this?’
‘They all message each other. They’ve been chatting about it for days. Apparently a whole group of them got together and decided I was their best bet.’
‘You?’ There was a touch of hurt pride in his voice.
‘Ava knows that I can put someone on the list for testing. She also knows that I’m a doctor and bound by professional confidentiality, so I can’t just go to Safiyah’s parents and tell them about her boyfriend.’
He thought for a moment. ‘That’s not entirely true. It’s a bit of a grey area.’ He frowned. ‘Anyway, I’m a doctor. Couldn’t she tell me?’
