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‘But I need to say something,’ Devon said, biting her lip. ‘I should never, ever have questioned your loyalty to Stace. I know how much you think of her, and that was unforgiveable. I’m sorry.’
‘Thank you, but—’
‘Listen, enough of this. I’m good. You good?’ Devon asked with an engaging smile.
Kim laughed. ‘Yeah, we good.’
‘Great. Let’s garden the shit out of this place.’
Kim followed her back to the group, where the attendees had been busy removing tools from their car boots.
‘Bloody hell, folks, looking a bit likeGround Forceright now,’ she observed as they walked towards the entrance gates of Three Oaks Primary School.
She’d foregone all the red tape of a full-on police initiative to repair an unusable plot of land. As she’d suspected at the beginning of the week, planning was still ongoing.
Instead, she’d called the school and asked if she could bring some friends along to tidy up the space a bit.
The offer had been accepted with overflowing gratitude.
A woman in her early fifties wearing jeans and a tee shirt appeared at the gates.
‘I’m Leslie Stubbs, head teacher, and I’d like to thank you so much for this. You have no idea.’
‘Put us to work,’ Kim said as they all piled through the gates.
‘This way.’
They followed her to an area that was probably a quarter of an acre but was overgrown with weeds and brambles.
‘The whole thing needs strimming,’ Leslie said apologetically.
‘Sounds like a job for us,’ Bryant said, nodding towards Penn. Both were carrying battery-operated strimmers.
‘This line of pavers needs to be levelled. It’s a trip hazard for the little ones,’ she said, pointing to a path that led to the broken-down vegetable garden.
Lynne looked at Jasper. ‘You lift and I’ll level?’
‘Cool,’ he answered and followed her to the first slab.
‘And the vegetable garden desperately needs those loose strips of wood re-attaching.’
‘I have a hammer and nails,’ Devon said, patting her tool belt and heading towards the beds.
‘And this over here was once a lustrous, thriving wisteria. It was strong and healthy, but the chickweed has managed to damage it. With some tender loving care and a bit of effort, it can be just as strong again.’
Kim met the gaze of her detective constable and smiled. ‘Sounds like just the job for you and me, eh, Stace.’
* * *
