Chapter Forty-One
IT WAS SUNDAY NOW. BUT EARLY morning, not yet dawn. Cath had fallen asleep on the Hoopers’ sofa. It was the red wine and the fresh air earlier in the day, the excess of emotion. Mag was still there too, watching, like a tender mother. Or a social worker. Even asleep, Cath knew she wasn’t alone.
Suddenly, with a start, Cath was awake. She wasn’t slowly sliding out of sleep.
Something had woken her. Not Mag, who hadn’t moved, nor Jim; Cath was aware of his absence without looking around.
He must still be in the kitchen or perhaps he’d taken himself to bed.
She felt her heart racing, skipping, irregular.
Immediately, she realized that she’d been disturbed by light, not sound. Car headlights were shining through the uncurtained window. Then Cath could hear a vehicle drawing up outside, the engine stopping. Mag was sitting at that side of the room now, so she had a view outside.
‘It’s Venn’s car,’ she said. ‘So, they didn’t go home then.’
Cath was still woozy with drink and sleep, but she got to her feet and stood to look out.
Venn got out of the driver’s seat. A security light had been triggered, and she could see him, looking unfamiliar from this angle.
His hair was thinning a little on the top of his head, and his shirt looked very white.
The light bounced from his polished shoes.
He opened the back door of the car and Jen Rafferty climbed out. There was no sign of the young officer, Ross May. Why wasn’t he there?
Jen tilted her head and looked up at the window.
Perhaps she guessed that they’d be looking out, because she waved and then, joyously, she stuck two thumbs in the air and gave a triumphant grin.
Cath couldn’t work out for a moment what that meant.
Or she couldn’t quite believe it. Then the detective turned back to the car and miraculously Alex appeared.
Her son, the love of her life. He stood, blinking in the bright security light, but standing on his own, quite well.
Jen whispered something to the boy, and he waved up at the window too.
Cath ran out of the room and clattered down the outside stone steps to the garden. She held Alex very tight and kissed his hair and his face, until he told her to stop making such a fuss.
‘Oh Mum!’ But he was laughing. He seemed bright and cheery and wide awake.
She looked over his head at Venn. ‘Where was he?’
‘He’s absolutely fine. We’ve checked him over.’
That wasn’t any sort of answer, but she could tell it was all she was going to get for the time being. Besides, nothing else mattered now.
‘Perhaps you should let Paul know,’ Venn said. ‘We thought you might want to do that, so we haven’t been in touch with him. Then you should get Alex back to Torr.’
‘I can’t drive!’ She realized how irresponsible she’d been. ‘I’ve been drinking.’
‘Why don’t I take you back in your car?’ Venn said. ‘Jen can’t drive either with her arm in plaster and yours has the child seat. I can sort a lift back here later to pick up mine and get us both back to Barnstaple.’
It was all very relaxed and easy. Since she’d arrived at the Fisherman’s Arms in the afternoon, Cath’s day had been full of drama, tension.
Now, everything was taken care of, and the following day they’d go back to London.
Home. Finding Hannah’s killer seemed almost unimportant. The details could wait.
She phoned Paul, and he took the call immediately. After she’d told him that Alex was safe, she heard him sobbing.