Free Never Coming Home by Evonne Wareham

warning.
    ‘Just get it done.’
    ‘Payment?’
    ‘You can put it on my account. You know I’m good for it.’ A harsh bark of laughter. ‘Don’t call again until it’s completed. Call soon.’

Chapter Six
    Kaz pushed open the shutters and stepped onto the tiny balcony. The square below her was coming to life in the early morning sun. The proprietor of the café opposite was putting out tables and chairs on the piazza. Pigeons sidled hopefully around a few early coffee drinkers at the counter, before being shooed back out onto the square through the wide open doors. Kaz blinked as a waiter flourished white linen and gleaming cutlery, bouncing light into her face. The hotel Devlin had organised was small and quiet, despite being in the heart of the city.
    She stretched, welcoming the sun on her bare arms, mind idle for a moment, imagining what it would be like to be here in Florence on holiday. Just wandering the streets with   –
    Abruptly she turned back into the room. She didn’t have time for daydreams.
    ‘ Grazie, signor .’ Kaz slipped the picture of Jeff back into the side pocket of her bag, as the man shook his head. On the other side of the road she could see Devlin getting a similar reaction from the girl behind the counter of a small sandwich bar. She sighed and crossed over to him. Together they completed the remaining shops in the narrow street. Nothing.
    Kaz swore softly, under her breath. ‘We’ve been here three days already. In that time, someone might have thought, even vaguely, that they recognised him!’
    ‘Not necessarily.’ Devlin might have been frowning, but it was hard to tell with the wraparound shades. ‘We knew it was a long shot.’ He lifted his shoulders. ‘What do we have? A brief sighting at a stall in the San Lorenzo market? He could have been staying on the other side of the city, even outside it.’ Devlin was scanning the street. ‘Or he could have moved on by now.’
    ‘Thanks. That I really needed to hear.’ Kaz glowered at him. ‘Look, we have to keep doing this. This is all we have   –   ’ She could hear the edge of desperation in her voice. The week Devlin had promised was oozing away. The high she’d felt when they boarded the plane was long gone. They’d begun at the market, at the stall that most closely resembled the one where Gwen said she had met and spoken to Jeff, and worked outwards. In the evenings they toured hotels and restaurants. The snapshot of Jeff that she’d had enlarged was dog-eared and curling at the edges. Her feet were sore and her temper short. If Devlin   –
    ‘I didn’t say we should stop.’ He swung round to look at her. ‘I just think we should chill for a while. Have lunch, make like tourists for a few hours.’ He gestured down the cramped street at the tranquil, ever-looming presence of the Duomo, the huge, red-domed Cathedral, glimpsed at the end of it. ‘This is a beautiful city. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to take a look at it.’
    ‘I   …’ Kaz opened her mouth to argue, then shut it again. The tight ball of frustration in her stomach was winding tighter with every shrugged shoulder and shaken head she received. Some people didn’t even glance at the damn picture before they were brushing her off. She wanted to grab them, shove it in their faces, scream at them to look . She let out a shaky breath. ‘It would be wasted time.’
    Devlin was still scanning the street, this time in the other direction. ‘You know, what we’ve been doing might have more effect than you think.’
    Kaz squinted up at him. ‘How so?’
    ‘Ripples in a pool.’ He turned towards her. ‘Think about it. We’ve been showing the picture all over the city. People talk. A guy in a bar says something to another guy, who has this friend   –’
    ‘   – who knows something.’ Kaz examined the idea. ‘And then they come to us?’
    Devlin nodded. ‘Sometimes it works that way.’
    Kaz chewed her lip. ‘What if   … what if all