Free Grave Doubts by Elizabeth Corley Page B

first.’
    ‘Perhaps I do. They might exist. Who can say?’
    Bess appeared to like this answer.
    ‘That’s what I think too. Do you believe in ghosts then?’
    Nightingale slipped on the mossy stones at the edge of the stream and Fenwick caught her arm to prevent her from falling. When they reached the other side he waited for her to take it away but she didn’t and he let it lie there.
    ‘I don’t think we want to talk about ghosts right now, Bess. It’s not a good subject when someone’s a little upset.’
    ‘Why are you upset?’
    Fenwick glared at Bess but she ignored him and to his surprise Nightingale answered.
    ‘I’m sad because some people I knew have gone away and I miss them.’
    ‘Gone away forever?’ Bess’s voice had dropped to a hush. Chris was listening attentively.
    ‘Yes forever.’
    ‘Did you love them?’
    Nightingale took a huge breath and Fenwick stared at her with renewed concern but she seemed to be in control.
    ‘Yes, I did.’
    ‘That is sad then.’ Bess trotted over to the other side of Nightingale and took hold of her free hand. Chris grabbed his father’s and the four of them walked along in silence, linked together, until they reached Fenwick’s car.
    ‘In the back, you two. Wellies off. Now Chris…no, don’t go in that puddle… Oh, I don’t know.’ He lifted his son up away from further temptation and pulled his boots off.
    ‘Can she come home with us?’ It was a strange remark from his distant and reserved son.
    ‘She’s the cat’s mother, Chris. This lady’s name is Sergeant Nightingale and she has her own home to go to.’
    ‘Nightingale.’ They all stared at her. ‘Just call me Nightingale.’
    ‘Can Nightingale come home? Just for tea, Daddy?’ Bess was as insistent as her brother.
    Fenwick retreated into an elaborate show of wrapping their boots and putting them away. It would be completely wrong. There was a clear boundary in his mind between work and his personal life, particularly where the children were concerned. Yet the idea of sending Nightingale home on her own when she was so vulnerable made him uncomfortable. She saved him the problem of a reply.
    ‘It’s very kind of you both but I need to get home. Perhaps another day when I’ll be better company.’
    ‘You promise, another day?’ Chris was looking serious and Fenwick wanted to warn her that a promise to his children was never a light undertaking.
    ‘Yes, whenever your daddy says it’s all right to come.’
    He drove her around the forest to her car and watched as she unlocked the door.
    ‘Are you all right to drive?’
    ‘Yes thanks. Oh, here…’ She started to take off his jumper.
    ‘No, keep it on. You can return it any time.’
    ‘Thank you. Goodbye then.’
    ‘Goodbye, Nightingale. Look after yourself.’
    He watched her reverse her car carefully and drive away into the dusk.
    ‘Come on then, you two. Do you still want those ice-creams?’
    *  *  *
    ‘Shit!’
    The man walked out from behind a tree and kicked a stone across the parking lot so hard that it chipped paintwork off the only other car in sight.
    It had been easy to follow her and when he saw her take off into the forest he’d thought that his luck was in, but in the time it had taken him to park and remove his helmet he lost her. The bitch could run, he’d give her that. So he’d decided to wait for her return. Except that some do-gooding Sir Galahad had cocked it up and he was back to square one. Abducting a policewoman wasn’t easy, particularly one who had zero social life.
    Normally he could rely on his charm to captivate them but this one was different and he could understand why Griffiths had found it hard to leave her alone. She represented the ultimate challenge. The woman hardly ever went out except to work and when he’d tried to talk to her as she shopped for an anorexic’s food she had looked straight through him.
    Patience wasn’t his strongest suit. In other circumstances he would have