The Girl Who Lied(109)

He made his way to Apple Tree Cottage. Bex had invited him over for dinner. In her perceptive, yet subtle, way, she was looking out for him. Not letting him sit up in his flat stewing on what had happened.

‘Hiya,’ he said with false cheer as he entered the cottage through the kitchen door. The smell of chilli greeted him, homemade to Bex’s recipe, rich from the spices she used to make the meal from scratch. Bex was standing in front of the Aga, Breeze swaddled in a multi-coloured sling, sleeping comfortably against the back of her mother. ‘Ah, there’s the two favourite ladies in my life.’ Kerry went over and kissed both Bex and Breeze on the head.

‘See now, not so long ago, I might have fallen for that line,’ said Bex with a smile. ‘But I know for a fact, a certain someone has taken poll position in your affections.’

‘Unrequited, though,’ said Kerry. He bent down and picked up Storm, who had crawled into the kitchen, pushing a toy car along. ‘Hey there, little man.’ He gave the boy a hug. ‘What have you there? A car. Now that’s a very cool car. It’s an Alfa Romeo Spider.’

‘Not a spider,’ said Storm, wriggling for Kerry to put him down. Kerry obliged.

‘Come on, out of the kitchen’ said Bex. ‘I’ll be falling over you.’

Storm dropped to his knees and making beep beep noises, he pushed the car out of the room.

‘He’s a good lad,’ said Kerry, watching the boy go.

‘He is, when he wants to be,’ said Bex. ‘A bit like his father.’ She smiled as Joe walked through the door.

Kerry greeted his cousin and accepted the bottle of beer Joe retrieved from the fridge.

‘How are things in the Hurley household?’ said Joe.

‘Not good,’ said Kerry. He took a swig from the bottle. The cool liquid slid smoothly down his throat.

‘I was in the village today,’ said Bex. ‘Roisin’s car has been found abandoned at The Spit. It was parked up in the corner, tucked away out of sight.’

‘That doesn’t sound good,’ said Kerry.

‘There was also talk of the café being closed and Marie being arrested.’

‘I don’t know if she’s been officially arrested,’ said Kerry, surprised at his immediate reaction to defend Marie. ‘She’s just helping them with their inquiries.’ He cringed at the expression.

‘Save the bullshit talk for someone else,’ said Joe. ‘We all know what that means.’

‘There’s a lot of speculation about what happened,’ said Bex. She moved away from the oven and began to untie the baby wrap. Joe put his beer down and took Breeze from the sling.

‘She’s fast asleep,’ he said.

‘Her timing is great,’ said Bex. She pulled a face. ‘Sleep now means she’ll be up half the night. At three o’clock she’ll think it’s wide-awake playtime.’

Kerry could hear the warmth in Bex’s voice. She didn’t really mind. He looked at his cousin, who was still gazing at his daughter’s peaceful face. The love these two adults had for their child simply poured out of them. He thought of what Sean had said about his love for Sophie and he thought of his own feelings for his cousin’s children. He could see how the love for a child would drive a person to do practically anything to protect them. Erin and Marie Hurley included.

‘That’s not all,’ said Kerry at last. ‘You obviously haven’t heard about Sophie Keane.’

‘No, what’s that?’

‘She’s gone missing.’

‘Gone missing? Oh, dear Lord,’ said Bex. ‘When?’

‘This morning. I was over at Sean Keane’s house. Apparently, she disappeared from the garden when Fiona was inside.’

‘This is getting totally ridiculous,’ said Bex.

Kerry looked over at his cousin, who so far hadn’t said a word. Joe’s face was one of shock.

‘I can’t begin to imagine how Fiona must be feeling,’ said Bex. ‘It’s every mother’s worst nightmare. And father’s. Joe. Joe, did you hear what Kerry just said?’

Joe shook his head as if clearing his mind. ‘Sorry, yes. Sophie Keane. That’s awful, so it is.’

‘You all right, there?’ said Kerry. His cousin looked like he was going to be sick.

‘I’m fine. A bit shocked, that’s all,’ said Joe. ‘It’s all gone a bit mad here since, well, since Erin’s been back.’

Kerry shot him a warning look. ‘There’s a reason for that and it’s not just down to Erin. Trouble is, the other half of the story is conveniently missing.’