Page 50 of A Game of Lies

‘I suppose you’ll be wanting to add that to his rap sheet too.’ Angharad sniffs. ‘Well, I won’t be pressing charges for that, either.’

‘What was in the bag?’ George says. ‘Bank cards?’

‘No, I keep my wallet upstairs. There wasn’t much in there. A few pounds in cash, a first aid kit, a—’ She stops herself. ‘Hardly anything,’ she finishes, but Leo and Ffion exchange glances.

‘A what?’ Leo says.

There’s a pause. ‘A fishing knife.’

George leaves the room, one hand reaching for her radio. She stands in the small clearing in front of Angharad’s cottage, and Leo hears her calm voice in his earpiece, appraising Control Room of the increased concern for Ryan’s welfare. A bird cries out – either from the forest or from one of Angharad’s pens – and the trees behind George rustle in the breeze.

The second George finishes, the operator circulates observations across the main channel. ‘All units, be aware the suspect has warnings for violence and may be in possession of a knife.’

Leo feels a growing sense of apprehension. Maybe Angharad’s right, maybe Ryan didn’t assault her intentionally, but nevertheless his actions caused her harm. And now he’s armed. It’s only a matter of time before he goes too far.

‘If only I saw your message when you sent it,’ Elen says. ‘I’d have come right away and—’

‘Your mobile,’ Ffion says suddenly. ‘I didn’t see it when we searched the house – did you take it with you to hospital?’

‘I didn’t take anything. I wanted to go upstairs and choose a book – those doctors can keep you waiting for hours – but they said—’

‘Where is it?’ Ffion says.

Angharad thinks. ‘I had it in my hand when Ryan – when I fell. It should be in the living room.’ She tries to stand, but George puts a firm hand on her shoulder.

‘You’ve been told to rest.’

‘It’s definitely not there,’ Ffion says, looking at Leo.

‘What’s the number?’ he says.

‘Here.’ Elen’s already finding it in her contacts, showing Leo the screen.

Now they have something to trace. If Ryan turns on that phone, they can find him.

EIGHTEEN

SATURDAY | HUW ELLIS | EPISODE SIX

Huw Ellis has heard so much aboutExposureover the last week, he could happily go his entire life without seeing a single second of footage, yet here he is, watching episode six. Bronwen, Huw’s girlfriend of six months, suggested they stay in and watch telly tonight, instead of going for a curry. Imagining a Netflix-and-chill scenario, Huw was quick to accept, but Bronwen is glued to the screen, and has so far resisted his attempts at seduction. Huw takes a surreptitious sniff at his left armpit, just in case, but all he can smell is washing powder. He had a feeling it wasn’t going to be that sort of night when Bronwen answered the door wearing Winnie-the-Pooh pyjama bottoms.

There’s still another half-hour to go. Why do women like this shit? Admittedly Huw hasn’t been concentrating, but the four contestants (Bronwen keeps telling him their names, and he has already forgotten the three who aren’t Ceri) seem to do nothing but sit around all day bitching about each other. Even the vicar took a swipe just now at the young girl, for not doing her fair share of washing-up.

‘He’s terrified of snakes,’ Bronwen says, pointing at the vicar, ‘but he didn’t crack in the confession pod. That’s how desperate he is to keep his secret.’ Her hair is twisted into a plastic clip on her head, exposing the tiny silver hoop in the top of her ear.

‘Mmm,’ Huw says, wondering if he might take the bike out for a spin after work tomorrow.

Bronwen is obsessed with the contestants’ secrets. She keeps going on about how awful Miles is to ‘out’ them, and how everyone’s entitled to privacy, which is ironic, given how Bronwen’s been on at Huw for weeks to tell people they’re seeing each other. ‘Are you embarrassed by me? Is that why you won’t tell anyone?’

‘You’re reading too much into it,’ Huw always says. Bronwen’s great. Really great. She’s the first woman he’s met since Ffion left with whom he can imagine being for a long time. Maybe even marrying, although he hasn’t said that to Bronwen yet.

But it’s complicated.

Huw would no more live with Ffion Morgan again than he would take up pole-dancing, but nevertheless he still loves her, and telling her he’s seeing Bronwen puts a full stop to something Huw once thought was forever. Also, telling someone – tellinganyone– in Cwm Coed is tantamount to taking out an advert in every newspaper in the country. There’s no going back from it. Everyone will know.

‘They’ve not found him yet.’ Bronwen checks the news on her phone during the adverts.Exposure’s missing contestant is now a national news story, with many of the papers running critical stories about Miles’s role in Ryan’s disappearance.

‘Hmm.’ Huw and his search-and-rescue team have been stood down, the police taking over the search. They citedincreased risk factors, and, even though they won’t say what they are, the rumours are that Ryan knocked Angharad unconscious, then robbed her.

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