Page 14 of A Game of Lies

‘Still no joy on the house-hunting, then?’

‘Nope.’ There was a time – even a few months ago – when Huw would have taken this as an opportunity to remind Ffion she had a perfectly good home back with him. Even as the divorce went through, Huw was telling Ffion that it wasn’t too late, that it wouldn’t ever be too late. She could still change her mind. He doesn’t say it today, and Ffion feels at once relieved and sad to realise that chapter of her life has finally closed.

‘What’s the job?’ Huw says.

Ffion walks along the stable rooms on one side of the courtyard. ‘High-risk MisPer on Pen y Ddraig. White male, brown hair, five eleven. The request’ll come through Control Room, but I thought you’d appreciate the heads-up.’ Ffion tries the handle of number eight – Miles’s studio – and finds it locked.

‘Can I help you?’

Miles’s voice is hard, but when Ffion turns around the producer is smiling. It unsettles her; makes her doubt her own instincts.

‘Huw, I’ve gotta go.’ Ffion hangs up.

‘Were you looking for something, DC Morgan?’

‘How did Ryan get out of camp?’

‘We found a section of fence where the wire’s been bent up at the bottom.’

‘I’d like to see it.’

‘You can’t talk to the other contestants.’

‘Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do, Mr Young.’ Ffion holds his gaze. ‘Are you going to show me where it is?’

Miles says nothing.

‘Maybe I’ll take a wander up there myself. Get one of the contestants to show me?’

‘Fine.’ Miles’s eyes narrow. ‘I’ll get the runner to take you.’

Caleb says nothing while Miles briefs him, only nodding earnestly as Miles impresses on him the importance of keeping the contestants in their tents. Georgina and Ffion – who has no intention of abiding by Miles’s ‘conditions’ – start walking. The drizzle has slowed and as the morning slips into afternoon, a rainbow arcs over Llyn Drych.

‘Do you think something bad’s happened to Ryan?’ Caleb says, catching up with her.

‘Hopefully not,’ Georgina says, which is barely an answer at all. Ffion hates non-answers.We’re doing all we can, orThe investigation is ongoing, orEarly indications are encouraging. They’re insulting to members of the public who are, for the most part, perfectly capable of reading between the lines. They deserve more.

‘Most missing people turn up within the first twenty-four hours,’ Ffion tells Caleb. ‘He could be trying to get home, or he might be lost on the mountain. He could have been injured.’

‘By a bear or something, you mean?’

Ffion stops. ‘Caleb, mate, I know you’re a city boy, but how many bears have you seen since you moved to Wales?’ She taps his head. ‘Engage brain then speak, yeah?’

They follow the perimeter eastwards, looking for the section of damaged fence. A short distance away, half hidden in the trees, is a dark blue tent. Ffion stops walking.

‘Who’s that?’

‘Zee Hart. She’s alright.’

The YouTuber Miles was so derisive about. In unspoken agreement, Ffion and Georgina walk towards the small clearing. As they draw near, a voice calls out from inside the tent. ‘Who goes there?’ A striking young woman with blonde hair, shaved on one side, emerges from the tent sporting a fierce grimace. ‘Friend or foe?’

‘She always does that,’ Caleb says.

Zee laughs and jumps up to greet them, the movement displacing a faint waft of marijuana. ‘Didn’t you ever readSwallows and Amazons? My dad got me into it, even though we lived like a million miles from the sea.’

‘Police.’ Georgina ignores the question, flashing her ID and casting an eye over Zee’s belongings.

‘Police?’ Zee says, in a markedly less friendly tone.

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