Page 39 of A Game of Lies

‘You will.’ Huw grins again.

‘I could come over some time if you like,’ Jim says. ‘Do some training with you? Be good to catch up outside work.’

‘Thanks – I might take you up on that.’

Leo clears his throat. ‘I hate to break up your social plans, but Ryan was sighted over twenty hours ago—’

‘Yeah, sorry about that, mate – I was at an armed robbery in Caernarfon.’

‘—so if we could leave the chit-chat and get on? Ryan could have been spooked by the witness and left the water. Let’s not waste any more time.’

Ffion stares at Leo. What’s with the snippy attitude? Being promoted has clearly gone to his head – she’s never heard him speak to anyone like that.

‘Will there still be a trail?’ she asks Jim.

‘Only one way to find out.’

‘Actually, Ffion,’ Leo says tersely, ‘George and I have got this covered, so can you go back to the house?’

He’ssending her away? ‘I—’

‘Thanks.’ And, with that, Leo turns to watch Jim, who has moved Foster a few metres from the group. The dog’s big ears are pricked, his eyes locked on his master’s. Jim clips the long line on to Foster’s collar and stands on it, then takes off the short lead, looping it over his head and one arm. Foster strains at the line now, his nose twitching.

Jim opens the bag containing Ryan’s jumper and holds it by Foster’s nose for several seconds. He leans towards the dog. ‘Away find!’

Instantly, Foster’s off, sniffing at the ground, at the air. He breaks into a run, Jim feeding out the long line expertly, keeping pace with him but letting the dog lead, zigzagging through the trees and away. Ffion gets out her baccy tin and rolls a cigarette.

‘How are things between you and lover boy?’ Huw says, in a low voice at her ear. ‘He seemed a bit tense just now.’

Ffion whips her head around, glaring at Huw. ‘The fuck are you talking about?’ They’re only a few metres from Leo.

‘No need to be coy about it. Everyone knows you slept together.’ Huw pulls a face at Ffion’s cigarette. ‘Are you still doing that? You know no one smokes any more?’

‘That’s why I do it.’ Ffion checks her pockets for a lighter. ‘When you say everyone …’

‘Your mam, Seren, Steffan at the boathouse, the girls in the café—’

‘Alright!’ Ffion widens her eyes, her palm raised to ward off the rest. ‘Just drop it, will you? It was one time, there’s unlikely to be a repeat performance and anyway, talking to my ex-husband about my sex life is very wrong.’

‘If you’re worried about me, you needn’t be.’ Huw finishes his coffee and crumples his paper cup in his fist. ‘What is it they say?I give you my blessing.’

‘You give me …’ Ffion’s too outraged to finish.

‘My blessing.’

Ffion narrows her eyes. There’s only one explanation for this sudden benevolence from Huw, who a few months ago was begging her to come back. ‘You’re shagging someone, aren’t you?’

‘Are you jealous?’ Huw’s tone is jokey, but there’s a vulnerability in his eyes which makes Ffion feel at once guilty and homesick.

‘Not in the slightest. I hope she’s The One,’ Ffion says. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to smoke this in peace.’

Still smarting from Leo’s dismissal, Ffion reaches Carreg Plas to find Miles in a full-blown argument with Caleb.

‘Then you should have got a proper press officer!’ Caleb says, sounding close to tears.

‘Oh,should I? Who do you think you are, telling me what Ishouldhave done? In case you’ve forgotten, young man, I am the producer and you are merely a runner.’

‘Am I?’ Caleb says bitterly. ‘I guess I’d forgotten my job title, seeing as you haven’t put it on the credits yet.’

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