Page 59 of A Game of Lies

She takes the long way back to the courtyard, leaving the farmhouse by the front door and skirting around the house and behind the stables. She won’t get too close to the scene – with any luck, Jim and Foster will pick up a scent from the open window – but it might give her an idea which way the murderer is likely to have gone.

She hadn’t bargained on coming face to face with her ex-husband.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘I could ask you the same question,’ Huw blusters.

‘You could, but I’m a police officer and you’re skulking about a murder scene.’

‘A what?’ His mouth drops open.

‘You heard. What are you doing?’ There’s no footpath on this narrow strip between the back of the stables and the mountain forest, no reason for Huw to be here.

‘Looking for Ryan.’

‘No, you’re not. The civilian search was called off when we received intelligence Ryan was in possession of a weapon.’ It’s cold in the shadow of the trees, and Ffion feels the hairs on her forearms rise.

‘I dropped a radio clip around here. I was looking for it.’

‘Don’t you want to know who’s been murdered?’

‘What?’

‘You didn’t ask.’ Ffion stares at him. ‘It’s the first thing I’d ask.’

‘I suppose I just assumed it was Miles.’ Huw blinks rapidly. ‘Is it?’

Ffion doesn’t answer. She’s thinking about something far more useful than what her ex-husband is doing creeping about the woods; the only thing Huw murders is ‘Sweet Caroline’ when Y Llew Coch runs a karaoke night. ‘That software you use to pinpoint people’s locations,’ she says. ‘How does it work?’

‘What?’ Huw’s thrown by the change of subject.

‘Can you use it for Ryan?’ When Ffion lived with Huw, she would watch in amazement as Huw sat at an open laptop, guiding members of his team to trace an injured hiker or a lost walker. How much easier it was, she thought, to find someone who wanted to be found.

‘It wouldn’t work,’ Huw says.

‘Why not?’

‘Because the text we send says,This is mountain rescue, please click on this link so we can see your location. If he’s on the run, he’s not likely to—’

‘Does it have to say that?’ Somewhere in the forest, a dog barks, the sound echoing across the mountainside.

Huw hesitates. ‘I guess we could change it …’

Ffion feels a fizz of energy. ‘So it could say something like …Hey, it’s Jessica, I’ve been so worried, I love you so much blah blah. I’ll meet you … here.’

‘That won’t work.’

‘It could.’

‘It’s a serious breach of protocol, changing the message – isn’t it some kind of deception?’ Huw looks uncertain. ‘Seriously, Ffi, this could get me into trouble.’

‘Tell me again what you’re doing wandering around a murder scene?’

There’s a long pause. ‘Okay. I’ll do it.’

‘Great. Now get the fuck out of here before someone sees you.’

Ffion thinks about Huw’s words.I just assumed it was Miles.

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