Cold Justice (Willis/Carter #4)(71)

‘We can, if we think it will get us something we need towards finding Samuel. But we have enough on our hands. Cam runs the café on the beach. Let’s go and talk to him. Jago is one we haven’t talked to properly yet, either,’ Carter said, straining to see something out at sea. ‘I watched him go in surfing earlier when his mother wasn’t looking. I reckon that’s him in the water – we can go down and see if we can get him out to talk to us.’

‘Shall we grab a coffee to go first and establish if that’s Cam?’ Willis looked over at the café.

‘Sure, you okay?’ Carter studied her for the first time since she’d got into the car. ‘You look a bit washed-out.’

‘I’m okay. Towan’s idea of a joke was to see if he could trample me in a stampede, but hey – maybe it’s a lack of a sense of humour on my part?’

‘Shit.’

‘I found out I can jump really high.’

‘We’ll have him arrested for that, the little bastard.’

‘No, I’m hoping it won’t happen again. But he definitely didn’t want me to talk to Mawgan. I think she would have a lot to say to me if she wasn’t so scared.’

Carter got out of the car and stretched his back with a groan.

‘The bed at the hotel is too soft. Normally it’s Archie – he usually ends up in our bed. I wouldn’t mind too much but he turns round like the hands of a clock all night.’ As he said it, Carter rolled his eyes and shook his head as Willis smiled. She knew he was thinking that he had everything to be thankful for; at least Archie was safe. He took out his phone.

‘Two minutes,’ he said to Willis as he walked away dialling Cabrina’s number.

When he returned to the car ten minutes later he was smiling, upbeat.

‘How’s she coping?’ asked Willis.

‘Typical Cabrina fashion. She’s rolled up her sleeves and got stuck in. New colour scheme, new curtains. Apparently she’s using our holiday in Morocco as an inspiration for the new theme. I hope not, that’s when the little blighter was conceived. We don’t need any more babies on the scene.’

‘You couldn’t get a better boy than Archie. Anyway, I bet it will look fab.’

‘Yes. Probably.’ Carter looked happy, calm. He’d managed to juggle work and home and he had a partner who could survive on her own, which was the main requirement if your other half was a detective.





Chapter 33


They walked across to the café. As they approached they could see a thin-faced man in his thirties looking at them through the glass – he looked like he would rather shut the shop than let them in.

‘Hello,’ he said, as they opened the door; his eyes didn’t smile.

‘Hi,’ said Carter. ‘Are you the owner of this café?’

‘Yes. My name’s Cam. I heard you were the officers investigating the little boy’s disappearance.’

‘That’s right, do you know the Forbes-Wright family?’

‘Well, I know of them. I’d met Jeremy Forbes-Wright a few times. You couldn’t really avoid him in this town.’

‘I see. Coffees, please, one cappuccino, extra everything, and one black double espresso.’ Willis was choosing a cake. ‘I gather you weren’t that keen on him then?’ asked Carter.

Cam got on with the coffees; he glanced back over his shoulder and gave a noncommittal shrug. ‘I didn’t really have an opinion.’

‘And you didn’t you go to the funeral in London?’

‘I went up that day but I didn’t actually go to it.’

‘Okay – why was that?’

‘I just fancied a day in London. It was going to be so quiet here anyway – I thought, what the hell – I’ll cadge a lift and go.’

‘Sounds fair enough,’ Carter replied. ‘Who did you go with?’

‘In the end, I decided to catch the train there and back.’

‘Are you open every day?’

‘Not for the whole day. There’s no point when there’s no one around. Weekends are busy.’

They picked up their order and walked down the beach towards the water’s edge.

Willis had a coffee in one hand and a pain au chocolat in the other.

‘Okay, well that’s another suspect added to the list then. How many more people thought they’d cadge a lift but not actually go to the funeral and then not actually cadge a lift?’

‘We need to pull his story apart when we finish with Jago,’ answered Carter. ‘I want to make sure we don’t miss him. I want to ask him about the beach party. Then we’ll go back and talk to Cam. Christ, where did that go?’ Carter turned round to see her stuffing the last of the pastry into her mouth. He picked at a blueberry muffin and then put it back into the bag. Willis pointed to a group of surfers only now visible as the waves subsided a little.

‘They seem to be just sitting out there.’

‘Yeah.’ Carter stood looking at the surfers lying on their boards. ‘That’s Jago coming in now, I think.’

‘When I met him he was a little too cocky and thought a lot of himself.’

‘I saw him the same night at the bar, definitely likes to think he’s a cut above the average here.’