Close to Home (DI Adam Fawley #1)(93)

She takes the child in her arms again and holds her, tighter now. ‘I promise you they will never find you. I will never let you go. You won’t forget that, will you?’

She feels the little girl shake her head. ‘So,’ she says, wiping her eyes and taking the little girl’s hand, ‘shall we say a last goodbye to England?’

They go to stand by the railing, in the sunshine. The little girl is round-eyed with excitement now, pointing, laughing, waving to the ferry that chugs past them going the other way.

A few feet along the deck, an elderly lady is sitting in her wheelchair, blankets tucked round her knees. She looks kindly at the little girl. ‘You’re having a nice time, so you are.’

The child looks across at her and nods vigorously, and Kate smiles. ‘We’re on our way to Galway,’ she says gaily. ‘I’ve got a new job there. Sabrina has been looking forward to this ferry trip for months.’

‘Sabrina?’ says the woman. ‘Now that’s a pretty name, so it is. It has a nice meanin’ too. I always say it’s good to have a name that means somethin’. Did your mammy tell you what it means?’

The little girl nods again. ‘I love it. It’s like a secret. I like secrets.’