The Babysitter(55)

Giving him a peck on the cheek, Jade turned, resisting the urge to wipe her mouth. She wasn’t sure how, exactly, she would see to her. Feed her to the pigs? Pondering her options, Jade hummed softly to herself as she went. Hush, little baby…





Thirty-Six





MARK





‘Hey, Poppet.’ Mark swept Poppy up as he came through the front door. He was late. Way later than he’d expected to be, having been on site at a demolished property within the search radius for Daisy Evans. Discovering the building had a basement, it had been worth checking out, but to no avail. Now, Mark felt exhausted and frustrated. ‘Shouldn’t we be in bed?’ He nodded to the hall clock, where Poppy could see that the big hand was way past the half past seven mark.

‘I was going.’ Poppy made huge eyes at him as he put her down. ‘But Mummy said she would come up and tuck Dory in.’

‘Ah, I see.’ Mark nodded, then furrowed his brow, pondering how, exactly, one tucked a goldfish into bed. ‘So where is Mummy?’

‘Working,’ Poppy said, following him towards the kitchen. ‘She’ll be utterly sausted,’ she added, with an elongated sigh.

‘Exhausted,’ Mark corrected her, looking curiously towards Jade, who was busy loading bottles into the steriliser.

‘She’s been in the workshop since this morning,’ Jade explained, turning to flick on the kettle, which was now plugged into a socket well away from the freezer, he noted.

‘She’s been working all day?’ Mark was surprised. He’d worried the side effects of the drugs, which he knew to be difficult to handle for the first few weeks, might make it impossible for her to work. But then, Mel was a fighter, he reminded himself. He’d never known her to give up on anything easily, an attitude of which their two beautiful kids were evidence. Plus, she found her work therapeutic, which might actually help. Staying out there the whole day and half the evening, though? He hoped she wasn’t overdoing it.

‘She’s been in to check on Evie once or twice but that’s about it,’ Jade said. ‘Do you want me to take Poppy up and read her a bedtime story while you go out and have a chat with her?’

‘That’d be great. Thanks, Jade.’ Mark guessed Poppy wouldn’t be too devastated at having Jade read her a story in lieu of him. Mark was grateful for Jade’s help, and amazed at how adaptable she was prepared to be. Grateful also for the effort she made to be a friend to Mel. She would certainly need one, particularly now her friendship with Lisa had cooled. Mark still couldn’t get his head around what the hell had been going through Mel’s mind. But that, he suspected, was probably a subject best left alone for now.

‘Yay! Lily the Little Mermaid!’ Poppy clapped her hands gleefully.

Definitely not devastated. ‘I take it she does Lily better than me?’ Mark asked.

‘She’s a girl, silly. Lily’s a girl mermaid,’ Poppy informed him.

Mark sighed theatrically. ‘A lesser man would be crushed, you know.’

Poppy pressed her hand to his cheek as he leaned down to kiss her goodnight, searching his eyes worriedly, and then giggling when Mark went cross-eyed. ‘You’re teasing,’ she said, trying very hard to do likewise and make her pupils meet in the middle.

‘A bit,’ Mark said, planting a kiss on her cute button nose. ‘Good job I know you love me bigger than the sky, isn’t it?’

‘And the moon.’

‘And all the stars. Night, Poppet. I’m assuming you’ve had no further trouble from the bug monster?’

‘No. Jade slayed him,’ Poppy said airily, as Jade led her to the door.

‘With a single blow of my bug-slayer sword,’ said Jade, rolling her eyes good-naturedly over her shoulder.

‘A single blow? Wow. You’re a braver man than I am,’ Mark said, looking suitably impressed as he headed for the back door.

‘Daddeee, she’s a girl!’ Poppy called from the hall.

‘I know, I noticed.’ Mark called back.



* * *



Rather than barge in and possibly frighten her, Mark tapped on the workshop door and waited.

‘It’s open,’ Mel shouted, after a moment.

‘How’s it going?’ Mark asked, going in.

Mel stepped away from the sculpture she was working on. ‘Truthfully,’ she said, brushing her fringe from her face with the back of her hand, ‘crappily.’

Mark looked her over, hopefully not too obviously. She had clay on her face. He might have wiped that off with his thumb, a few weeks back, brushed her soft lips with his own. Now? He felt he was walking on eggshells, never quite sure how she’d react. He might do better to check how the land lay first.

‘You’re probably pushing yourself too hard,’ he ventured. ‘You should take a break.’

Mel glanced at him despairingly. ‘Thanks for the advice, Detective,’ she said, with a definite hint of sarcasm. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m miles behind with my orders. But then, you’ve obviously been too busy elsewhere to notice.’

It looked like the ground underfoot was going to be tough going. Mark sighed. ‘Which means?’

‘Nothing.’ Mel shrugged, picked up a modelling tool and went back to her work. ‘It’s just you’ve been a bit distracted lately.’