No Second Chances: A British police dog-handler mystery (Daniel Whelan #4)(4)

‘If I was to hazard a guess, I’d say he owes someone money,’ Daniel said. ‘Those two had hired muscle stamped all over them. Did they say who sent them?’

‘No. They said to tell him the governor wants to see him. I asked who the governor was but they just said Harvey would understand. But why would he owe them anything? He has money. He wouldn’t need to borrow. Why would he get mixed up with people like that?’ she exclaimed, her brow furrowing above large, dark-lashed hazel eyes. A few tendrils of hair had escaped their binding and hung in wisps around her face and even in her agitated state Daniel thought, not for the first time, that she was a very attractive woman.

‘I’m sorry. I can’t tell you. Hopefully Harvey’ll have some explanation when you see him.’

Lorna sniffed disconsolately.

‘He’s not answering his phone. I’ve tried to ring him three times today because his accountant is trying to get hold of him, but he’s not answering. Oh, Daniel, it’s a nightmare! What if I can’t reach him before they come back?’

Daniel didn’t have an answer and, sensing that she was close to tears again, he gave her a quick hug, saying into her hair, ‘I doubt if they’ll be in any hurry now they’ve had a taste of the dog. What do you say I go and shut the front door before the house fills with midges, and you put the kettle on?’

‘OK.’ She nodded and sniffed again, but before he could release her, a low growl from Taz heralded the appearance of a figure in the kitchen doorway.

‘Mum? What’s going on?’ a youthful female voice enquired, sharply.

Instantly, Lorna pulled back from Daniel, wiping her nose again. ‘Zoe! Thank God!’

‘What do you mean, thank God?’ the girl enquired, talking to her mother but looking accusingly at Daniel. ‘What’s going on? Who’s this? What’s he doing here?’

Stick-slim, with long thin legs encased in skinny jeans and an oversized jumper with sleeves that left only her fingertips protruding, Zoe Myers had long silky blonde hair, a fine-boned face and wide, heavily made-up eyes. A small stud sparkled on the right side of her nose and she wore a fringed scarf draped loosely about her neck. She was pale and Daniel thought she looked as though she didn’t get enough sleep.

‘I’m delivering horse feed,’ Daniel said. ‘Though obviously not right at this moment.’

‘Well, I can see that, can’t I?’ she snapped.

‘I found the dogs running loose near the road, so I brought them in,’ he explained, unsure how much Lorna would want her daughter to know.

‘Daniel’s a friend,’ Lorna told her daughter. ‘I was upset and he gave me a hug, that’s all. He just happened to be here.’

‘Upset, why?’

Lorna summoned a smile and wiped her eyes. ‘Nothing important, sweetheart. Just something someone said. I was just going to make a cuppa, do you want one?’

‘You don’t cry over “nothing important”,’ Zoe persisted, still regarding Daniel with deep suspicion.

‘Please, darling, leave it. I’m OK, now,’ her mother said, picking up the kettle. ‘Tea or coffee?’

‘Fine, if you don’t want to tell me,’ she said sulkily. ‘Coffee.’

‘I’d better get on and unload the lorry.’ Daniel headed for the door, feeling that he was surplus to requirements.

‘I’ll bring you a coffee down in a minute, if you like,’ Lorna offered.

‘Thanks.’ He whistled to Taz and left the room, hearing Zoe exclaim indignantly, ‘You wouldn’t believe it! Some cretin in a black van nearly crashed into the bus! Just up the road there. He came round the corner in the middle of the road, going about a hundred miles an hour. The bus driver was livid!’

For the next fifteen minutes or so, Daniel was fully occupied in offloading Lorna Myers’ order and he was just hoisting the last of the sacks of horse feed onto the pile in the barn when she appeared in the doorway carrying two steaming mugs.

She held one out to him.

‘Perfect timing,’ he said, attempting to dust himself down with a few sweeps of his hands and taking it from her.

Lorna sat on one of the newly delivered plastic-wrapped bales of wood shavings, and after a moment Daniel followed suit, watching her from under his brows as he sipped. She looked understandably stressed.

‘I’ve just tried to ring Harvey again. It went straight to the answering service,’ she said. ‘I left a message.’

‘That’s a pain. You’ll just have to keep trying.’

‘I’m sorry Zoe was so rude,’ Lorna said, after a moment.

‘Well, it must have been a bit of a shock, coming in like she did and finding you hugging a stranger.’

‘I don’t usually fall to pieces like that.’

‘Well, I don’t suppose you usually have a couple of thugs barging in to your kitchen and throwing their weight about,’ Daniel pointed out. ‘Most people would be upset. In fact, a lot of women I know would have had a complete meltdown! I think you were pretty amazing but I do think you should reconsider calling the police. Those guys meant business.’

‘I know. I was terrified. But I don’t want to get Harvey into more trouble. I’m just hoping it’s some sort of misunderstanding and he’ll be able to call someone and sort it all out when he gets back. And, besides, they said …’ Her voice shook and petered out.