Part 41 (1/2)

'What were you going to do in the end?' asked Libby.

Katie sighed. 'Wait for it to go away. I was going to give notice,' she nodded at Lewis, 'and go back to London. Maybe retire. Go travelling.' She shook her head. 'Somehow I didn't believe it.' She put her hands on the little table and pushed herself to her feet. 'Come on then. Time to go for the police.'

Lewis looked shamefaced. 'I think they might be here,' he said. Libby looked a question. 'Adam said you sounded frightened, so I called them.'

'What were you frightened of?' asked Katie, who by this time was putting on an outdoor coat.

'I wasn't sure,' said Libby, avoiding Lewis's eye.

'Not me?' His voice rose several notches. 'Why, for Gawd's sake?'

'I'm really not sure,' said Libby. 'Can we talk about it later?'

They followed Katie into the kitchen where, to Libby's astonishment, Adam, Mog, Ian Connell, Sergeant Maiden and Ben were grouped round the kitchen table. Adam rushed at Libby, while Ian gently took Katie's arm and escorted her outside, murmuring the official warning to her as he did so. Libby saw her nodding as she left the house, and suddenly burst into tears.

'My mum!' said Lewis, and shot upstairs, while Ben and Adam offered hugs and handkerchiefs to the weeping woman at the table.

Five minutes later Edie appeared in the kitchen with Lewis, her eyes suspiciously bright, but looking upright and determined. She came over to Libby and gave her shoulder a pat.

'You bin a help to my boy,' she said. 'Now I'm goin' to look after him. You pop off home, like, and we'll see you soon.'

'Thank you, Edie,' said Libby, 'but I think the police will want to speak to us before we go.'

Ian, having returned to the kitchen, nodded apologetically and asked if there was somewhere comfortable they could go. Lewis said they could use the solar and led the way back upstairs.

'Funny,' he said, standing and looking out of the large window down to the river and the sea. 'I remember sitting here right at the beginning of all this and being scared.' He turned and smiled sadly at Libby. 'I didn't know what I was scared of then, did I?'

She came to his side and put an arm round him. 'You had nothing to be scared of,' she said. 'Katie loved you.'

'That was the trouble,' said Ian from behind them. 'She loved so many people, particularly her own son. Frightening thing, mother love.'