Poppet

The Ostrich

‘HI,’ CAFFERY SAYS, as if he’s just wandered in on Flea in her office. ‘Think you’ve got time for a chat?’

She can’t do anything now except respond. Get her big ugly ostrich head out of the sand.

‘Yeah.’ She stands casually, straightening her jacket and brushing some of the mud from her hands, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world to be sitting behind a tree in the middle of nowhere on a freezing-cold night. She gives him a tight, teenage grin and a wave. ‘Hi. How’re things?’

‘Fine. You?’

‘Freezing.’ She comes out and stands in front of him. Wraps her arms around her – shivers. ‘One of the boys left a GPS unit out here today. They’re too lazy to come back and get it, so who’s the obvious monkey who has to do it?’ She makes bunny ears on her head. ‘The sergeant – because that’s what we’re here for. A few extra hundred quid a month in return for taking all the shit, all the responsibility. I’d go back to being a grunt like’ – she snaps her fingers – ‘that.’

He nods, silently. His eyes are very dark and very steady. He’s not having any of it.

She holds up her hands, to say OK, whatever. ‘But how the hell did you find me?’ She gestures around at the empty road stretching into the darkness. ‘Out in the middle of—?’

‘A guess.’

‘A guess? You guessed I’d be here? Seriously?’

‘Yes.’

‘Explain.’

He laughs ironically – as if to say, The explanation is so long, so embroidered and ornate and convoluted it would take a thousand years. Then his face sobers. ‘I ordered the extra search. You know that.’

‘Yeah.’ She gives a grim smile. Shoves her hands into her pockets. ‘Look, I hope this won’t come as a surprise to you, Jack, but everyone’s thinking WTF about this search – why you ordered it. The only answer we can come up with is you’re doing it to keep the press happy.’

He inclines his head in assent. ‘You’d be right. There’s no new intel – it’s to distract them from the attractive prospect of Misty’s mum being in town. It’s a waste of time. We’re not going to find Misty’s body. Not here.’

‘Aren’t we? What makes you so sure?’

There’s a pause, then he turns his eyes to hers. He shakes his head. His expression is so serious her confidence curls up and dies.

‘What?’ she murmurs. ‘Why’re you looking at me like that?’

Again he shakes his head. He looks so sad. So very sad.

‘What?’

He shrugs apologetically, then says, ‘I know what happened.’