‘Of course you won’t actually do it.’ Harville was impatient. ‘You’ll sell it straight on to me. And I hope you’ll ask me a good price for it.’
Deano was quiet for a moment. Kayley couldn’t help noticing that he was still holding her hand, quite tightly.
‘Well?’ said Harville with urgency. ‘It’s not a lot to ask, is it? Will you do it?’
‘D’you know what?’ said Deano. ‘I would have done it like a shot, if you’d asked me this morning, or yesterday. Like you say, no skin off my nose, and it gets Jenna back where I wanted her. If she agreed to the sale … which I think she might, if I spun the school for talented kids line.’
‘It’s good, isn’t it?’ interjected Harville eagerly, but Deano waved a hand, silencing him.
‘But things have changed since then. So the answer’s no.’
There was a long, cold pause.
Then Harville said, ‘I’ll show you those photographs.’
‘No!’ cried Kayley, at the same time as a shout echoed down the stairs from above.
Harville stood still, apparently torn between continuing to torment his prisoners and finding out what was going on upstairs.
‘Excuse me one moment,’ he said, leaving them and locking the door behind him.
Dusk had fallen properly now, and the lights were on in the front window of the cottage, so Jason and Mia could see the figures of Ross and Harville through the panes. Harville looked disgusted and Ross was wringing his hands, doing his best to extend the encounter for as long as possible, as Jason had suggested.
‘Wonder what they’re talking about,’ he muttered to Mia, leading her around the side of the building.
‘Drugs. Money,’ she said dully. ‘The usual.’
‘But you’re out of all that now,’ he said.
‘Well out of it.’ She shuddered. ‘For good.’
‘This must be the kitchen.’
He peered into a darkened back window, standing on a broken rabbit hutch to get a better look. He could see a light through the half-open door, but nothing more. He pressed his ear to the glass, hoping to catch some of what was being said, but it was no use.
‘You really think Deano’s here? I couldn’t see him in the front room.’
Mia was plucking at loose threads in her jumper, apparently keen to put an end to the foray.
‘We haven’t seen the bedrooms yet,’ he said. ‘He’ll be in there, I suppose. Reckon the back door’s unlocked?’
He tried it and, to his great surprise, it was.
He turned around, eyes widened at Mia, and stepped quietly into the dark kitchen.
‘I’ll stay out here, in case,’ she whispered, and he nodded agreement.
He shut the door gently and stood behind the fridge, listening.
Now he could hear voices from the living room, though he couldn’t make out every word they said. Ross was whining and pathetic, Harville barking back at him.
‘I can’t keep bailing you out,’ he heard Harville say. ‘You’ve had thousands of pounds worth of free gear from me. I’m not some kind of charity for hopeless losers.’
‘But we’re friends,’ said Ross. ‘The old school, dorm mates, everything. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?’
‘It means I should have had better dorm mates,’ said Harville. ‘I’ll sue that school for putting your sorry arse within a mile of me. Now get out.’
‘I’m not leaving,’ he heard Ross vow, then there was a scuffling sound.