The Puppet Show (Washington Poe)

Flynn put her head in her hands and groaned.

CHAPTER THIRTY

After he’d driven Flynn back to Shap Wells, Poe tried on his old work suit. It was frayed, shiny with grease and far too big. He didn’t know how much weight he’d lost since he’d come back to Cumbria, but the suit that had once been so tight it left him with flesh wounds was now hanging from him like he was a coat hanger. He looked like a before-and-after advert for a miracle diet pill, no doubt due to the hard physical work he’d been doing over the last year keeping Herdwick Croft

viable.

He clearly needed a new suit. Luckily the charity event wasn’t until the following evening. He had a whole day to buy something. He called Bradshaw to make sure she had a dress.

She told him she hadn’t.

‘Kendal will have something,’ Poe said. ‘Pick you up at ten?’

‘Yes please, Poe. Can we have lunch out again?’

‘Er . . . of course.’

‘Good.’

‘You talked to DI Flynn?’ Poe asked.

‘Not yet. We’re having tea later.’

‘Well, remember if she asks you anything, don’t lie.’

‘I won’t,’ she promised.

Despite the weather, which at some point in the night Poe upgraded from ‘breezy’ to ‘bracing’, he slept all the way through. When he woke, it was as if the storm had been a figment of his imagination.

He opened the window shutters and let in some air. The sun was out and the sky was a flinty blue. The air was as warm as fresh bread.

He threw on some old clothes and checked outside for damage. He nodded in satisfaction. The croft had survived without a scratch. The sheep from the previous night was still there. It barely bothered to look up from its foraging.

He picked up the file he was compiling and reread the notes he’d made the night before to see if anything popped out with fresh eyes. Nothing did, and he settled on making sure he had a good breakfast. Ordinarily, he and Edgar would have walked across to Shap Wells and eaten there, but he didn’t want to bump into Flynn. They’d left on good terms the night before, and he didn’t want that to change.

He settled on some good butcher’s black pudding, two fresh duck eggs and some buttered toast.

An hour later, he was outside Shap Wells waiting for Bradshaw.

They split up to shop and agreed to meet for lunch. Poe bought a suit in the first shop he entered. He’d considered getting something specifically for the gala, but his new obsession with living frugally persuaded him to get a sensible, machine-washable suit.

With an hour to kill before he was due to meet Bradshaw, Poe popped in to Kendal police station to see Reid.

He wasn’t in, and the desk sergeant made it clear he wasn’t welcome to come in and chew the fat with his old colleagues. ‘Fuck off, Poe’ left little room for misinterpretation. Instead, he had a walk around the town; it was a nice day and he was on holiday after all.

Over lunch Bradshaw showed him what she’d bought. The dress was all reds, golds and greens. When he peered closer he saw it was a mosaic of comic-book covers. It would suit her.

‘Very nice, Tilly. Very colourful,’ he said. He reached into his own bag and threw her a T-shirt. ‘Here, I bought you something.’

She opened it up and giggled delightedly when she saw the ‘Nerd Power’ design. Before long the giggles disappeared and Poe thought he’d fucked up.

‘Sorry,’ he said softly. ‘I thought you’d like it.’

‘I love it, Poe!’ she said fiercely. She folded it and made sure it was safely at the bottom of her bag. Her superhero dress was on top. Poe could see Spider-Man looking at him.

Tonight was going to be fun . . .

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE