‘I go out late at night to the supermarket, down the road, and bin-dive.’
‘Bin-dive?’
‘Yeah, you know. Look in the hoppers, for food that’s been chucked. There’s stacks of it. All still good. It’s fucking criminal, really. People are going to food banks because they can’t afford to eat.’
‘Aren’t you afraid you’ll be seen?’
‘I’m careful. Supermarket’s got CCTV, but I know the blind spots. Anyway, I don’t care for myself but Bowyer’s got to eat. He’s a good mouser, mind. This place was infested before we came on the scene.’
‘He sounds like a handy housemate to have around.’
‘He is. You should let him stay.’
‘I should.’
There was a silence. Leonardo sat back down on his sleeping bag and buried his face in his drawn-up knees. He looked lost and hopeless and tired.
Jenna wanted to give him a hug.
He looked up.
‘I could be out tonight,’ he said. ‘If you don’t mind waiting till dark. I don’t know where I’ll go, but I’ll have to think of something. Just please don’t call the F … the cops.’
Before she could think, Jenna had said, ‘Or you could stay here.’
He looked wary, as if he suspected a trap. ‘Why would you offer that?’
‘Because I want you to finish this.’ She indicated the wall paintings. ‘Because, whatever’s happened in your life, you don’t seem so bad to me. Because you’ve done nothing to harm me. Because this house is big, and it’s years since I was in Bledburn, and I could do with the company. All sorts of reasons.’
He looked her over, quietly but intently.
‘Give you one thing,’ he said, ‘you’ve got balls.’
‘I’m not afraid of you.’
‘I think I might be, a bit, of you,’ he said, and the sudden smile was a glorious reward, lifting Jenna’s heart.
‘Good,’ she said. ‘Now I’m going to town to get breakfast for us. You stay put – I’m expecting a heating engineer in an hour or so. Get another hour’s sleep – you look done in.’
‘It’s the high life does it,’ he said deadpan.
When she came back an hour later, with coffee and pastries for him, green tea and miso soup for her, he was back in his sleeping bag, curled up like his cat, who lay with his head on Leonardo’s chest.
Jenna had given the situation a lot of thought while she was out, and the blank, grey faces of Bledburn had seemed to endorse her decision. She couldn’t throw this talented young man back out into the featureless, hopeless sprawl. It would consume him, devour him, and the world would never benefit from his undoubted talent.
She’d done the same for Deano.
Why couldn’t this man be just as big, in his way?
Of course, whatever hot water he was in would have to be sorted out first, but with her legal team on his side, she was sure it could be arranged.
She was in an optimistic frame of mind as she set the paper bag down by his feet and patted his shoulder.
He kicked out and his hand went automatically for his knife.
She sprang back, rattled.
‘It’s me,’ she cried. ‘It’s OK. Just me.’