‘If you didn’t do it, can’t you go to the police and tell them?’
‘No way, they’ll bang me up before I can say what’s what. I’ve got form. That’s why I was set up. I’m easy. I’ve got a guilty face as far as everyone round here’s concerned. No questions asked.’
‘But if you didn’t—’
‘Jenna,’ he said, loudly and emphatically, and her name on his lips blew all her words out of her brain. ‘I was caught with the stuff. That’s what they call evidence. I’ve got a bad record and no fixed abode. I can say I wasn’t there and I didn’t know anything about it till my face turns blue. They’ll still have me for it.’
‘What about Mia?’ she whispered.
‘She didn’t know any more than I did. She was looking after the backpack for a friend. Asked me to take it back to this bloke’s flat while she went to the shops because it was too heavy to lug around.’
‘Seems to me that Mia holds the key to all this. But you say she’s gone missing?’
‘I don’t know where she is and I wouldn’t have her dragged into it if I did. It’s not her fault. Best we can all do is lie low and wait for the truth to come out.’
‘If it ever does.’
‘Someone stood to make a lot of money there, and they’ll want to collect. With any luck they’ll come out of the woodwork, make a mistake, get caught.’
‘I want to look into it. It seems wrong that you’re stuck in hiding while the real culprits are at large.’
‘Jen, I really wouldn’t. There are people in Bledburn now … Well, it’s not like it were when you lived here, that’s all. You don’t want to know these people.’
‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything risky. But I might ask a few questions, you know, discreetly.’
‘You can’t mention me. You can’t draw attention. I’m not fuckin’ joking.’
‘All right.’ He was shaking a little, and it made her want to touch him, soothe him. ‘I’m sorry. I’ll leave it. For now.’
‘Look, thanks, all right,’ he said, turning haunted eyes to her.
‘It’s OK,’ she said.
‘No, I really owe you, big time. Anyone else would have had the police in by now.’
‘Well, I don’t need the extra publicity. And besides, I believe you when you say you were set up. I believe you because I want to believe you, because it would hurt me to see your stunning talent taken away from the world and shut in prison.’
‘Well, I do owe you, and I’ll work on your house, do whatever you want, until it’s paid off.’
‘Whatever I want, eh?’ Jenna topped up his glass, feeling that the wine was going to her head much too quickly. Why had she said that? It sounded as if she was propositioning him in a terribly sleazy way.
He didn’t seem to take offence, though – in fact, he played along.
‘Hmm, whatever you want,’ he repeated. ‘And I think you’re a demanding woman.’
This was far too close to blatant flirtation for safety, and yet she couldn’t stop herself.
‘I’m not demanding,’ she said. ‘But I do have very high standards.’
‘I don’t get what I’m doing here then,’ he said, but he held her eyes and she felt pinned down by him, the space between them thick with attraction.
If she wasn’t careful she was going to …
‘Mia is your girlfriend, then?’ she said. Phew. Disaster averted.
He bit that pouty lower lip of his.