Page 37 of No Safe Place
‘Becauseyouleftme.’ She was breathing heavily. ‘And Scott is nice and he’s there for me, and he’s—’
‘He’s what, Lil?’ Cal tapped the volume button on the Alexa, six times, so the music was barely audible.
He got to his feet, slowly, deliberately. Stubbed his cigarette out in an old yoghurt pot that no one had binned.
On his way out of the room, Cal stopped next to her. He smelled of smoke and washing powder and familiarity.
He leaned in, the stubble on his jaw millimetres from her cheek. She could feel his breath as he spoke.
‘Fuck you.’
Chapter 18
Wednesday | Evening
Field
When Field finally got home, she was still mentally running through tomorrow’s to-do list.
Interview more of David’s friends, colleagues. Ask them about the divorce – explore what Penny had said about being jealous of his patients.
Then there was CCTV and forensics and a meeting with the super first thing.
And trying to trace the five patients from the paper David had written – teenagers at the time, but Toby’s age now.
She opened the front door and was surprised that the living room was lit by the flickering light of the TV. Toby twisted on the sofa, smiling at her, sleepily.
‘What are you doing here?’ Field kicked her shoes off.
‘Hello, son,’ he said, grinning. ‘Lovely to see you, son.’
She flopped onto the sofa and Toby leaned the top of hishead towards her so she could kiss his hair, like she always did when he was little.
At thirty-two he was too old for this action, but they’d done it so instinctively, for so long, that there’d never been a natural stopping point.
‘I was home alone anyway, and I had no plans aftersomeonebailed on dinner,’ Toby said, through a yawn. ‘So, I thought I’d make sure you were okay.’
Toby looked knackered. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he’d lost more weight. He put it down to long shifts, no time to stop for lunch between calls. His ambulance station was particularly short-staffed, he claimed, but it would calm down soon.
‘You thought you’d raid my fridge, you mean?’ She sat next to him.
Toby made no denials, sitting up so she could claim a corner of the blanket.
‘How’s the case then?’ Toby said, pressing mute on the remote and turning to her. ‘Caught the guy yet?’
Field shook her head. ‘Give me another day or two, at least.’
Toby smiled. ‘You can have four.’
‘Thanks, boss.’ She touched his hand. ‘How’s work been?’
‘Pretty rough. Hit-and-run,’ he said, grimly. ‘Twenty-year-old kid.’
‘Christ. I’m sorry, Tobes.’
‘It’s okay.’ A shadow crossed his face.
Field wanted to take away some of the darkness. Toby always asked her, when he was little, whether he could join the police when he grew up. She’d wanted to shield him from this kind of work.
