Removing her coat and kicking off her trainers, she turned all the main lights off and then went upstairs, intending to run a bath. What a treat it would be, to be able to lie in the deep bubbles and even to top up with hot water for as long as she wanted, without either a child, a dog or husband’s interruption. However, once she got upstairs, she realised she had forgotten to bring her tea up, so she put the landing light on and went back down to the kitchen. Just as she was checking the snack drawer for some goodies to take up with her for later, she thought she heard a noise in the utility room next to the back door. Her heart fluttered for a second. Wondering what on earth it could be, she stood still – but when straining her ears for the noise this time, she heard nothing. Just put it down to the normal creaks and groans from the house settling that she sometimes heard when she was up feeding Little Ned in the middle of the night.
Turning the lights off to leave the downstairs in darkness again, she went back up to the bathroom and turned on the taps. She was about to get undressed when she heard an almighty crash. Freezing in fear, Rosa’s heart fluttered like that of a captured bird. ‘Fuck,’ she whispered to herself. ‘Fuck.’ Aware that if she rang the police she could well be dead in her bed before they had even left the station, and having seen Davina drive off from the pub long ago, Rosa’s first action was to message Lucas. Then, grabbing the big torch that Josh sensibly insisted they keep under the bed, she tiptoed down the stairs.
CHAPTER 20
Davina Hunt smiled flirtatiously at her bed companion. ‘Sorry to come to you so late but I promise I’ve been a good girl today.’
‘And you know what happens to really good girls, don’t you?’
‘You get to slide down their chimneys, of course.’
‘Exactly.’
‘Ooh, I do love a man in uniform. But I’m not sure if red’s your colour and maybe lose the beard next time.’
The couple laughed out loud.
‘On a serious note, thanks for giving me the gig,’ the man said. ‘I’ve struggled to find work since I got back, and I will soon have a massive vet’s bill to pay.’
‘It’s a win-win then, isn’t it?’ Davina kissed him on the cheek.
‘Trouble is, I’ve got a bit of history in the Bay. I’m not everyone’s favourite person down there.’
‘Well, you have the perfect disguise. And like I said, I will arrange your payment in cash, so it will be very much worth our while.’ Davina ran her finger down the man’s chest.
‘You’re good,’ he sighed, his body responding.
‘The best.’ The blonde leaned forward, brushed her breasts in his face, then started to sing seductively, ‘Santa baby, hurry down the chimney tonight . . .’
CHAPTER 21
Switching on the downstairs lights, Rosa ran and opened the front door ready for Luke then cried out, ‘Who’s there?’ Silence. ‘What do you want?’ Then as if she were re-enacting a scene from the film Gladiator, she ran through to the utility room brandishing the large torch in the air. A window was swinging open, the rail of clothes that had been drying out under it had been knocked to the floor. Hurriedly unlocking the back door, she listened and could hear footsteps running at speed, but more hauntingly, through the still, cold air she could also hear the noise of a baby crying.
Within a minute or two, Lucas and Danny had appeared by her side. Handing Luke the torch, a mute Rosa then pointed to the back door, causing both men to charge out there in pursuit, though they returned after a short while. Panting loudly, Luke was the first to speak.
‘Shit, bird, what happened?’
‘Someone’s come through the window – scared the life out of me it did. I’d left it open a crack because of the wet clothes in here.’
‘We couldn’t see no one,’ Danny input. ‘It’s pitch black and there’s a link to the coast path at the back of your garden, ain’t there? Whoever it was knew that. We lost ’em. Sorry, Rosa.’
‘Don’t be silly. Thanks for coming so quickly.’
Lucas was serious. ‘Rosa – a message from you saying you’re in trouble when I know your old man is away, what do you expect?’
‘Anything missing?’ Danny asked.
‘I haven’t had a chance to check.’
A thud, thud, thud noise could then be heard against the metal sink in the utility room, followed by an ‘Oh no!’ from Rosa. Lucas’s plumber instincts kicking in, he shot through the house and up the stairs, turned off the bathwater, which had already overflowed on to the bathroom floor and was now dripping through the laundry-room ceiling. Danny had already located the fuse box so was able to switch off the electricity in the affected rooms.
Rosa had tears in her eyes when he returned. Danny was now busying himself trying to stem the flow of water that was trickling down the wall after throwing down the towels that Rosa had taken from the airing cupboard.
‘Josh is going to kill me. I don’t want him to think I can’t cope when he’s away.’ She directed the torch at Danny so he could see what he was doing.
‘Rosa, you had a break-in. You didn’t just leave a bath running for the fun of it,’ Lucas replied.
‘I take it you have house insurance?’ Danny added.
Rosa managed a smile through her angst. ‘I’m married to Josh Smith; come on, we’ve got insurance on our insurance. But shit, I don’t bother faffing with the night alarm when he’s not here. We’re probably not covered anyway.’
Lucas was reassuring. ‘OK. Well, don’t worry. I’ve seen a lot of this in my game and Danny is our man for the building, so we can probably sort it between us, can’t we?’
‘Yeah, mate, no problem.’ Danny looked up to gauge the extent of the ceiling damage. ‘It will dry out and need a lick of paint. That’s all, I reckon.’
‘When’s the big man back from the States?’ Lucas then asked.
‘Not for around five weeks yet.’
‘In that case, he won’t even know it’s happened.’
‘Really?’
‘Nah. The tank had finished emptying, which is handy. It’s not actually that bad,’ Lucas soothed. ‘And at least you have a tiled floor and not carpet. Just keep the heating on all night for a few days to help dry it out. It will be fine.’
Once Lucas was happy that they had done everything they could to clear up, he turned to Danny. ‘Right, mate, you’d better get back to the hotel. Don’t forget you need to be up for breakfast in the morning for the guest. I’ll be there too but remember to up your game on everything just in case that young bird with the tattoo is the inspector.’
‘By the way, did you see her earlier, at all?’ Danny double-checked the back door and window to make sure they were both locked securely.
‘No. I didn’t. She was probably sneaking around with a magnifying glass looking for dust while we were busy with the burgers.’
Danny laughed. ‘OK, I’m on it. Don’t worry, Rosa. Honestly, we’ve got this.’
‘Drink?’ Rosa offered once Danny had left and they had checked that nothing had been stolen.