Chapter 22 Elin

22

Elin

Parque Nacional, Portugal, October 2021

‘Coffee?' Isaac's already spooning grounds into the cafetière.

‘Yeah, then I need a shower.' Peeling off her coat, Elin discards it on the driver's seat. She grimaces. All she can smell is the bitter, acrid stench of smoke. ‘Want to wash all this away, start the holiday proper.'

‘Don't reckon it's going to be that easy.' The sentence hangs in the air as Isaac reaches for the mugs.

‘What do you mean?'

‘Well, we need to work out what it is they're hiding down there—'

Bending to unlace her boots, Elin bites her lip, wary of how he'll take what she's about to say. ‘Look, I'm not sure we should be getting involved. Maybe it's best we leave it for Penn for when he comes out.'

‘Leave it?' His eyes darken. ‘After we saw Ned dragging that bag out of camp?'

‘Not leave it, but I think we pass over what we've seen to Penn. Let him work out what to do with it. '

Isaac pushes one of the mugs forwards with his finger, his features tightening. ‘But Penn can't take any more time off, not for a month or so. Might be too late by the time he gets out here, and even then, it's not going to be something he can do himself. If they recognise him, wonder why he's still asking questions, there's every chance they bolt.'

‘Too late for what?'

‘Finding out if whatever they pulled out from that explosion is linked to Kier.'

‘You really think it is?'

‘I don't know, but there's a chance, and I know that if it were you who was missing, I'd want to explore that chance.'

‘Okay,' she says slowly. ‘But what exactly are you planning to do? He could have taken the bag anywhere.'

‘I'm not thinking about the bag. I was wondering if we should try and find the rest of the debris. A blast like that, it'll travel, maybe as far as the trees behind. They were looking out front … might be something they've missed.'

‘But that's their private stuff we'd be rooting around in. Bridie's stuff. We'd be crossing a line—'

‘I get that, but the camp's the only lead Penn has. If there

was anything linked to Kier in that van, I wouldn't forgive myself.'

Forgive myself.

Something else is driving this , Elin thinks, watching him. Not just helping someone out.

‘What's this really about?' she says. ‘It's not just some favour for a mate, is it?'

A long pause. Isaac fiddles with the handle of the cafetière.

‘No. What I said before, it's not the full story.' His voice catches. ‘Laure … the grief, I went to a dark place, Elin. Penn … he was there for me. Only just met the bloke, but …'

Heat crawls up her cheeks as she absorbs the implication of his words. ‘My fault,' she says eventually, ‘for leaving you on your own. I should have made you come back with me and Will.' After Laure died, she'd asked him if he wanted to stay with them for a while, and he'd refused. She should have insisted. Not taken no for an answer.

‘You weren't to blame. Even if I had come with you, I don't think I'd have told you. Things were' – Isaac pauses – ‘new between us. It was complicated.'

They sit, silent for a minute. Elin can't get his words out of her head. She had no idea.

‘Exactly how dark did it get?' She asks a few moments later.

‘Dark enough for him to have to walk me back from the edge.' His voice wavers. ‘If he hadn't …'

A few beats pass. Elin looks up, out, to the valley opposite, the hills rising up behind, still in hazy, morning shadow.

‘I get it now,' she says finally, ‘why you want to help. I was just thinking about what Mum always used to say. Never—'

‘Leave a debt unpaid,' Isaac finishes, meeting her gaze. ‘That's been playing on my mind a lot, you know, since Penn asked me about coming out here.'

Elin's mind shifts to Steed. His unwavering, unshowy support. Not just during the case, but after. The visits to the hospital, the phone calls, texts. That person who showed up … they'll always be special.

‘When do you want to go take a look?' she asks.

‘Tonight. Once it's dark.'

‘What are you doing?' Isaac says later, glancing up from his book.

‘Bit of research, on Kier. I've just been reading about what happened with her parents. Pretty bad, isn't it?' One of those cases, as a detective, you'd never forget, Elin thinks, headlines still chasing through her mind.

Frenzied attack. ‘The Monster' jailed. Wife stabs ‘kind and gentle' husband and tells police ‘I did it all'.

‘Yeah. Took a while for Penn to open up about it. Can't even imagine, can you? How you'd even go about wrapping your head around something like that?'

‘No,' she replies, struggling to absorb what she'd read. Shock value and the obvious complexities of the case aside, it adds weight to what they know about Kier's disappearance. Gives her not only a different insight into Kier and her potential vulnerabilities, but Penn too. His drive to find his sister … she understands it, she thinks. She'd be desperate in his shoes.

‘What else have you found?'

Isaac's still watching her. ‘Not much. I went through her social media, but there was nothing apart from work stuff.' Elin keeps scrolling. ‘But I've just found an article about her ex, Zeph. You were right, he's still in New York from the looks of it—' She stops, finger hovering over her touchpad, as she notices something flash up on her phone.

A message from Steed.

Proof. No wriggling out of it. We're doing this together, even if I have to carry you.

He'd screenshotted the entry to the 10k.

Elin knows what kind of face he'd have had when he sent it, the stupid grin he does when he's laughing at one of his own jokes. She smiles.

‘What's so funny?'

‘Steed … dumb joke.' She shakes her head. ‘I'm going outside to give him a call. If I don't pay enough homage, I'll be bombarded with more.'

*

‘So what do you think?' Steed holds up his tablet. ‘Probably can't see the screen, but that's the race entry there … you're committed.'

‘Not sure that's allowed without consulting my doctor.'

He laughs, the phone shaking in his hand. They talk about the race for a few minutes before the tone shifts. ‘You know,' Elin starts. ‘Isaac and I were chatting earlier, about you … '

‘About me ?' He raises an eyebrow. ‘Sounds ominous.'

‘Not really. We were just talking about how few people are really there for you when the chips are down. I told him about everything you've done for me since the breakup.'

Steed gives her a lopsided grin. ‘Where's all this coming from? You missing me, Warner? Withdrawals from all my crap jokes?'

‘No … seriously.' Elin hesitates, her mouth dry. ‘I just wanted you to know that I appreciate it, that's all.'

He brings his eyes up to meet hers, his expression softening. ‘If we've got permission to be soppy, I'm missing you too. Weird, without you here.'

‘At work?'

A pause before he replies. ‘Yeah … think I've just had one of those days.'

‘Doom day?' They've talked about this a lot. Doom days , they call them, random days when normal, everyday life had the capacity to floor you. Elin had never probed, but she got the sense that Steed, like her, had stuff going on that sometimes got the better of him.

‘Yeah. Feel better talking to you, though.'

Watching the smile appear on his face, Elin's about to reply, but stops, not sure how his words have made her feel, an unfamiliar sensation. Like she's been taken over by something – something out of her control.

As the conversation winds up, they go back to their usual banter, but the odd feeling his words have stirred inside her lingers.

Elin puts the phone down, not sure what to make of it, confused.