parked next to an abandoned shopping trolley.
‘What do you reckon?’ James asked. ‘Sit here and wait for Ewart to come back, or go walkabout?’
‘What are we going to find out by sitting here?’ Dana asked.
James shrugged. ‘But we’ve got no idea where he’s gone. If we go, what’s to stop him coming back to his car and driving off without us seeing him?’
Dana sucked air through her teeth. ‘Tell you what,’ she said after a few seconds’ thought. ‘I’ll wait here in the car, you go off looking for Ewart. Zip your jacket and pull the hood over your head. He won’t recognise you if you keep your distance.’
As James left the car, he noticed that the redheaded young woman was getting out of the Audi, its two occupants having clearly decided on the same strategy.
James walked slowly towards a signpost at the edge of the car park. It had arrows pointing towards various attractions: watermill, St Peter’s chapel, boat trips, picnic area, lavatories. It was a quarter past twelve, so James guessed that Ewart would probably be heading towards the restaurant for his lunch date with Sarah Thomas.
They’d passed quite a few eateries on the ride through town. James’ first thought was to walk back and see if he could spot Ewart inside any of them. But then he realised that the woman from the Audi was moving with a sense of purpose. She’d probably spotted Ewart on the street, and James decided to go after her.
She led him through a couple of winding back streets to a glass-fronted building built on the riverbank. One end had a queue of more than a dozen people, huddled against the cold. The front of the line brought elderly customers to a window that served hot drinks and homemade pasties. The opposite side was an Italian restaurant and James felt a shot of adrenalin as he spotted Ewart leaning against a swanky bar, clearly waiting for someone to arrive.
The woman from the Audi passed through the large glass doors and seated herself on a leather stool, two spaces clear of Ewart. James couldn’t go inside because Ewart would recognise him if he got close, but he knew that he looked dodgy lurking in the street with his hood up and his hands stuffed inside his jacket.
After crossing the narrow road, James felt in his pocket to make sure that he had some money, before joining the queue to buy a pasty. As the pensioners in front of him complained about the weather and the pasties costing more than last year, James peered over their heads, keeping an eye on anyone entering or leaving the restaurant.
‘Jumbo traditional and a tea please,’ James said, when he finally reached the front of the queue.
It was a cold day. The pasties were being sold as fast as they came out of the ovens and James’ stomach growled as the woman passed over a paper bag containing a huge freshly baked crescent of pastry. He sat down at a wooden picnic table as far as he could get from shivering pensioners and tore out a massive bite of shredded vegetables and beef.
It was unbelievably hot. James spluttered as steaming potato stuck to the top of his mouth. He ended up spitting a lump of meat on to the pavement, to the obvious distaste of three oldies sitting two tables across.
As he looked up, James saw a solidly built woman walking into the restaurant. She was middle aged, slightly odd-looking, with a chubby red face and a padded envelope under her arm. Ewart smiled and shook his guest warmly by the hand as the woman from the Audi drained her glass and stepped out into the cold. She grabbed her mobile and dialled. James guessed she was calling her companion back in the car.
He put his pasty down and took his walkie-talkie from inside his jacket. ‘Dana,’ he whispered. ‘Ewart’s with Sarah Thomas now. It looks like the girl from the Audi is on the blower to her driver.’
‘I’m listening to the Audi driver speaking with her,’ Dana said.
‘How have you managed that?’ James asked, surprised.
‘There’s toilets at the back of the car park. The driver got out to go for a pee, so I dashed over and put one of our sticky pads on his side window.’
‘Nice move,’ James grinned.
‘I’ll call you back,’ Dana said. ‘I’m trying to find out what they’re up to.’
James tucked his walkie-talkie away and took a more cautious bite out of his