Oscar’s farmhands guarding the gate but that didn’t stop her from worrying.
‘Hello, Izzy. I know it’s early but Oscar said it would be all right to see if you were up,’ Rhys said, gesturing to Gaby standing quietly by his side.
‘Yes, of course. Come in. You’ll have to excuse the state of me, my clothes …’
‘There’s no need to apologise.’
With a nod of her head she directed them to the table and, gathering up crockery from the dresser, started pouring out mugs of tea. She spent a couple of minutes fussing over sugar and spoons before sitting down opposite, laying her hand on the table in front of her.
Rhys studied her before speaking and she just about managed to hold his gaze, her mind flicking back to her thoughts of earlier. Would she ever feel comfortable in his presence?
‘Right, as you’ve probably guessed, there are some questions.’
‘When is there anything else?’ she said with a sigh, moving her mug to make room for her elbows and turning to face Gaby. ‘But, before you start, tell me how Bucket’s doing?’
‘Bucket has completely taken over. But I’m more than happy to have his company. Just let me know when you’re sorted, and I’ll drop him off.’
‘Thank you, I’ll speak to Oscar.’ She turned her attention back to Rhys. ‘Go on then, let’s be having those questions.’
‘I’m afraid it’s about Grace Madden again. I know we spoke about her yesterday and you told me everything you knew but there must be something else, no matter how trivial you think it might be,’ Rhys said, his continued stare making her uncomfortable.
‘But I directed you to the church? She’s devoted to Geraint even after all this time. The vicar said that …’
‘Yes, quite. But, you see, we’ve visited the church. We’ve seen the grave – the flowers dead in their pot, the leaves and petals brown and withered. She hasn’t been back since you met up with her. So, where has she gone or, more importantly, why?’
‘What, you think I had something to do with her disappearance? Give me a break.’
‘No,’ he said, his smile brief. ‘I don’t think you’re involved. I don’t think you’re involved in any of it. But it’s not up to me and the truth of the matter is that the one person currently of interest to the investigation can’t be found.’
‘What about her daughter, Daisy? Surely she’s at school or something. There must be records?’
‘That’s what you’d think. My team is looking into it. Madden is just one of those names that’s common enough to take time in rooting out the right one and Grace and Daisy, as first names go, are far too popular to narrow the search.’
He picked up his mug and took a sip. It must be cold by now but he didn’t seem to notice and she wasn’t going to offer to make a fresh pot. The longer he stayed, the higher the chances of Oscar, Bethan or her mother bursting in and that would be disastrous. It would only take one look from her sister to realise something had happened between them. Izzy couldn’t allow that – she’d never hear the end of it.
‘What about the husband, boss?’ Gaby interrupted.
‘Go on.’
‘I’ve been going through the files and, during the original investigation, the search stopped when they found his grave,’ she said, flicking a glance towards Izzy. ‘I think that was a wrong call. Geraint Madden must have had a life outside of his wife. You know, parents, siblings. Most people keep in touch, don’t they? Even if it’s only a card at Christmas and this Daisy. She’ll be their granddaughter so—’
‘Good point, Gaby,’ he said, turning his head to stare again at Izzy. ‘Anything to add about parents?’
She shook her head. ‘We didn’t talk about things like that. I barely knew her husband’s name let alone anything about him. We talked about babies and being pregnant. Stuff like that mainly.’
She started fiddling with the end of her hair for something to do, her mind in turmoil. She had no idea what his true thoughts were on the case, but he was wrong to think Grace was involved. After all, what could her motive have been to murder both Charlie and Alys and then burn her house down? The reality was that Grace’s world had crashed down on her with Geraint’s death, and Rhys looking in her direction for a possible link was the wrong thing to do. There was someone else involved – the only