needed to be put out of its misery. But she still felt uncomfortable seeing it there.
‘Did you hear about the community meeting?’ she asked.
‘Daphne told me a few bits.’ His brow puckered with concern as he got some mugs out from a cupboard. ‘I heard Grace went missing.’
‘She was fine. We found her at the oak tree.’
Ryan smiled. ‘She’s always liked that tree, hasn’t she? Just like your mum.’ The smile disappeared off his face.
Melissa nodded. ‘Andrew Blake mentioned a fight was reported between you and Patrick?’
Ryan’s eyes flickered with something. ‘Fight? Don’t know anything about that.’ He brought over her coffee then sat down. ‘You need to stop beating yourself up, Melissa. I really think you’ve done the right thing not telling the police. You don’t know all the facts yet, and the kids have to come first. I’d do the same thing in your position.’
‘But the police might have a better chance of getting all the facts out of them!’
‘And scaring the hell out of them in the process. Honestly, you did what any decent parent would in the split second you had to make the decision.’
Melissa surprised herself by letting out a sob, mainly out of relief from having someone validate her decisions over the past three days.
‘Come here,’ Ryan said, pulling her into his arms. She sobbed into his bare neck, comforted by the familiar forest smell of him. She’d done this before, in the days following Joel’s death.
But then she thought of Patrick, lying wounded in hospital. How would he feel about her sobbing in Ryan’s arms?
She pulled away from him, avoiding his gaze. He sighed and gave her some tissues. She wiped her face, blowing her nose. ‘Sorry, I’m just tired and emotional,’ she said. ‘If I can just get a handle on things, I might feel better. Like figuring out what those bloody posters mean,’ she said. ‘And getting rid of them too, they’re still in my bloody bag.’
‘Let me,’ Ryan said. ‘I can burn them.’
‘Thanks. I’ll try to bring them tomorrow.’
Ryan sighed. ‘What does the I know in the poster mean?’
‘I can’t help but wonder if they know what happened to Patrick,’ Melissa admitted. ‘It can’t be a coincidence I found them the morning after, can it?’
‘It’s pretty easy to see through into your kitchen with that big window of yours, especially with binoculars.’ Ryan’s cheeks flushed. ‘I imagine so,’ he added quickly. ‘But why not go to the police? Why make posters, for God’s sake?’
‘God knows.’
‘Maybe they’re waiting for the right time to blackmail you or something. Maybe that was them earlier and they were planning to ask you for money.’
‘How’d they know I’d be out at this hour?’
He shrugged.
‘As for the blackmail thing,’ Melissa said, ‘it’s not like we have any money!’
‘People aren’t to know that, are they? Patrick swans around in that Mercedes of his, wears all those expensive suits. All this stuff with him wanting to be our local councillor now – he’s always in the local paper, going on about how he’s going to make this place better.’
‘I sense a hint of disapproval.’
‘Not exactly the man’s biggest fan, am I?’ Melissa gave him a look. ‘I just mean, we’re completely different, aren’t we?’ he said. ‘My Land Rover is twenty years old and the only suit I own was from a charity shop in Ashbridge, which I bought for my dad’s funeral all those years ago. I’m just not the flashy type.’
‘Patrick isn’t flashy! I wish you’d give him more of a chance, Ryan. He really cares for his community and wants to make a difference. There’s nothing flashy about that, is there?’
‘And fell your mum’s oak tree in the process.’ Ryan sighed. ‘Let’s agree to disagree, shall we? So, back to the posters. If we can find out who put them up, we might be able to find out what happened to Patrick. Plus, the last thing you want is more appearing around the forest.’
Melissa smiled. ‘We. So we’re a team, are we? Captain Hawkeye and Major Wolf,’ she said, referring to the characters they took on as kids when they played games in the woods.
Ryan laughed. ‘Yes! I remember that now.’
‘I was such an awesome Captain Hawkeye with my binoculars.’
‘Not sure how awesome I was in my mum’s old fur coat.’
They burst out laughing, then Melissa’s laughter trailed off as she remembered the gravity of the situation she was in. Ryan put his hand on her arm. ‘I got you, Hawkeye. You’re not alone in