‘Hey, Poppet.’ Mark swept Poppy up as he came through the front door. He was late. Way later than he’d expected to be, having been on site at a demolished property within the search radius for Daisy Evans. Discovering the building had a basement, it had been worth checking out, but to no avail. Now, Mark felt exhausted and frustrated. ‘Shouldn’t we be in bed?’ He nodded to the hall clock, where Poppy could see that the big hand was way past the half past seven mark.

‘I was going.’ Poppy made huge eyes at him as he put her down. ‘But Mummy said she would come up and tuck Dory in.’

‘Ah, I see.’ Mark nodded, then furrowed his brow, pondering how, exactly, one tucked a goldfish into bed. ‘So where is Mummy?’

‘Working,’ Poppy said, following him towards the kitchen. ‘She’ll be utterly sausted,’ she added, with an elongated sigh.

‘Exhausted,’ Mark corrected her, looking curiously towards Jade, who was busy loading bottles into the steriliser.

‘She’s been in the workshop since this morning,’ Jade explained, turning to flick on the kettle, which was now plugged into a socket well away from the freezer, he noted.

‘She’s been working all day?’ Mark was surprised. He’d worried the side effects of the drugs, which he knew to be difficult to handle for the first few weeks, might make it impossible for her to work. But then, Mel was a fighter, he reminded himself. He’d never known her to give up on anything easily, an attitude of which their two beautiful kids were evidence. Plus, she found her work therapeutic, which might actually help. Staying out there the whole day and half the evening, though? He hoped she wasn’t overdoing it.

‘She’s been in to check on Evie once or twice but that’s about it,’ Jade said. ‘Do you want me to take Poppy up and read her a bedtime story while you go out and have a chat with her?’

‘That’d be great. Thanks, Jade.’ Mark guessed Poppy wouldn’t be too devastated at having Jade read her a story in lieu of him. Mark was grateful for Jade’s help, and amazed at how adaptable she was prepared to be. Grateful also for the effort she made to be a friend to Mel. She would certainly need one, particularly now her friendship with Lisa had cooled. Mark still couldn’t get his head around what the hell had been going through Mel’s mind. But that, he suspected, was probably a subject best left alone for now.

‘Yay! Lily the Little Mermaid!’ Poppy clapped her hands gleefully.

Definitely not devastated. ‘I take it she does Lily better than me?’ Mark asked.

‘She’s a girl, silly. Lily’s a girl mermaid,’ Poppy informed him.

Mark sighed theatrically. ‘A lesser man would be crushed, you know.’

Poppy pressed her hand to his cheek as he leaned down to kiss her goodnight, searching his eyes worriedly, and then giggling when Mark went cross-eyed. ‘You’re teasing,’ she said, trying very hard to do likewise and make her pupils meet in the middle.

‘A bit,’ Mark said, planting a kiss on her cute button nose. ‘Good job I know you love me bigger than the sky, isn’t it?’

‘And the moon.’

‘And all the stars. Night, Poppet. I’m assuming you’ve had no further trouble from the bug monster?’

‘No. Jade slayed him,’ Poppy said airily, as Jade led her to the door.

‘With a single blow of my bug-slayer sword,’ said Jade, rolling her eyes good-naturedly over her shoulder.

‘A single blow? Wow. You’re a braver man than I am,’ Mark said, looking suitably impressed as he headed for the back door.

‘Daddeee, she’s a girl!’ Poppy called from the hall.

‘I know, I noticed.’ Mark called back.

---

Rather than barge in and possibly frighten her, Mark tapped on the workshop door and waited.

‘It’s open,’ Mel shouted, after a moment.

‘How’s it going?’ Mark asked, going in.

Mel stepped away from the sculpture she was working on. ‘Truthfully,’ she said, brushing her fringe from her face with the back of her hand, ‘crappily.’

Mark looked her over, hopefully not too obviously. She had clay on her face. He might have wiped that off with his thumb, a few weeks back, brushed her soft lips with his own. Now? He felt he was walking on eggshells, never quite sure how she’d react. He might do better to check how the land lay first.

‘You’re probably pushing yourself too hard,’ he ventured. ‘You should take a break.’

Mel glanced at him despairingly. ‘Thanks for the advice, Detective,’ she said, with a definite hint of sarcasm. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m miles behind with my orders. But then, you’ve obviously been too busy elsewhere to notice.’

It looked like the ground underfoot was going to be tough going. Mark sighed. ‘Which means?’

‘Nothing.’ Mel shrugged, picked up a modelling tool and went back to her work. ‘It’s just you’ve been a bit distracted lately.’

Mark looked at her askance. ‘That’s hardly fair, Mel,’ he said, wondering how to point out that the only thing he’d been distracted from was his job.

‘No, nor is being treated like an invalid.’ Mel shot him a look, a flash of fury in her eyes. ‘Or an idiot.’

Mark staggered inwardly at that. He hadn’t been. Had he? He sifted through his memory – though he was so bloody tired, he could hardly think – and realised he probably had. Her I don’t need a babysitter comment came to mind, her obvious annoyance at him asking her if she was all right every two seconds. He needed to pull back. Give her some space. Stop acting as if he was her babysitter.

‘Right.’ He nodded, running a hand through his hair. ‘Well, if I have, I’m sorry. I’m concerned, that’s all. You can’t blame me for that, Mel.’

Mel looked him over – guardedly, Mark noticed. ‘So why so late?’ she asked him. ‘If you’re so concerned, I mean, why work so late?’

Because I have to catch up, too. I’m not exactly having a picnic here myself, Mark thought. ‘Work,’ he said. ‘The missing girl. We located a property that might have been a possible location. I needed to check it out.’

Mel looked momentarily saddened by that. Then she frowned. ‘With Lisa?’

And there it was, whatever was eating away at her. ‘Yes, with Lisa,’ he said exasperatedly. ‘I work with her, Mel. What do you want me to do?’

‘Tell the truth,’ Mel suggested, with another casual shrug.

‘The truth?’ Mark stared at her, completely confounded. She really did think he been screwing around, didn’t she? ‘Jesus Christ, Mel! I have no idea what’s going on in your head, but—’ He stopped, realising that what he was about to say would seem way below the belt.

Mel didn’t speak. Just carried on sculpting.

This was useless. ‘I should go and check on the kids.’ Kneading his temples, Mark sighed heavily and turned away before he said something he would certainly regret.

He got as far as the door before Mel stopped him. ‘I’m sorry!’

Mark took a slow breath and turned back. He needed to stay calm, he reminded himself, however bloody angry he felt. The fact was, Mel wasn’t likely to be rational right now. He knew that. It didn’t make it any easier though.

‘The kiln’s still not working properly, and everything seems to be going wrong – even the sink’s blocked up.’ Mel waved a hand in that direction. ‘And… me! Me, Mark! I’m going wrong,’ she shouted, clamping a clay-caked hand to her breast. ‘I can’t do a thing right for Evie. She seems to think Jade’s her mummy, and Poppy seems to prefer Jade’s company too. I… I can’t think straight any more!’

Mel looked at him, her eyes beseeching, her chest heaving, clearly desperate for understanding.

Mark wished he did understand. That he could. Right now, he felt confounded, shut out, utterly impotent. ‘I love you, Mel. You! I don’t look at anyone else, I don’t want anyone else. Can you please try and hold on to that?’

Mel pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead. ‘I know,’ she said eventually. ‘I know you do. It’s just…’

She looked back at him, scanning his face hard.

Just what? Apprehension twisted inside him. She hadn’t said she loved him. Did she? Love didn’t come with a lifelong guarantee, did it? Might she want out? Could that be part of what was going on here? Mark took a step towards her – and there was a loud thump on the door behind him.

Fuck! He cursed silently, glanced back to Mel and then, arranging his face into something less than a scowl, turned to open it.

‘Sorry. I had to kick the door, rather than knock it,’ Jade said, holding a tray aloft. ‘Hope I’m not interrupting, but I brought Mel some tea out. She said her kettle wasn’t working earlier.’ She smiled past Mark to Mel. ‘I brought your tablets out, too, Mel. Just in case you forget to take them.’