A Sea Change by Veronica Henry

Author:Veronica Henry [Henry, Veronica]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary, Fiction, Literary, General, Literature & Fiction
ISBN: 140910401X
Google: 2eBGLwEACAAJ
Amazon: B00AG0SBNM
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2013-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Craig’s heart was thumping, which was crazy. This wasn’t some stake-out on a dodgy estate where things could go badly if he made the wrong move. So why was he worried? He should just march over, collar the girl and make people aware that this kind of crime could happen, even somewhere as carefree as Everdene. That might make them take more care of their valuables.

Something was stopping him, though. He’d felt drawn to the girl the moment he had bumped into her in the café. He wanted to know why she was doing this. Instinct told him this wasn’t her usual behaviour. She didn’t have the air of a hardened pickpocket, and the way she had taken food out of the cool box told him she was hungry. Although being hungry didn’t excuse what she was doing, far from it.

Craig knew that if his mates were here they wouldn’t give her a chance, and that they’d call him soft. Well, maybe he was soft, softer than he admitted even to himself. In fact, he had to face up to it now. He’d lost his killer instinct. He’d been dragged over the coals, and even though he’d been cleared of blame, the experience had soured him. Where once he had felt it was his duty to see justice done, now he was asking himself questions. And a good cop shouldn’t hesitate.

He sighed, put down his binoculars and got out of his deckchair. He could see her without them now, weaving her way among the holidaymakers back to her towel. He paused for a moment, and watched as she sat down, then put her head in her hands. He could see by her body language that she felt guilty. Her shoulders were hunched and she moved slowly as she started gathering her things up ready to leave. Smart move, thought Craig, because it was about time she moved on. That last family looked as if they would cause a fuss, and it would be better for her if she wasn’t around when they raised the alarm.

He watched as she stuffed the last of her things in her bag and stood up. He walked down the last few feet of the bank and made his way towards her as she moved off. He fell into step beside her and put a hand on her arm.

‘Hey,’ he said, not loudly, as he didn’t want to cause alarm. She stopped.

‘What?’ She looked straight at him. There was a moment of confusion, then she recognised him. ‘You were in the café.’

‘I saw what you did,’ he told her.

‘What?’ she repeated, frowning this time, and he saw that her eyes were amber speckled with gold. ‘Spilled my tea, you mean?’

For a moment, in the heat of the sun, he doubted himself again. He felt awkward. This was far more difficult than an arrest, when he was in uniform. He wasn’t quite sure what to say.

‘No. I saw you nick that wallet out of the cool box.

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