One of her dark, sculpted eyebrows shot up and Lester had a feeling he might have got that wrong.

Blair’s craggy face was all smiles. ‘Any friends of Lester’s is a friend of mine.’

‘It’s a professional relationship,’ Lester muttered, turning back to the stable.

‘Wait a sec!’ Carly called him back. She sucked her teeth for a moment, twirling the keys around her fingers and glancing at the buggy, where her toddler daughter was tugging at her mother’s coat hem mewling to see the horses. ‘I wanted to say thank you very much for the job this morning, Mr Lester.’

‘You’re very efficient.’

She smiled quickly. ‘You can’t say you didn’t get a lot for your tenner, yeah. You’ll let Mr O’Brien know what I can do?’

He cleared his throat, aware of Blair’s close scrutiny. ‘I will.’

‘Cool. Is Ronnie back yet?’ She looked around hopefully.

‘Mrs Ledwell is on the telephone.’

She gathered her hat and crammed it on before shouting for her son. ‘Ellis! Pack in winding up them dogs and come back here. We’re going round to Bridge’s for coffee, so I want best behaviour, yeah?’

‘Can we see the horses first?’ demanded Ellis, storming out of the tack room, the dog he was trailing now had hackles high, terriers nipping at its legs.

‘If you like.’ She tousled his hair, eyeing Lester again. ‘You don’t mind, do you?’

Gesturing tersely to go ahead with her carrot-feeding, Lester hurried back into the stable to fetch out the cob, knowing he’d be late if he tarried any longer.

Outside, Blair was summoning his dog pack with a sharp whistle. He held open the stable door, still watching Carly and her brood heading off in the direction of the turnout paddocks, craggy face amused. ‘I’ll hand it to you, Lester, you’re full of surprises. What d’you get for a tenner these days?’

‘Give them an inch they take a mile, her sort. She’s a lot to learn.’ Lester headed for the mounting block, affronted because he’d paid all the stud could afford.

The Australian held his offside stirrup. ‘You keep a close eye on O’Brien, yeah?’

‘That goes without saying, Mr Robertson.’ He settled in the saddle.

‘I’m here if you need me, mate.’

Surprised to find himself grateful for this unlikely alliance, Lester gave a nod, tightened his girth, then checked his watch. Ronnie had been speaking on the phone a long time. And Pax should be back by now. He remembered the owl shrieking on the house roof before dawn, thought about the phone call from the threatening American, and felt the cold press of unease again.

‘I need to speak with Mrs Ledwell before I go.’

*

What are those almond croissanty biscuits called? Bridge messaged her husband in Poland. When I google Rickylicky I just get a load of weird shit.

Rogaliki, Aleš messaged back. I will bring you some home. And licky. He added a tongue and doughnut emojis, which Bridge was feeling too hungover to find funny.