‘Thanks.’ Flowers reached over and tapped his card.

He chose a table where he had a line of vision to Garrett, as well as being a short distance from the glass doors leading outside. A family of five were between him and the door. He sat down and pulled out his phone, making a show of scrolling through as he took a drink.

‘Hi there.’

His heart leaped at the sound of her voice, and he looked up to see Sterling standing by the table. She smiled, her notepad and pen at the ready. ‘Are you having lunch today?’

‘I only have time for a drink,’ he said, putting his glass of lemon squash on a cardboard coaster.

‘No worries, I’ll clear some of this away for you.’ She reached across in front of him before he could reply.

Flowers leaned back in his chair.

‘Be careful.’ The words were no more than a breath as she gathered up the fork, knife and bread plate on his table.

‘Sure,’ he said with a quick nod and a smile, hoping it would look liked he’d just thanked her.

Be careful? Was she warning him that Garrett was on the premises?

Sterling moved on to the next table to take the family’s order. The youngest of the three children was writhing around on his mother’s lap, clearly unhappy. The mum looked tired and stressed as she tried holding the child still while she ordered. The father seemed close to losing his patience, though he sat there refusing to help his wife. One boy reached out and punched his brother. The father snarled, then went back to ordering his lunch.

Flowers watched Sterling take their order into the kitchen. Beyond the bar, Garrett had disappeared, presumably into the men’s rest room.

Flowers put down his glass and stood up, just as Heidi Lorrimer came inside. She stopped short when she saw him, her eyes cutting to the table where Garrett had been sitting.

‘Excuse me?’

It was the woman at the next table, beckoning Sterling.

‘Could we get a peanut butter sandwich for this one as soon as possible?’ she asked as the child bounced up and down in her lap.

Wishing the father would take the child and give his wife a break, Flowers passed by their table. He approached the bar, where Heidi deliberately avoided making eye contact with him. Maybe Ryder had already spoken to her. They were heading to White Winter Station tonight, and Ryder had asked for all three Lorrimer siblings to be there. Or was Heidi nervous because she knew what her boyfriend had done to Sterling?

Flowers rounded the corner and Garrett was right there, playing a game on a retro console that was decades old. Their eyes met for two full beats before Flowers pushed open the swinging door and went into the rest room.