Just Desserts Read Online Free Page B

to Penny as she saw him out. ‘I’ve got a fair bit to work on now.’
    â€˜Glad to be of service. Off you go, or you’ll miss the bus.’
    â€˜I can’t run for it, that’s for sure, not after that meal.’ Behind him, he heard the sitting-room door opening. In a moment of pure devilry, he wondered what sort of outcry he’d provoke if he brushed Penny’s cheek with his lips.
    â€˜Don’t even think it,’ she said.
    He quirked his eyebrow at her. ‘You can read minds?’
    â€˜Believe it.’
    He laughed. ‘See you soon.’
    Penny shut the door, chuckling. ‘Do you want a cup of tea?’ she asked Lucinda.
    But her daughter was now in a hurry, having seen Leo safely off the premises. ‘We have to go. I need to read through the Salthaven Show schedule again and work out what I’ve got time to make before next week, and Tom has an important meeting to prepare for tomorrow.’
    Was it just bending down to pick Bobby up that had brought that faint wash of colour to Tom’s face? Penny felt a chill of worry all over again. ‘I hope you’re not working too hard, Tom. You both need to spend time with Bobby – children grow up so fast at this age.’
    â€˜We do know, Mother,’ said Lucinda. ‘We’ve read the books.’
    Humph. Penny cast around impotently for something she could do. The memory of her meal with Leo gave her an idea. She’d book them a nice dinner out for Lucinda’s birthday – not at the Dun Cow, however good the ice cream – with a taxi to take them there and back so they could have a drink, and she would babysit.
    â€˜And I don’t care if they think I’m bossy,’ she said to Leo when she met him in the town centre for coffee next day. ‘Didn’t you think something was wrong between them?’
    Leo’s smile was wry. ‘I don’t have the greatest of records regarding relationships. They were united over Bobby, that’s for sure.’
    Penny put her hand on his arm. ‘Oh, Leo, I’m sorry. I saw your face when you were playing with him. It’ll work out – you’ll get more frequent access to your own son if you keep trying.’
    â€˜Only if my ex-wife has a personality transplant.’ He took a quick breath and changed the subject. ‘I’ve been checking up on those firms Tom mentioned. The ones working for Lowdale Screw Fittings. He was right. None of them are local.’
    â€˜They must have been cheaper than the local ones then. You said the company was struggling financially.’
    â€˜No, I said it ought to be. But it isn’t. And these contractors are more expensive than the local ones, which makes it even stranger that they are being used. There’s something else I don’t understand. Why is the cover-up such an open secret?’
    She shrugged. ‘Can’t keep much to yourself in Salthaven.’
    â€˜The government can if they really want to. There could be something going on in the house next door to you, you could have lived there twenty years, holidayed with your neighbours, and been godparents to each other’s children and you’d never know.’
    Penny felt a tiny rush of impatience. ‘So?’
    He smiled and spread his hands. ‘So it’s a decoy,’ he said softly. ‘And somewhere in Salthaven is the real top-secret lab.’

Chapter Two
    Penny felt her mouth drop open. ‘A second secret lab in Salthaven? Leo, are you taking some kind of medication? These things simply don’t happen! What would be the point?’
    â€˜Misdirection. My point is that a proper secret research centre really would be secret, even in busy, nosy Salthaven. I’ve been able – or more likely, been allowed – to gather information indicating that whatever is going on at the Lowdale Screw Fittings warehouse is covert. Now,