Page 87 of The Other Side

“Hello?”

“Hi, Lily. It’s Drum. How are you?”

“Oh, I’m fine. Thank for you for calling.”

“All locked up?”

“Yes. Arthur’s here to keep me company.”

“Good. Lily, do you know if Stan Motson has money problems?”

“Yes, he does,” Arthur said. “He’s overstretched himself with his latest proposed development. I heard he got turned down by several possible investors.”

“Okay, thank you. Have a good evening.” Drum turned to Osian. “I need to call that in.”

Osian nodded.

Drum hadn’t long sent the report when his phone rang.

“You cannot stop fucking meddling, can you?” Purbeck barked.

“I’m not meddling, sir. I’m passing on information. You can choose to follow it up or not.”

“Stay out of this. It has nothing to do with you. You’re only a bloody PCSO.”

The call ended.

“What a charmer.” Osian threaded his fingers in Drum’s.

“I’ve done what I can. I feel better now.”

“Well enough to go to Sparlow?”

“Er… It’s raining and I think I’d rather see it in daylight first.”

“Tomorrow then. I’m going to come with you. No arguments.”

Drum smiled. “No arguments.”

Osian washed while Drum dried and put away.

“What did you get up to today?” Drum asked.

“Did a bit of gardening. Moved horse shit from one place to another, and took Rogue for a ride.” Osian had done a lot of thinking about their future but got nowhere. “He’s tolerating Fi better now but he’s still feisty.”

“I have the day off in two days. Maybe I could go for a ride with you.”

“I could take you riding sooner than that.”

It took Drum a moment, then he tsked and laughed.

“Let’s do something different,” Osian said. “Take off your clothes.”

“What’s different about that?” But he was already stripping.

So was Osian. “Play some music on your phone.”

“What sort of music?”