soon as the road widened, he flashed his headlights and a brief, assertive blast of the horn signalled the driver of the minibus to pull over. Joe overtook it, and in a sudden show of bravado he put his foot down, a shower of powdery snow flying up from the wheels as they accelerated away.
‘Show-off.’
He chuckled. ‘You looked a bit put out by some of those questions.’
He’d noticed. No surprise there, Joe seemed to notice everything. ‘Well, really. What did they expect me to do? Go on TV saying that my patients will be lucky to get a visit this side of next week?’
‘I imagine that’s what they wanted to hear.’
‘Well, tough. I’ll make it through to everyone…’ It occurred to Neve that Joe had a part in that now. ‘I meant we.’
He gave her a melting grin. ‘Yeah. We’ll make it.’
After eleven hours, half of it spent huddled in the passenger seat of his car and the other half seeing her patients, Neve still shone. In Joe’s experience, that took some doing. When they drew up outside her house that evening, she heaved a deep sigh of contentment.
‘Look…’
He looked. Welcoming light glowed from the porch. ‘Your power’s back on?’
‘Yes.’ Her smile made it seem like the end of a perfect day, rather than the first piece of good luck that she hadn’t had to work hard for. ‘Will you come in for tea?’
The warmth of her rambling farmhouse kitchen. The warmth of her smile. In a past life, which seemed so distant now it was if it had all happened to someone else, Joe wouldn’t have hesitated to say yes.
‘No. Thanks, but I should get going. I’ll see you in the morning. Same time?’
‘Tomorrow’s Saturday. Aren’t you taking the weekend off?’
‘Are you?’
She shrugged. ‘Not this weekend. I’ll be off next weekend.’
‘Then I’ll see you in the morning. Eight-thirty.’
Her smile made the whole day worthwhile. ‘Shall we say nine? I think we both deserve a lie-in.’
‘Nine it is.’
‘Thanks for all you’ve done today, Joe. I really appreciate it.’
It had been his pleasure. Having her rely on him, bringing her safely home again had made Joe feel strong again. As if he’d flexed muscles that had been long under-used and had found, almost to his disbelief, that they had taken the strain. But he shouldn’t go too far.
He carried her bags up the path for her, setting them down on the doorstep and turning back, before the lure of refreshments got too great. Got into his SUV and waited until she was safely inside the house before he started the engine and drove away. Neve was just the kind of woman who could tempt a man into believing that he could be whatever he wanted to be. And in Joe’s experience, the one good thing about having found your breaking point was that you knew for sure that some things were out of reach.
‘HOW ARE WE going with the list?’
The list had been the overarching purpose of their lives for the last three days. How many people were on it and where they lived. It was a challenge and a reason for Neve to spend her days with him. Joe was getting to love the list.
However much he loved it, he didn’t get to spend a lot of quality time with it. While she let him get on with his side of things, assessing their route, driving and the odd spell of snow clearing, the list was Neve’s responsibility, and she seemed to function best when it was under her control.
‘Not bad. Just four more. We need to go up to Holcombe Crag, and there are three more between there and Leminster.’
‘Where first?’ Joe had no inclination to involve himself in the decisions about who needed her most urgently, and was always careful to let Neve set their priorities.
‘What do you think? I guess it would be better to go up to Holcombe Crag while it’s still light.’ She reached for the bag of toffees on the dashboard, offering him one, and when he shook his head she unwrapped one for herself.
‘Probably, but don’t worry about that. If the others need to be seen first…’
‘No, they’re all routine visits. They could wait until tomorrow morning if we don’t get time today, but Nancy Olsen’s got a young baby so I’d like to see her this afternoon.’
Joe nodded, and started the car. ‘Holcombe Crag it is, then.’
Neve had been watching the clouds draw across the sky as they approached the crag. ‘Are we going to make this? It looks as if the weather’s closing in.’
‘We’ll make it. There’s plenty of time to get up there and back before it gets dark— Is that your phone, or mine?’
‘Mine, I think.’ Neve unzipped her jacket and pulled her phone from the inside pocket, studying the small screen. ‘It’s a text from Maisie.’
‘Another house call?’
Neve shook her head and read from the screen. ‘“Local radio news. Car carrying father and young son found abandoned in your area this morning. Search under way. Keep your eyes open.”’
Neve texted a short acknowledgement back to Maisie and put her phone back into her pocket. ‘Anyone walking in this weather is going to be freezing.’
Joe nodded, his brow creased. ‘Hopefully they’ve been able to find some shelter. Shame they didn’t stay with the car.’
‘I hope they find them soon.’
‘Yeah. When we get to Holcombe Crag I’ll take a look around. Might get lucky.’
He turned off and took the track that climbed towards Holcombe Crag. At the best of times it was a steep hill to climb, but now the ice and snow seemed an impossible barrier. But Joe took it calmly and steadily, confident of what the vehicle could do and not asking the impossible from it. He drew up outside the single-storey, stone-built house, which clung to the slope three-quarters of the way up the crag.
‘If I walk up to the top, I’ll get a much better view.’ He’d extracted a pair of field glasses from the boot of his car, which seemed increasingly to Neve like an Aladdin’s cave of useful items. ‘How long will you be?’
‘I think Nancy would appreciate some a little extra time.’ Neve looked at her watch. ‘Shall we meet back here in half an hour?’
He nodded, dropping his car keys into her hand. Joe always carried her bags from the car, and this sudden break with what had become a small, comfortable ritual between them unsettled her. He must be worried.
She watched as he strode away from her. Strong, steadfast. However much she tried not to
