Hunted by Heather Atkinson Page A

to his chest. “You must spend a lot of time at the gym.”
    “I confess I do,” he smiled down at her, causing her to blush.
    “Alright Angela, give the man some room,” said Chris, taking his wife by the shoulders and steering her away, Ryan just managing to catch the bag of peas before it fell.
    Chris stood right before him, his stare intense. “Are you alright Ryan?”
    “Fine, no harm done.”
    “Do you want me to put your t-shirt through the wash?” offered Angela.
    “No need to go out of your way.”
    “Don’t be silly. I’ll give it a wash and you can borrow one of Chris’s t-shirts to go home in then I’ll send yours home with Leah.”
    “Thank you, that is most kind,” said Ryan.
    “Absolutely no problem,” she said, blushing again when his eyes connected with hers.
    Chris was still standing before him, staring. Ryan had noticed that Chris’s gaze could sometimes be a little intense but only now did it make him uncomfortable. There was no doubt Gerard had been right, Chris did like men, but that didn’t mean he had anything to do with Daniel Tebbs’s disappearance. He thought it quite sad because he and Angela were made for each other. Maybe Chris swung both ways?
    Feeling he’d learnt quite a lot today he got the spare t-shirt from Angela and decided it was time to return home. Chris followed him outside.
    “So, will you bring Leah up later?”
    “I don’t know if it’ll be myself or Rachel,” replied Ryan, opening the door of his Range Rover.
    “Bring her yourself, we can have a beer together. I’ve renovated the basement, it’s a real boys’ room now.”
    Chris’s eyes lingered on his chest as he spoke and Ryan tried to act as though he hadn’t noticed. “Alright, you’re on.”
    Chris beamed. “Great, see you then.”
    Ryan could see Chris watching him as he drove down the bumpy track that would take him back to the main road. On the way he called Battler and let him know about his strange visit to the Marsh residence. Battler told him to be careful when going back there before hanging up.
    Ryan wasn’t worried. He’d taken on much bigger and badder than Chris Marsh.

CHAPTER 9
     
    Rachel was home by the time Ryan returned to the house.
    “You look divine, as ever,” he said, kissing her. What Rachel refused to let anyone know except Ryan and her hairdresser was that she’d started to go grey. She was only five years off forty herself and had been horrified to discover her first grey hair two months ago. Ryan had reasoned that after what she’d been through it was a miracle she didn’t have a mane of silver hair. Her hair had been dyed very dark brown, verging on black, cut into layers then straightened sleekly.
    “What have you been up to? That’s not your t-shirt,” she frowned.
    He wondered how she knew until he looked down and saw the seemingly innocuous red t-shirt he’d borrowed from Chris did in fact have a beaver on the front, its big cartoon buck teeth biting through a tree. Ryan’s nose wrinkled in disgust.
    “It’s Chris’s. I went up there to check on the animals and spilt coffee all over myself. Angela’s washing my t-shirt, she said I could take Leah up there after school to see Sophia and she’d give it me back, freshly laundered,” he said, running a hand over his face, feeling the stubble had turned into downy hair. The beard was well on its way. His facial hair had always grown very quickly, he had to shave every day. It was why he wanted to grow the beard now, to give his skin a rest from the blade.
    Rachel studied him with her hands on her hips. “Since when do you care about checking on the animals? What have you been up to?”
    “Alright, you’ve got me. I went to visit Gerard Kerrell today with Battler and Bruiser.”
    “Gerard Kerrell as in The Kerrell Group?”
    “Yes. We were asking him about the body under the annex, his company built it.”
    “What’s that got to do with Chris and Angela?”
    “Nothing to do with Angela