'Thanks a bunch that's all I bloody needed,' Beth told Lucas, with a gesture to suggest that him interrupting her had caused her to accidently delete a report she had spent hours working on, before storming out.

'You're wasting your time mate, she's in one of her I hate men moods,' Dimitri told him, knowing full well that Lucas had been trying to bribe Beth into telling him the exact day that Harry and Ruth were due back on the grid, by offering to buy her a posh coffee from the shop across the road. Because knowing that Lucas would look in Harry's diary, Alec had changed the wording to suggest it could be anytime between the 16th to the 19th. At a time when they were also lulling Lucas into a false sense of security by pretending that none of them knew that he had broken into Malcolm's house and turned his desk upside down, looking for anything which tell him where Harry and Ruth were. Or that Alec had sent Tariq to help him tidy up and to make sure the house was secure, but not before taking photographs and fingerprints. All of which was part of the evidence building which Harry had started and Alec was continuing.

That it came with Harry's blessing only Alec knew. As he did that Harry had handed in his resignation, after a brief conversation to confirm that Malcolm and Caroline had arrived safely. Which gave the team the breathing space in the run up to the 16th in that there was no need for Dimitri to follow Lucas around anymore and on Harry's say so, they could use Ruth's house in order to bring it to a conclusion. Because having ruled out all other options they had agreed that Ruth was Lucas's intended target and was why they had come up with a plan that would lead Lucas to believe it was Harry who was dropping her off, before heading back to his own house. Which meant that all that was left to do now was to acquire a Range Rover that would pass as Harry's and change the number plates and find someone who even from a short distance would lead Lucas to believe it was Ruth going back into an empty house.

.

Had the past forty-eight hours been anything close to an ordinary day, whatever an ordinary day was in this new life. Or had Lucas done any damage when he had briefly been into Malcolm's house, Harry would have told him the moment that he had put the phone down after talking to Alec. But as it was, he had held back from telling him until after breakfast, if for no other reason than it was also the first time that both Ruth and Caroline had been out of earshot. News which had he and Caroline been in the house could have been so much worse, had it not been for Dimitri's quick thinking.

Now two hours later and in a reasonably calmer frame of mind with the promised help in the form of Sally's uncle Maurice having arrived and calling the shots, they had reached the moment of truth when it came to them having a shed with four walls and a roof. They being Harry who was up a ladder on one side and Malcolm on the other, when, 'just a touch to the left, or in your case to the right Harry, came the instruction when they were lifting the roof panels with some difficulty. Saved from saying for hell's sake can we just get on with it, when, 'right you can let go now,' proved that at least the walls were all square. Whether the door would close or needed adjusting was another matter entirely.

'Makes a change for you to do what you're told,' said Malcolm, who was examining his hands in a way which suggested he was glad that they were done for the day.

'Don't you believe,' said Harry, nodding in the direction of the kitchen where there was a verbal if not actual round of applause from Ruth and Caroline, who up until that moment had been watching the progress through window. Which by the time that Sally and Jacob arrived twenty minutes later just in time for coffee and in Jacob's case to give Harry advice on how to adjust the door if needs be, the tone for the rest of the day was set.

Not though before Maurice who Harry was helping to load the ladders onto his van to ensure that he was going, chose this moment to unburden himself regarding his niece and her son.

'Mornings suit me just fine so if you're not in the pub this evening, I'll see you all tomorrow,' he told him. Before adding as if it was an afterthought, 'if you can spare me a moment, in addition to telling you how pleased I am that you and Ruth have bought the house, I also want to tell you what a tough time Sal's had bringing up the little one since Robbie was killed. I never actually met the previous owner, but from what Sal told has me I reckon he was one of those kids should be seen and not heard characters who thought that anyone who did cleaning for a living had failed in some way. So, when she came home yesterday and described you both as lovely and said how much Jacob had enjoyed himself, it took a real weight off my mind.'

'Thank you,' said Harry who pretty much stopped listening the moment that Maurice had said killed.

Only for Maurice to continue by saying, 'hit and run driver a week before Jacob was born. He was on his way home, two days before Christmas and they never caught the bastard who did it can you believe.'

Harry could. But more than that, as someone who had despatched many a bastard over his time in the service, he could also understand why Maurice had been so keen to ensure his niece and her son would be looked after now that the house had changed hands. It also explained why Sally had asked if she could bring Jacob with him and more than shed a light on Jacob's enjoyment when he had interacted with him. A child whose birthday was on December 28th thought Harry, making a mental note to tell Ruth.

'Moving to a new area with so much to do and not knowing anyone, Ruth and I are just happy that Sally wants to stay on and as for Jacob, nobody in their right mind would want go against his mother's wishes so he'll always be welcome,' Harry told him.

Having given himself a few moments to compose himself after Maurice had driven away, walking back into the house, three of four of the five faces which confronted him were questioning what had taken him so long?

Ignoring them and the hundred and one things which were buzzing around in his head, 'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse,' he said to no one in particular.

'So could I,' said Jacob,' coming to his rescue.

.

A protest by Sally that she and Jacob would be outstaying their welcome if they stayed for lunch, despite her not working anywhere in the afternoon was rejected hands down by Ruth who Harry managed to have a brief word with when he was washing his hands. Recognising without him saying so that to come to terms with what Maurice had told him, he needed them to spend some time with Sally and Jacob on their own. Supported as they always were by Malcolm saying that he and Caroline fancied a quiet afternoon which allowed them for a second day to take the footpath down to the beach.

Where Ruth became the listener this time as Sally filled in the gaps that completed the story which Maurice had started.

'I played on this beach when I was a child and loved every moment of it. When I found out I was pregnant and I know this probably sounds silly, but my first thought was that Robbie and I would be able to bring him here. Robbie was a builder like Maurice. They were working on the same building site for the best part of a year. It was then that I met him. When he died Maurice helped me to weather the initial storm and I will always be grateful for that. But I could never tell him how tiring it is being with a child twenty four seven without him thinking he'd failed me in some way. And I know that Harry has told me to stop saying thank you, but your lifesavers you really are,' Sally told her when they were sitting in the shelter of the dunes watching Jacob chatting to Harry twenty to the dozen. Having suggested that Jacob might like to come to them one day a week to give her a break.

'Someone has to keep Harry on his toes and who better to do that than Jacob,' said Ruth.

'He'll certainly do that,' said Sally.

Only for Harry and Jacob to turn and wave to them within seconds of her saying so. As if to say we agree.