Never Coming Home by Evonne Wareham Page B

Stimulating. Kaz Elmore had issues. She was strong, feisty, all those I-will-survive words, but she still had issues. Some, he guessed, that she didn’t even know about. With her ex-husband for sure. And with her father, too.
    Devlin snagged a cup of lukewarm coffee, before the untouched pot got hauled away, and retired to the window to brood. Seemed like Kaz Elmore had got herself tangled up with a couple of men who were major-league assholes. And was still beating herself up about it.
    And now she had him.
    Kaz watched the door of the tube train open and close, without really seeing it. Her mind was too full. Of Devlin, of Jeff, of her father. Her shoulders twitched impatiently. Why the hell had she dredged up that old stuff from her childhood? This was about finding Jamie, not about her past.
    She’d schooled herself not to think too much about Oliver. She’d tried to be what he wanted, not to mind when his impatience showed, not to care when he barely acknowledged her existence. He was a great man, and why should great men make time for bastard daughters, who didn’t even have talent to recommend them? The tiny part of her that had longed for her father to look at her with approval, love, something , was part of another fairy tale. It was a neediness that shamed her, one that Oliver would have found completely incomprehensible. She was past that now. The search for a hero was well and truly over. ‘No more knights in shining armour.’
    A startled grunt from the man sitting opposite her jerked her back to reality. She put a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle.
    She’d talked too much to Devlin about things that didn’t matter, but it was no use worrying about it now. The man had skills. A small shiver trickled along her spine. Skills, and a fabulous mouth. And she’d insisted she was going to work with him. Which she was, so too bad for both of them.
    Next time she’d hold her guard higher.
    Kaz tracked her mother down at the select dress agency she ran with two friends. Luckily the tiny shop on the King’s Road was empty. Suzanne had her arms full with the billowing skirts of a lace-and-taffeta ball gown.
    Kaz closed the shop door and leaned against it.
    ‘I hired Devlin. He’ll help us find Jamie.’
    ‘Darling, I’m so glad.’ Suzanne dumped the dress and crossed the shop to give her daughter a quick, hard hug.
    Kaz searched her face. ‘It is the right thing, isn’t it? Going after this?’ she asked, suddenly uncertain.
    ‘What else can you do? If Devlin’s story is true, and I think that it is, despite what Phil says, then he has some kind of stake in this, too. If it’s a scam, you still need to know. It’s a case of giving him enough rope, to see if he’ll hang himself.’
    After a moment Kaz nodded. ‘He’d already found out who the other little girl was. She went missing a couple of days before the accident.’
    ‘Oh no!’
    ‘Yes.’ Kaz exhaled shakily. ‘His partner is investigating that end. Devlin knows what he’s doing, Mum. He’s focused and professional and I   … We have a deal. One week.’ Her hands clenched and she moaned softly. ‘What can we do in one week?’
    ‘It sounds as if Devlin has done quite a bit already,’ Suzanne said briskly. ‘If we must, we’ll find the money to employ him, for however long it takes. I’ll sell another of your father’s precious sketches. There’s a dealer in Singapore who’s always pestering me for more. And it will annoy your father, which is a bonus.’ She paused. ‘There are other things than money, though.’ She shot her daughter an ambiguous look as she bent to pick up the abandoned gown. ‘I wasn’t always faithful to your father, you know.’
    ‘Mum?’
    Suzanne shook out the dress and reached for a hangar, the light of reminiscence in her eye. ‘The way we lived – you know how it was. There were always beautiful, creative people around. I remember   … there was one boy in particular, Jed. He was part of the