Bring it Back Home (5 page)

Chapter Ten

'Do you want to do it or shall I?'

'I'll do it,' Manon said, holding the rucksack tightly to her stomach where it bulged like a pregnancy. 'My phone or yours?'

'Neither,' Cakes said. 'The call can be traced. We'll have to use a phone box.'

They drove down out of the hills and found a public phone box outside a chapel in a little village. Manon put the rucksack safely beneath the passenger seat and then she and Cakes got out of the van and crammed themselves into the phone box. She lifted the receiver and dialled 999. Asked for the police.

'Miner's Arms,' she said to the voice on the other end of the line. 'The back room there. There's a man in there with a wedding cake. Look inside the cake. You'll find something very interesting.'

'Miner's Arms?' the voice said. 'Whereabouts?'

She named the village, the place where she was born, where she got pregnant and lost the baby, the place she once called home.

'Thank you,' the voice said. 'I'll send someone round there right away. Can I ask who's calling? You could be in line for a Community Action Trust reward.'

Manon hung up and she and Cakes ran back into the van, laughing. Inside, Cakes turned the key and the engine barked into life. He and Manon leaned and kissed each other deep and long and then he drove away out of Wales, heading east, in the direction of Heathrow airport.