Chapter 19: FatherSaturday morning and Paul and Tommy had taken a few of the ewes with lambs at foot down to the market. Jimmy had the weekend off, Sally was cleaning for Phil, and God knew where Cat was. He’d have to answer the door himself.
The visitor was a big-looking man. One time he’d been muscled, but now he was starting to run to fat and was a bit soft around the edges. He had blurred tattoos on his arms—ex navy?—and he was balding, with a florid face.
Laurie took all that in in the moment or two after he answered the front door. It was sticking again, warped by the week’s wet weather. It gave him a moment to assess his visitor as he was tugging at it.
“Hullo,” he said. “Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for my daughter,” his visitor said. “I heard you had a girl here.”
Oh.
He ma
