Someone Who Isn't Me Danuta Kot (best books to read .TXT) 📖

had fallen into after she left, but there were about six weeks’ worth of records that had just not been properly kept at all, almost as if Xanthe had known she was leaving and had decided not to bother any more.

But according to Dev, Xanthe had more or less walked out, without any warning.

That wasn’t her problem. Her problem now was to get her clients back on track.

She was just getting started when the landline rang. ‘Kay McKinnon.’

It was Dev. ‘Kay. You’re not answering your phone.’

‘There’s no signal here, Dev.’ I did tell you. ‘Use this number if you need me.’

‘Yes, well, I wish… Never mind. You aren’t in the office.’

‘You don’t say.’ Kay! Matt-in-her-head cautioned. ‘No. I’m not working today.’

‘What?’

‘I said I’m not working today.’ Even this connection was poor.

‘Oh. I’m sure the rota says…’ She heard the sound of paper shuffling. ‘OK. Well, I’ve had a call – it should have come to you but as you aren’t here…’

Which I’m not supposed to be. ‘This phone call,’ she prompted him.

‘What?’

‘The phone call.’

‘The… Yes. It’s worrying. It’s Poppy Brooke.’

‘What’s happened?’

Against the crackling line, she got the gist of it. Poppy had missed yet another appointment with her probation officer – the one she had promised Kay she would attend.

‘And he’s only just noticed?’ Kay asked.

‘What?’

‘It doesn’t matter.’ There was no point in telling Dev what he already knew. After savage cuts and part-privatisation, the probation service was struggling. They’d lost too many experienced people, and the people who were working carried caseloads that were far too high. It had turned into a system where ticking the box was more important than doing the actual work. People weren’t just falling through the cracks, they were cascading. ‘I’ve got an appointment with her tomorrow.’

‘The last thing we want is Poppy taken back to court.’

‘I agree. Dev, have you come across a woman called Leesha – possibly a pusher? She’s in touch with Poppy. I’m not happy about it.’

‘The name doesn’t ring any bells. I’ll check. Listen, I’d like you to contact Poppy now, please. You are her key worker, Kay.’

By the time she managed to decipher this through the interference on the line, he’d rung off.

The exchange left her in a bad temper. Dev was blaming her for Poppy’s delinquency – and OK, she was Poppy’s caseworker, but whatever had gone wrong for Poppy, it had happened long before Kay took over her case. It was at times like this when she really missed Matt. Well, she missed him all the time, but he’d always known the right way to soothe her ruffled feathers when she was dealing with the inanities of bureaucracy and jobsworth managers. He would have told her that she wasn’t responsible for things that had gone wrong before she took on the job, that Dev was only being an arse because he was insecure himself, that Kay didn’t have to worry about her own adequacies as far as the job went, all the things she knew, but sometimes didn’t quite believe.

‘Bum,’ she said out loud, and went to make herself a cup of coffee. Milo bounced hopefully towards the door. ‘Later,’ she said. She sat at the kitchen table, drinking her coffee slowly, letting the silence calm her down.

She picked up the phone and tried Poppy’s number, but it only rang a couple of times before the answering service took it. She left a message. ‘Poppy? It’s Kay. Call me, please. It’s important.’ Poppy’s work? That number was marked clearly with No calls. And if Poppy was avoiding her, then calls and messages weren’t going to do the trick. Kay needed to get over to the house and talk to Poppy face to face.

Half of her wanted to race out of the house and go in search of Poppy right now, try and talk some sense into her, try and find out what was wrong, but she couldn’t work like that. She couldn’t set off on a wild goose chase all over Hull on the off chance of finding her delinquent client. She wasn’t Poppy’s friend; she was her caseworker, and she had an appointment with Poppy the following day.

The sound of rain against the windows roused her from her reverie. She was cold, she was tired and her head was full of fuzz. What was she doing, burying herself in all of this on a day when she wasn’t even supposed to be working? Despite the foul weather, she needed to get out.

She made a sudden decision. ‘Come on, Milo. We’re going for a walk.’ The sound of the magic word was enough the send him on a mad race around the downstairs and it was a few minutes before she managed to catch him and clip him onto the long lead. She pulled on her waterproof, laced up her boots, and they were ready for off.

Outside, the rain had eased a bit and the air smelled fresh and clean. The clouds cast shadows that chased across the ground. The sky was a tapestry of purples and blues and greys. Matt would have loved it here. She stood for a moment, looking out over the landscape. Every minute, every hour, every day took Matt further away from her. Distance was not the problem – distance could be overcome, but there was no way back through time.

And that was what she had to live with. She made herself step briskly as she and Milo set out. The estuary was invisible against the flat landscape, but a ship was moving out there, apparently sailing across the open fields. She stopped and watched it, delighted with the optical illusion.

The estuary. She’d walk that way. Wrapping her scarf more closely round her neck, she set off again. A quick check of the nearest drain showed her that Milo would get muddy if he fell in, but would easily be able to get out again, so she let him off his lead.

He raced around madly, running in little circles, following one