The Ex (DS Jenna Morgan)

by Diane Saxon

  ‘It’s a shame we need a dog walker at all, after the last one, but necessary.’ She scraped her fingernails over the top of his spine and enjoyed the appreciative groan he sent up.

  Fliss wriggled around and tucked her feet under her as she turned to face Jenna, wine glass cradled in one hand and the other stroking Domino. ‘Even without the court case coming up, he needs additional exercise when we’re both working.’

  ‘I agree.’

  ‘I’ve given Gill a couple of dates and she’ll come back to me.’

  ‘Good. Just let me know.’

  Fliss murmured her assent as she took a drink of her wine and a comfortable silence held in the thick night air for a moment.

  ‘It’s been nice. Just the two of us.’ Jenna raised her glass and took a sip of the wine, surprised to find she’d almost finished the glass. Another glass. ‘God, I haven’t had this much to drink in… an age.’

  ‘Nor me. Thank God I’m not at work tomorrow. Twenty-five children would kill me.’

  ‘Haha. Me too. I don’t know how you do what you do.’ Jenna could have nothing but admiration for her younger sister who worked as a teacher at Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge School.

  ‘Same.’ Fliss’s smile stretched across her face. ‘The things Mason tells me makes my blood curdle.’

  Jenna didn’t tend to divulge too much about the grim side of her job to her younger sister, instead preferring to focus on positive matters.

  ‘Was he okay about tonight?’ She referred to the fact that they were having an unusual girly night in without Fliss’s boyfriend and Jenna’s work partner, DC Mason Ellis.

  ‘Yeah, no problem.’ Fliss stretched her long legs out in front of her and let out a soft groan. ‘He wanted to visit his brother anyway. Have some family time.’ She rolled her head so she could look at Jenna. ‘What about m’lord Adrian?’

  Jenna grinned, a wide silly grin, as Fliss referred to Jenna’s relatively new boyfriend, Chief Crown Prosecutor Adrian Hall who, a bit like Mason, spent more time at Jenna’s house than his own these days. ‘He’s fine. Really busy. Plenty of work to catch up on his new case.’

  ‘What about tomorrow?’

  ‘He’s coming over, but it’s too hot to do anything.’

  ‘What about the beach? Aberdovey.’

  Wales and its rugged coastline were less than an hour and half’s drive away.

  ‘Too busy.’

  ‘Llandudno?’

  ‘Meh.’

  It would be overwhelmingly hectic with such a lovely, long Victorian pier jutting out into the Irish Sea and the wide promenade which would be overrun with tourists. She wasn’t in the mood for crowds, she saw enough of them at work. The unprecedented heat brought a deluge of criminals out of the woodwork. Flashers, domestic abuse, sexual predators.

  ‘What about the west shore beach?’

  With its sand dunes and privacy, Llandudno’s west shore beach was much quieter.

  ‘That would be good. Adrian and I can lie out in the sun and fry our skin for a few hours. Yeah, that might work.’ Jenna drained her glass. ‘What about you? Do you have plans with Mason?’

  ‘He’ll want to have monkey sex.’

  Fliss gurgled out a wicked laugh at Jenna’s flinch.

  ‘For the love of Jesus, I’ve told you, I don’t want to know anything about your sex life with Mason. I have to work with the man. I don’t want that image in my head.’

  ‘I was teasing.’ Fliss’s laughter floated on the warm night air, the scent of the jasmine Jenna had planted carried a headiness. ‘We thought we might get up really early before the heat and take Domino over the Shropshire Hills. Back for brunch and then Mason said he could do with popping into the station to get some paperwork done.’

  Jenna nodded, relieved she didn’t have to listen to a blow-by-blow account of Fliss’s sex life with a man she considered to be almost a brother.

  With one last scrub at Domino’s coat, Jenna pushed herself to her feet. Unsteady, she wobbled for a moment before she was able to put one foot in front of the other. ‘I’m off. Are you coming?’

  ‘I am.’

  Fliss reached a hand up and Jenna closed her fingers around it and gave a hard yank. As Fliss lurched to her feet, Jenna steadied them both. ‘Oh God. I’m going to regret this in the morning.’

  ‘Me too.’ Fliss swayed. ‘At least you can have a lie-in. Mason said he’d be with me by 6 a.m.’

  ‘Message him. Tell him to come later.’

  Fliss scraped a hand through her hair as she closed her eyes. ‘Nah, it’ll be fine. We’ll have a nice walk, won’t we, Domino?’

  In all fairness, the dog raised his head for a brief moment before he lowered his chin back down to his paws, but his eyes remained open.

  ‘Come on, boy, time for bed.’

  With a heartfelt groan, Domino slid from the soft cushion and ambled after Fliss as she wove her way up the garden to the house.

  Relieved he didn’t follow her, Jenna closed the patio doors and locked them behind everyone. She had no idea how Fliss coped with his hot body pressed against hers on the bed, pinning the bedclothes tight around her. During winter she could understand it, but never in the middle of a heatwave.

  The cool shower did little to relieve her once she was dry and the heat hit her again. Too hot and mid-summer, it was barely dark enough to sleep anyway.

  Jenna kicked the sheets back and sprawled naked on top of the bed, praying for a cool breeze to sneak through the open windows, thankful Domino had chosen to sleep on Fliss’s bed with her.

  The world gave a gentle rotation as she closed her eyes and hoped for a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

  3

  Sunday 11 July, 10:25 hrs

  Imelda Cheetham-Epstein smiled at her new husband of three weeks as he scratched his head. Lines of concentration etched into his face, he picked up the sander so he could skim the dirty green flaked paint from the original oak door before they decided whether to leave it naked, just treating it with oil, or whether they needed to paint it. It all depended on the quality beneath once he stripped the paint off.

  A smile split his face as he glanced up at her, placed the instrument down and reached out to take Joshua from her arms. At eleven months old, their little boy was a bundle of full on activity, which recently had tired her out quicker than expected.

  She touched her hand to her distended stomach and smiled back at Zak. Unplanned, the second pregnancy had taken them both by surprise. They’d wanted more children but hadn’t quite prepared themselves for another child hot on the heels of the first. She’d wanted to get married before they had Joshua, but she’d also not wanted to rush the preparations. By the time she’d planned their wedding, she was already pregnant with their second, and didn’t see the point of bringing it forward. As neither one of them had been upset, it didn’t matter. They loved each other.

  Already twenty-eight weeks pregnant, the children would be extremely close in age by the time she gave birth. They’d be a handful, but it didn’t bother her. She just needed a little extra sleep, which she’d already had that morning. Not that it had made any difference as the heat swiped away any freshness she’d felt when she first woke.

  She lifted the thick swathe of hair from her neck and considered putting it up in a ponytail. ‘I was going to make brunch. Are you ready?’

  Zak kissed the top of Joshua’s head and grinned as his son reached out with chubby fingers to tug at Zak’s lips. He blew a raspberry while he nodded at her. ‘I’m starving.’

  He was always starving. A long skinny streak of a man, never still, he ate up his energy and sucked in calories to fuel himself.

  ‘Full cooked?’ It was a Sunday treat.

  She wasn’t sure she could manage sausage, bacon, eggs, baked beans and mushrooms, but she might throw a bacon butty together for herself and watch Zak inhale his food.

  ‘That would be great.’

  With a smile at her little boy, she reached her arms out to tak
e Joshua back. ‘Fifteen minutes, Zak. No longer. Fifteen minutes and I’ll have a full English ready for you. Keep up your strength.’ She broke into a grin as she balanced Joshua and stretched out, her fingers small against Zak’s skin as she took a squeeze of his muscles and made him laugh. ‘I’ll see if he’ll go down for a nap. He’s been full of himself this morning. Perhaps we’ll take him down to Dale End Park later this afternoon, let him run off some energy.’ It would give Zak a break from DIY too.

  Lined with ancient old trees with the River Severn idling its way through it at this time of year, Dale End Park, seated in the Ironbridge Gorge, provided a wide expanse of shade and a vast enough area for a toddler to wear himself out. The little park would more than likely be full of other small children, but it didn’t matter, there was plenty of wide-open space and the treelined football field would have very few people after practice finished around midday. She could only hope to catch the soft breezes that meandered through the valley in the wake of the river.

  Imelda took hold of Joshua and adjusted him, so he sat on her hip. Not sure how much longer she would be able to lift him, she buried her face against thick hair, the same as his father’s, as he wrapped his arms around her neck and cooed at her.

  A flicker of worry ran over Zak’s face as she looked up. ‘Can you manage?’ He placed a soft kiss on the end of her nose.

  ‘Yes, of course.’ She dismissed his concern while at the same time, her heart gave a little hitch. She was stronger than her new husband believed but his thoughtfulness warmed her heart.

  Already on his feet at the age of eleven months, Joshua was still unsteady, and Imelda preferred to carry him down the two flights of stairs and then let him go at the bottom. At the stage where he ‘toddled’ at breakneck speed with no particular finesse or direction, he’d already given her several heart-stopping moments. Nappies had more than one use and the number of times he’d landed on his backside, Imelda could only be thankful for the amount of padding those nappies provided.

  She held onto Joshua with one hand, balancing him on her hip as she gripped the banister with her other hand, cautious as she came down the flight of stairs to the first-floor landing as Zak turned on the sander and the shriek of it filled her ears.

  With a quick glance upstairs, she winced at the whine of the electrical equipment and then turned towards Joshua’s bedroom as her son’s arms and legs flailed to show how full of energy he still was. Imelda sighed and hitched Joshua higher. There was no hope he’d take a snooze while activity and noise filled the house. He was too darned nosey. She’d do just as well to take him down with her and entertain him until Zak was ready to eat and they had some respite from the scream of the sander.

  Imelda made her way down the stairs, her fluffy socks protecting the soles of her feet from the broken tiles on the hallway floor. That would be their next project. Hopefully done in time before their newest addition put in an appearance.

  Imelda bumped open the door to the kitchen with her hip and let it swing shut behind them to close out the loud intrusion of the sander while she grabbed the remote to switch on the small T.V. The cheery beat of PAW patrol filled the room.

  As Joshua kicked his legs in his enthusiasm to be set free, Imelda bent low and let him go. A wide smile spread over her face as he staggered like a drunkard over to the small box of wooden toys and snatched up his favourite train.

  She pulled open the fridge door and stared at the contents, then reached inside to take out a packet of bacon, while Joshua chuntered in unintelligible delight to his toy.

  She placed her hand on her stomach, pleasure spreading a warmth through her as the baby kicked.

  There was no better way to spend her Sunday than at home with her boys.

  4

  Sunday 11 July, 10:35 hrs

  There was no giveaway sign to indicate anyone was even at home. The curtains were open, but the windows appeared blank.

  Emily shifted in her seat. Three hours was a hell of a long time, longer than she’d previously spent watching from the sanctuary of her little white Honda Jazz. Although the car windows were down, not even a whisper of a breeze could tease its way through to cool her overheated flesh. The heatwave was killing her. Killing everyone. It had flashed in with a suddenness that had rocked the country. The shift in the jet stream was held accountable. Global warming. Whatever the reason, it was like sinking into the pits of hell.

  A trickle of sweat meandered its way down the length of her spine until she plucked her white cotton shirt from her skin. She regretted the decision to wear heavy jeans, but she’d wanted to show off the length of her legs, the curve of her hips. The white shirt was nipped in at the waist and emphasised the generous bosom she’d always been proud of, a bosom which had expanded in the last year or so.

  Zak had liked her breasts. He’d always told her it was her best feature.

  They were fuller now, more rounded. He couldn’t be anything but impressed.

  She stared up at the tall façade of the building, narrowing her eyes as she inspected each window, waiting for a trace of movement somewhere behind the panes of glass.

  Zak was there. She knew he was home. There was his sleek, black Audi, street parked not far from the house. She’d have thought he’d have updated it by now. It was the same car he’d had when he first started his new job. That had to be almost two years ago.

  Still, it was a nice car.

  She dabbed her fingers at the thin line of sweat on her top lip and turned her head away from the car to study where he lived.

  The three-storey double-frontage Victorian house with a central front door seemed narrow at the front and went deep, appearing to overhang the valley below. She’d never seen the rear of the premises but imagined a wooden balcony surrounded by an elegant balustrade with an unrestricted view of the valley that dropped into a steep slope of lush vegetation down to the River Severn.

  A slow smile spread over her face. When she lived there, she would trail an abundance of brightly coloured flowers, so they bloused over the balcony in great waterfalls. Petunias in elegant skirts of purples and reds, or begonias in bright splashes of orange and yellow.

  She pulled herself back from the drift of her imagination and with narrowed eyes scanned the house again.

  Unsurprised by the lack of any movement on a Sunday morning, she shifted in her seat, sweat slicking her clothes to her, the shirt wet where it squeezed tight under her armpits. She swiped the back of her hand across her sticky cheek and dabbed at her forehead.

  Her memory of long, lazy Sunday mornings with Zak sent a mellow warmth curling through her chest until the stab of dark envy chased it away.

  It was no longer her and him in their cosy little flat.

  He was there, in the big house with his new wife.

  Emily’s lips tightened over clenched teeth. A new wife. A wife he should never have married. He was supposed to be hers. She’d waited for him. He knew she’d waited and yet still he’d married someone else.

  Heat circled deep in her belly as anger clutched at her throat.

  To push back the anger, she sucked in a deep breath. As she’d been taught, she closed her mind off from the distasteful, the murky evil that clawed at her.

  But the voice persevered in its subtle insistence.

  She’s there. With him.

  It nudged into her consciousness.

  He’s yours. Not hers. It should be you. Not her. You can take him back.

  Unable to ignore the voice, she chose instead to concentrate on the house. From the outside, it appeared he’d achieved so much more than she’d imagined possible. Since the last drive-by she’d made months before, he’d had the bricks sandblasted, taking off the thick coating of coal dust that had built up over the years as the trundle of coal carts wound their way through the Ironbridge gorge to the power station. Long since defunct, the machinations of the Industrial Revolution had nonetheless left their dirty footprints on the surrounding area.

  She si
ghed out a long breath. Perhaps his home would suit her. Once he’d achieved all he needed to in order to make it liveable. She cast a look over the building again. It certainly looked hospitable. And big. Such a large property. She’d not realised before.

  A smile curved her lips, and she crossed her arms over her chest, settling back to let her imagination take her on a long, meandering wander through their future life, once he’d shuffled his current wife along.

  She was a mistake.

  He’d know it soon enough.

  As soon as he saw her again. He’d realise his mistake.

  There was only one woman for him. One woman who had what it took to keep his attention.

  Her breath caught in her throat as a shadow flitted past the frosted window of the front door. The slow pump of her heart turned to a race as she sprang upright to stare harder until her eyes dried and stung through lack of blinking.

  Not allowing herself enough time to collect her thoughts, she reached out to flip the handle of the door and push it open. She stepped out of the car, keys in the tight grip of her fist with no consideration of the windows she’d left down. With a heavy throb in the base of her throat, spikes of anticipation crawled over her skin and sent another wave of heat to blast her skin and tingle the pulse points at the back of her knees.

  Go and get him. The soft whisper of it echoed in her mind. He’s yours, not hers.

  She nodded to acknowledge the truth of it.

  Go and get him. Take back what is rightfully yours.

  The sheer thrill of seeing him again gave her the confidence to stride straight up to the little old pitch fencing gate that needed tending to and swing it open.

  The moment he saw her, he’d know. She was sure of it.

  Her white sneakers kept her footsteps silent as she strode the short length of the crazy paving path to the sage green painted front door and pressed the bell, its old-fashioned ring barely discernible above the screeching buzz of a power tool coming from inside the house. She’d not noticed the noise from her car, with music playing low on her iPod.