by Lisa Cutts
Still, there was the matter of Jenny Bloomfield’s disappearance and the discovery of her body. There was no way these things weren’t connected.
And right at this moment, the connection seemed to be Dane.
She paced up and down, thoughts of who they’d let into their incident room tormenting her. Not to mention who she had let into her bed.
Furious at letting her guard down, she threw herself into an armchair. For several minutes she tried to run over the conversations they’d had. Had he ever mentioned the Bowmans?
She bolted upright.
Of course, Sophia had told him that Harry had been the one who had found Linda’s body. Dane hadn’t known Harry and Linda were friends.
Sophia felt her breathing return to normal. It was merely a coincidence, that was all. He wouldn’t have acted that way if he’d have known the facts.
This was self-preservation kicking in: she was trying to turn her own mind against Dane in an attempt to stop herself getting hurt again. She shouldn’t throw away the start of something because of a completely irrational thought.
She ran a hand through her hair, wondering how she had become so overly suspicious over the simplest and possibly most innocuous of discoveries.
A bleep from her mobile phone brought her back to the present, with the realization that she had to be up for work far sooner than she would have liked.
A text message from Dane read: Think I have solution to your problem. I’ll drop round before work if that’s okay? See you soon gorgeous xx
The thought of ringing him leaped into her mind, but she quickly shot it down. She didn’t want him thinking she was so keen to speak to him, and besides, she still needed a little more time to think.
With weary bones, Sophia took herself back to bed for another hour’s sleep, trying to stop her brain from thinking about what Dane could have possibly solved for her, and why he was dropping by first thing in the morning.
Chapter 35
Friday 8 May
Somehow Sophia managed to drop off again, until the alarm rudely intruded on her troubled dreams. She jumped out of bed and rushed to get ready. The last thing she wanted was Dane to arrive and find her still in her pyjamas.
Within half an hour she was dressed and ready at her kitchen table with a mug of black coffee in front of her, mobile phone in her eye-line.
No messages, no missed calls.
For a moment, Sophia felt miserable that Dane hadn’t contacted her. Then she became angry. Not so much with him, but with herself.
This was doing no favours to her health or her sanity. The only way to get out of this mess was to work through it.
Sophia stood up, ready to get to work at her normal start time. It wasn’t as though she had nothing to do. They had been warned it might be a long day, and as it was Friday, most of the others would be keen to get home and start their weekend.
The noise of a text message alert momentarily stopped her in her tracks as she began to walk away from the table. Sophia resisted the urge to look at the screen.
Instead, she guessed she had a couple of minutes to spare so used the time to make herself a sandwich for lunch and save some money. It seemed like the sensible thing to do.
Once Sophia was ready, jacket on, keys in her hand, she picked up her phone. The lure of reading the message was too great, especially when she realized that there were two texts from Dane.
The first read: Just outside. You awake?
The timing of the second one was a couple of minutes later. Didn’t want to wake you by knocking so I’ve put something through the letterbox.
Puzzled as to what it could be, and wondering how she hadn’t heard him, Sophia peered out of the kitchen door towards the hallway.
A package was lying on her doormat.
Hesitantly, she walked towards it, unsure what she might find. She found herself prodding it with her toe, for some reason fearful at discovering what was inside.
Sophia bent down to pick it up and realized it was full of papers.
She took it back into the kitchen, tearing open the seal as she went.
‘What the f—’ she gasped as she tipped out the contents.
If she wasn’t very much mistaken, there had to be over a thousand pounds spread out across her eighteen-pound IKEA kitchen table.
Turning over the envelope, she saw in Dane’s handwriting:
Had some luck on the horses. Thought you could help me spend it. D x
Chapter 36
Harry Powell wasn’t the only one to make an early appearance at East Rise.
‘Morning, Soph,’ he said as he walked through the incident room on the way to his office. ‘Thought you were coming in later?’
‘Few things to do, that’s all,’ she answered, taking a sip of her coffee.
Perhaps it was her tone rather than what she said, but Harry found himself retracing his steps. He took a seat opposite her.
‘Everything all right?’ he asked, only just noticing her bloodshot eyes and slightly waxy complexion.
‘Yeah,’ she smiled. ‘Like I said, I’ve got a lot on my mind at the moment, what with work and stuff.’
‘If you’re sure there’s nothing else.’
Harry wondered whether to take it any further. He could have left the touchy-feely stuff to his DS, but Sandra wasn’t really the type either. The last thing he wanted was a member of staff suffering in silence.
He decided to try a slightly underhand tactic.
‘How are you getting on with Dane?’
Immediately, she picked up her coffee mug and took a sip.
‘Yeah, he’s okay,’ she replied, not meeting Harry’s eye.
‘Look, Soph,’ he said, not entirely convinced he should be having this conversation with her.
She met his stare. ‘What, sir?’
‘Dane seems like a nice enough fella and all that, but . . . we don’t know very much about him. Work-wise, he seems solid, despite only having a couple of years’ experience, but I suppose . . . what I’m saying to you is . . . would you please let me know if there are any problems at all?’
Sophia remained motionless for longer than Harry would have preferred. She gave his comment far too much thought for his liking.
Eventually, she gave a slow nod of her head, shot a glance in the direction of the door and said, ‘As it happens—’
The sound of someone’s security pass bleeping against the card reader at the door caused her to break off, and both of them to look towards the corridor.
Dane bowled in, stopped and smiled at them both.
‘Sorry,’ he said, as he put his security pass away. ‘Was I interrupting? You two looked like you were deep in conversation then.’
‘Me and Soph were just putting the world to rights, as you do,’ said Harry as he eased himself out of the chair.
‘And don’t forget,’ the DI said as he walked back towards his office, ‘if you ever feel like going for promotion, I think you’d make a brilliant sergeant.’
Walking back to his office, Harry wondered why Dane was sweating quite so profusely for such a mild spring morning. Perhaps he had walked some of the way, but that didn’t explain why he looked nervy at the sight of him and Sophia engaged in what looked to be a deep conversation.
If Harry wasn’t very much mistaken, he’d say that Dane was hiding something, and he wasn’t sure his incident room could take another battering.
*
Sophia stared at Dane. ‘Why are you looking so worried?’ she said.
‘What was that about?’ he asked, with what appeared to be forced casualness.
‘What was what about?’ she toyed.
‘With Harry just then.’
‘He’s my DI,’ Sophia said. ‘We are allowed to talk. Sometimes, in the police, you’re encouraged to talk to your colleagues.’
‘I’ve offended you,’ Dane said, taking the seat that Harry had just left. ‘I knew I shouldn’t have just shoved the envelope through the door an
d left you to open it.’
‘It was the most surprising post I’ve ever received, I’ll give you that,’ she said, a touch more calmly than she actually felt.
‘As soon as we manage to get away from work for a couple of hours I’ll explain everything.’
‘I think you’d better,’ she said. ‘And your explanation better be good.’
Chapter 37
Confident that Dane would do as he was told and meet him as soon as he was summoned, Milo walked through East Rise, taking in the sights.
Some of the buildings were beautiful old houses, many converted into flats or bedsits, a number of them still impressive white-fronted buildings that were enormous family homes. Parts of the town left a lot to be desired.
As he walked from the car park towards his rendezvous point, he marvelled at how aspects of the Old Town were so resplendent, yet a matter of streets away the area was a total contrast.
Milo checked the time and sent Detective Constable Hoopman a text: Half an hour – Seagull Pickings in town.
Time was running short for Dane, and it was about time he knew it.
*
Milo had taken a liking to the grotty cafe with its good old-fashioned British service with a grimace.
He sat at the same table as their last meeting, farthest from the door with his back to the window, white ceramic mug of strong tea in front of him. He clocked the orange waitress, brand-new tattoo on her neck, eyebrows visible from a considerable distance, and thought how perfect she’d be as a drug mule.
He had such happy memories of working this town.
The misted-glass door opened. Dane ran a wary eye over the clientele and made for Milo at the back of the café.
He pulled out a cheap metallic chair, lighter than the sandwiches the mottled waitress was dishing out with her own unique flair. His face told Milo he was less than impressed with this turn of events.
‘I’m supposed to be at work,’ hissed Dane across the table.
‘Technically, you still are.’
‘You know what I mean.’
Dane moved back in his seat, prompting the waitress to come over.
‘What can I get you?’ she said.
‘Just a tea, please,’ said Dane with a wasted smile. She was gone before his dimples had even appeared.
‘What?’ said Dane as he caught Milo’s expression.
‘You want to watch your girlfriend doesn’t find out you’re flirting,’ said Milo. ‘Hear she’s quite the looker.’
‘Get to the bloody point.’
‘Calm down,’ he tutted. ‘Stop being so touchy. I’ve got a message from Mr Turner and he wanted it delivered personally. He doesn’t want to risk our phone conversations being tracked, recorded or intercepted. This is the safest way to get things done.’
‘For you, perhaps.’
‘For all of us.’
Milo paused while the waitress spilled Dane’s drink over the table then waddled off.
‘Mr Turner’s found out that the stuff that was seized from the pub is at the police HQ in Riverstone,’ said Milo as he pushed his own drink away from him. ‘I don’t have to tell you that he’s not very pleased at having to do his own research. He does pay you, you know.’
Dane turned his head away from Milo, prompting him to rap his knuckles on the table. ‘Wake up, will you? You need to get on with this.’
‘I can’t! It’s impossible. How can I ever pull this off?’
‘Firstly, you need to keep your voice down, and secondly, you’d better find an answer.’
At this, Dane allowed his shoulders to sag, and began to drum his fingertips on the table. ‘Any clue as to how long I’ve got?’ he asked with less enthusiasm than was actually good for his health, and that Milo would have liked.
‘Hard to tell exactly,’ he said as he began to push his chair back. ‘From what we can gather, you’ve probably got until after the weekend before it’s moved.’
Milo stood up, walked around the table and placed his hand on Dane’s rounded shoulder.
‘I have to say,’ he said, as he placed his mouth close enough to Dane’s ear that only he could hear. ‘I’ve very much enjoyed our chat.’
Milo slapped him on the back and walked off in the direction of the door, leaving Dane wondering how on earth he was going to get away with burgling police headquarters without being seen.
Chapter 38
As he pushed his tea away from him, Dane realized with sinking heart that it was now or never.
He took out his phone and jabbed at the buttons before he could change his mind. He forced himself not to disconnect the call before Sophia answered.
The surprise in her voice was evident. ‘Dane?’ she said. ‘Aren’t you in the office?’
‘No, Soph,’ he said, smiling to try to keep his voice as light as possible.
‘Is everything okay? You sound strange. Where are you?’
‘I nipped into the town after we spoke. I had to catch up with an old . . . acquaintance. I’m all right though, don’t worry.’
Dane took a deep breath. ‘You free tomorrow night? I’ve got something very important I need to ask you.’
He heard it then: the hesitation in her voice. Sophia had no idea of the magnitude of what he wanted to ask her. He assumed she would think it had everything to do with all the time they’d been spending together outside of work. In a way it did, yet not quite how Sophia could ever have foreseen.
‘Any hint of what it’s about?’ she asked with a drop in background noise, leaving Dane to guess she’d stepped outside the incident room.
‘Not until tomorrow,’ he said, sounding more mysterious than panicked, which was the exact opposite of how he felt. ‘It’ll give me a chance to explain about the money too. Like I said this morning, it must have been weird, me dropping that through your letterbox.’
There was a hesitation and Sophia said, ‘Are you coming back to the office? Do I need to let Harry know you’re not—’
‘No, no, don’t tell him anything.’ He took a deep breath and looked up to the yellowed ceiling. ‘I’ll be back in a bit. I’m just getting my head round a few things first. I’ve had some family news, that’s all. It’s thrown me a bit, but I’m definitely fine. See you soon, okay?’
‘Okay,’ she said after a couple of seconds’ hesitation. ‘You sure you don’t want me to come into town and find you now?’
‘No, don’t do that. I need to book us a table somewhere. How about a meal at The Grand, on me, of course?’
‘Bloody hell,’ she said. ‘The Grand? What did you do? Rob a bank?’
Dane supposed that the most natural reaction for a police officer was to laugh. So he did, albeit a very hollow sound, to his ears anyway.
‘Let me give them a call, book a table for say eight o’clock tomorrow and I’ll pick you up at half past seven.’
‘Well,’ she said, ‘that sounds fine, but you said that as though I won’t see you for the rest of the day. We’ve been warned it might be a long one.’
‘I’ll be back soon and we can get over to headquarters then.’
‘In case Harry asks, how much longer do you think you’ll be?’
He felt a headache coming on. What was it with detectives and all their fucking questions? Why couldn’t they be like everyone else and accept what people said to them?
‘I’m really not sure, Soph. Let’s call it half an hour.’
‘All right,’ she said. ‘I’ll see you when I do.’
‘Nice one,’ he said as he ended the call. It didn’t give him very long to plan what he was going to do; something that might affect the rest of his life, which was possibly a very short amount of time if he didn’t get this right.
Chapter 39
Sophia hung up the phone and sat for a second thinking about her conversation with Dane. She liked him more than she thought she would at this point, but as she sat in the incident room, the hum of a murder enquiry surrounding her, she had to admit that there was more
to him than met the eye, and not necessarily in a good way.
Her thoughts were going round and round, questioning what she was even doing with Dane. She was so distracted that she didn’t immediately hear Harry calling her.
‘Earth to Sophia?’ Harry said, after his first two attempts to get her attention had failed.
‘Sorry, boss,’ she replied, twisting her head towards her DI. ‘I was miles away.’
‘What time are you due at HQ?’ he asked, a look of concern on his face.
‘I’ve got a bit of time,’ she said, looking at her watch. ‘Sooner or later the DS will probably be wondering where Dane and I have got to.’
‘Where is Dane?’ said Harry, glancing around the room, which, for once, had more than a handful of people in it.
Sophia hesitated. ‘Er, I think he said something about nipping into town before we went to HQ.’
‘Really?’ Harry paused, contemplating his next move.
‘Could you come along to my office for a moment, please, Sophia?’ he said, his expression giving nothing away.
‘Yeah, of course,’ Sophia said, immediately and illogically concerned that she was in trouble.
Seated in Harry’s office with the door closed, Sophia said, ‘Have I done something wrong?’
He raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Why would you think you’ve done something wrong?’
Sophia shrugged. ‘Guilty conscience, I suppose.’
‘Not at all. Listen,’ Harry said, leaning across the desk towards her, ‘I’ve asked you a couple of times if things are okay. Every time you tell me they are, so I won’t keep prying, but if there is anything I can do to help, you will let me know, won’t you?’
This was her chance: she could tell Harry about the money Dane had posted through her letterbox. Not to mention the photo of Dane with the Bowmans,
She bit her lip. All that would do was worry and upset Harry without further proof it was anything more than a coincidence and make her DI wonder why a virtual stranger was giving her cash, and in exchange for what? She didn’t want Harry to think Dane had paid her for sex, even if, at the moment, that was what it felt like.