‘Well, I’m not saying that the bars along Euston Road won’t be similarly busy but they might be worth a try. I can show you if you’d like.’
Is he…? Kate considered, eyeing him quizzically. The confidence he was displaying was entirely dissimilar to Jake’s. Whereas Jake had come across as cocky, this man just seemed self-assured, as though he would have conducted the same conversation no matter who he had found shoving their way out of the pub. But maybe the lack of suggestiveness in either word or tone was a result of his maturity, suspecting that most women were likely to be put off by men being too forward.
More than anything, Kate wondered what she had to lose. Peering over the guardrail and down to the concourse below, what he had said about things remaining equally as bad was true and, unless she wanted to join the disgruntled mass craning their necks at the screens in the hope it would suddenly tell them everything was fine, she would probably have ended up doing something similar to what the man was suggesting anyway.
Kate opened up her mouth to respond positively before a memory of her encounter with Jake caused her to stop. ‘Where are you travelling back to?’ she demanded.
‘St. Albans,’ he replied mildly, causing Kate’s face to instantly change expression from one of continued suspicion to a broad grin.
Chapter Twenty-four
Ruby and Cooper had originally arrived at St. Albans’ station to find the vicinity busy, but it was clear straight away that something was wrong. Other than the few people who had presumably grown impatient with waiting on the platform and had decided to try and find an alternate route to their destination, no one was leaving the station. It was only when speaking to their colleagues that they found out the reason. Francis and Tebbutt had just made it into London before whatever shitstorm at Luton had pretty much ground the line to a halt. Although they had finally managed to board a train back to St. Albans, it was so packed that they were only able to move carriages every time it stopped.
They had just been sent a text from Francis informing them they should be back in approximately ten minutes.
Ruby reached for her police radio to inform the other pair allocated to the operation, DCs Christie and Dorkins, who were milling around the station entrance, blending in with the rest of the public. ‘Stay sharp, things are likely to get hectic once it pulls in,’ she said. Although confident that the team were good enough to select and track anyone remotely suspicious, Ruby was increasingly certain that this was ultimately going to prove a waste of everyone’s time and they were in for a long evening of reacting and resetting until the last of the stranded commuters had made it home.
‘Let’s leave them to it,’ she said to Cooper. ‘We’ll have a quick scout around the residential area and then wait up the road here in case anyone suspicious makes it through.’
‘Sure thing,’ he replied, trying to stifle a yawn. ‘I should be watching the Champions League right about now.’
Ruby didn’t know which game he was referring to and pulled out her phone instead of trying to make inane conversation. Going to be a long night but I just wanted you to know I’m thinking about you. R x, she typed before sending it to Danny. She had ensured at the very beginning of their relationship he understood that the nature of her work would often place unanticipated demands on her time and, although he had shown patience throughout, or perhaps because of it, she liked to send him the odd text during the day so he knew he was never far from her thoughts. In the last couple of days she had sought to use it as a reminder to be careful on his way home, irrespective that he tended to drive to work.
But today she hadn’t felt the need to; today she was there keeping him and others like him safe.
Chapter Twenty-five
‘I know Jordan said he could manage, but I would feel a lot happier if we were tooled up like before,’ Cole said quietly as they exited St. Albans Abbey station. One of the drawbacks of having gone into Watford early was that they hardly dared risk carrying tools with them, and especially not the bat Jordan favoured. His frame was big enough for him to be able to conceal it within his jacket under the cover of darkness, but it would have stuck out like as sore thumb as they had wandered around the shops. Instead, Lexie had told them it was a precaution in case they arrived back to find a police presence. If stopped and searched, she didn’t want anything potentially incriminating on them and the truth was she trusted Jordan when he’d claimed he could handle it, even if it had provoked a prickle of fear to travel down her spine.
‘He just needs shutting up. I think even you could manage that,’ Lexie responded. That Cole offered neither protest nor took offense at the insult spoke volumes for how the group was feeling, not least Lexie herself. Despite the lengths she had gone to convincing the group that her overall plan was sound, she knew that it was opportunist at best. Her suggestion in The Flag that they scope out potential targets had been something of a desperate hope to remedy that, but she hadn’t really thought it would prove successful. But the man Taylor and Jordan had discovered whilst loitering by the jukebox was pure gold.
He had represented as good an option as they were likely to get, so they moved to some tables in the pub where they could continue to observe him at a distance. Cole had even taken to referring to him as Drake, after the song Taylor was playing when they had spotted him. As well as having the latest iPhone, Taylor swore that Drake’s watch was an Omega; not the most expensive brand out there but, at a couple of grand, another sign that the man was more than just some office clerk.
In fact, the only thing that had caused them the slightest concern over the following hour had been how busy the station had become. Before learning that more people were travelling through Watford Junction in an effort to travel north because of a problem on another line, they had feared they may lose sight of Drake within the throngs but, although it had been a squeeze to get on the same carriage as him, they took comfort in the added time it would take for the police to sift through the CCTV footage.
Lexie would contend that what they were doing was out of necessity and she certainly didn’t revel in the violence of it like Jordan clearly did, but there was a certain thrill to doing something quite so dangerous as this. After the first job, late into the night and when the others had long gone to sleep, Cole had asked her whether she felt guilty for what they had done. Lexie had reminded him that they had been robbing and stealing ever since they had first met at school and that this was just a natural progression for them. Cole may have seemed satisfied with the explanation but she knew that their latest actions were a world away from petty theft and the odd mugging. To her the justification was more simplistic, but one she knew few would understand. As far as she was concerned, humans were merely a species of animal who had got too jumped up over their own existence. Their technological developments may have seen them separated from their evolutionary ancestors but the supposed moral code that people lived by was an artificial construct that, perhaps deliberately, went against nature’s baser instincts.
The most violent programmes she had watched as a child were not the sort of things that stirred up hysteria in the media, but those largely narrated by David Attenborough. Her family would always sit around and watch whenever a new series of his was being aired on the BBC, but Lexie had seen the truth in what was shown. In the animal kingdom it was a race for survival and entering another group’s territory to steal and cause physical harm was not just common, but for some, essential. What she and her group of so-called friends were doing was exactly the same. The society in which she existed might deem their actions unacceptable, but this was the same society that had seen her marginalised since she received her first permanent exclusion from school, aged twelve. People like the man walking in front of her now didn’t need to resort to nature’s baser instincts because they had money and opportunities. For those like Lexie, the choice was simple: either continue to live by society’s rules and allow herself to remain on its fringes, playing the game but seeing others reap the rewards, or to forci
bly take what had been denied her.
That she would then go on to rob people who found themselves in the same position as her, namely the group she had been running with since her early teens, was simply another law of the jungle – survival of the fittest.
‘Where’s he going?’ Taylor hissed as they watched the man cross the roundabout and onto St. Stephen’s Hill, rather than take the left into the Cottonmill estate.
‘This is potentially better,’ replied Jordan, with one of his rare contributions. ‘If he’s heading up towards the King Harry estate, those houses are nicer.’
Much as Lexie was inclined to agree based on her knowledge of the area, she didn’t welcome the added walk this provided them with, especially as it was taking them further away from the town centre and their mode of transport home afterwards. ‘I suggest we should cut through the park when we’re done,’ she said in reference to Verulamium – the large open-space and lakes sat behind the cathedral. ‘As soon as we get back into town, we can get a cab or something.’
She spent much of the journey walking up the hill, and then onto King Harry Lane itself, discussing elements of the plan they’d already gone through a number of times. She didn’t want them alone with their thoughts and potentially provide them with the opportunity to get cold feet. Having come this far they needed to see it through, irrespective of what challenges they might face.
‘Look he’s turning in there,’ Taylor said, stating what they could all see for themselves. Whilst most of the houses they had seen looked as though they had been built decades ago, Drake had entered into a small development built more recently, on the old site of the independent boys’ school’s playing fields.
‘He must be minted,’ Cole cooed as they regarded the large properties within.
‘Let’s not get left behind now,’ Lexie responded, picking up the pace. They had allowed Drake to gain quite a lead on them in an effort to remain discreet, but they needed to start narrowing the gap because any one of the houses he was approaching could be his. They might be every bit as valuable, and perhaps more so, than the ones they had robbed recently but with space at a premium up here, they didn’t have the long sweeping drives that had given the group extra time to pounce.
‘This one,’ Taylor hissed, causing them all to begin jogging and Lexie to sprint. Another trait of the animal kingdom, and yet one she refused to accept, was that females were the less dominant of the sexes. But for now she was happy to use it to her advantage.
‘Excuse me,’ she called upon stepping onto the drive, and seeing that he was already pushing open his front door; loud enough for Drake to hear but not so it would penetrate through his neighbour’s thick double-glazed windows. With this to be their last job she didn’t mind the risk that she would be so clearly seen this time. The man, although seemly surprised to see her, appeared far from alarmed.
But then Jordan came into view.
Chapter Twenty-six
‘Would you mind awfully giving me a moment?’ David asked as they exited the lift and approached the door to his apartment.
‘What, you mean wait out here?’ Kate asked, surprised by the request. Until this point David had remained as calm and confident as he had first appeared when greeting her outside the bar at King’s Cross. Having found the two pubs they tried on Euston Road similarly busy he had suggested they go for dinner instead.
Kate supposed that she would have been more impressed with something fancier than a chain bistro but it suited the atmosphere of the evening perfectly; casual but with purpose. Just like the way he had the money on the table before the waiter brought them the bill; he didn’t want to make a big thing out of paying for them both, but at the same time using money rather than a debit card had hinted that he was a man of means. What’s more, by the time they wandered back into King’s Cross, whatever problem that had caused such a meltdown on the line had been fixed and the bulk of the stranded passengers had gone. There had been no discussion of what might follow their return to St. Albans but Kate had felt confident of the right result as she had started heading for the taxi rank, deliberately slowly enough that she would be beaten to the queue by the majority of her fellow commuters.
‘Perhaps it would be quicker if you called one from my flat, it’s only just around the corner and…’
‘And what?’
‘And I was kind of hoping that, once there, you may wish to stay a while.’
‘Sure,’ she had replied enigmatically, enjoying that she hadn’t made it clear which of his comments she was responding to.
David certainly hadn’t seemed dissatisfied with her response, slipping back into the sort of easy conversation that had been a feature of their evening and ensuring that the short walk to his apartment block passed similarly pleasantly.
‘It’s just that I left in a bit of a rush this morning and I would hate for you to think me something of a slob,’ he responded with a guilty smile.
Kate shrugged her shoulders. ‘Fine, just don’t leave me out here too long, will you?’
‘Of course not,’ David protested with mock indignation, swiftly entering his flat and closing the door behind him.
Although a little perplexed, Kate welcomed the opportunity to send Scott a text. She had considered doing so when David had gone to the toilet in the restaurant but she hadn’t been certain where things might lead at that point.
Don’t yet know what time I’ll be home x
She had decided to keep it simple, not least because she hadn’t wanted David to catch her in the act.
‘Would madam like to come in?’ he enquired with a subservient bow barely more than a minute later.
Kate’s stepping through the doorway felt far more symbolic than merely entering someone’s home. For all her thoughts and scheming over the past few days, to her it represented the point of no return. Sure, there was nothing stopping her from taking up David’s offer of simply calling a taxi but, having come this far, she knew she couldn’t turn back.
‘Would you like a glass of wine?’ David asked, walking into the large open plan kitchen. It seemed that whatever tidying up had been required had been more than adequate because the area was as pristine as it was well appointed. The units were modern in design and clearly high-end; with a granite work surface upon which stood a number of expensive appliances.
‘You like to cook?’ Kate asked, regarding the same brand of mixer as they use on The Great British Menu.
David let out a small laugh. ‘I rarely do, to be honest, but I like having the latest gadgets,’ he replied, opening the wine cooler that made up part of his large American-style refrigerator. ‘It’s all superficial, I know, but…’
Kate didn’t wait for David to continue. If she let him pour her a drink and they sat down to discuss interior design, she didn’t know if she could summon up the courage to do what was necessary. He may have been startled by turning back from the fridge to find her immediately in front of him but he didn’t resist her taking the bottle from him and placing it next to the Nespresso machine. Having stepped in to kiss him and guiding his now-empty hands around the back to the top of her skirt, he didn’t need further invitation to start pulling the zip down.
What followed was a clumsy rather than frantic disrobing of each other until they were both stood in their underwear. Much as doing it right there on the kitchen work surface would represent the sort of lusty lovemaking so absent in her marriage, Kate didn’t want something so rushed that he would be back to pouring her wine before it had lost any of its chill. A means to an end this encounter may have been, but Kate saw no harm in seeking to get the maximum enjoyment out of it.
Taking a step back to indicate there was no hurry, it also allowed her to better appreciate David’s body. Given his whole demeanour as well as the immaculate apartment, it was hardly a surprise that he took care of himself physically, but she was impressed how few signs there were of his approaching middle-age. He may have been a little hairier than would be her preference
but, in the moment, there was something appealingly animalistic about it and she found herself unable resist raking her fingers gently across his chest.
Kate smiled at the small shudder this elicited and reached further down to see if she could provoke a more striking reaction. But much as she liked what she felt down there, she wouldn’t allow her hand inside his branded boxer shorts.
‘Which way is the bedroom?’ she asked, turning around and heading off in what she assumed was the right direction; trusting that he would be transfixed by her body’s movement as she exaggerated the swing of her hips.
Kate took the lack of a verbal response from behind her as a good thing and, having made her way into the master suite, she turned at the foot of the bed to receive him, unclipping her bra in the process. David arrived just as it fell to the floor and there was only a moment’s hesitation as his eyes flicked greedily from her face to her breasts before he was upon her.
Any thoughts of turning this into the sort of prolonged session that she imagined Scott and Donna to conduct, were gone as Kate felt his erection digging into her as he pushed her onto the bed. All she wanted was for him to be inside her and to feel the sensation that had been exclusively reserved for her husband for the past decade.
Chapter Twenty-seven
‘There are only two more trains after this,’ Cooper commented. ‘Do you think we should stay for them both?’
‘I think that would be best,’ Ruby responded, despite feeling a distinct lack of enthusiasm. It was now close to midnight and the majority of the stranded commuters had made their way home; many of them were tottering unsteadily, presumably having drunk their way through the delay.
‘Perhaps Nelson will soon call it off anyway,’ Cooper continued, as they watched the subtle movements of Christie and Dorkins tracking the last few stragglers leaving the station.
‘Why don’t you radio through to suggest it?’ Ruby asked, trying to stifle a smile in the hope Cooper would think her serious.
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