‘Helen?’
Helen snapped out of her thoughts to find Steve and Charlie staring at her, amused expressions on their faces.
‘Sorry, miles away.’
‘This is for you,’ Charlie continued, handing Helen a present. ‘And before you open it, I’d just like to say thank you.’
‘For what?’
‘For everything. I … well, we’ve all found it hard, me going back to work, and I think I’d have probably walked if it wasn’t for you.’
Helen accepted Charlie’s gratitude, playing down her role in her decision to stay – the latter was far stronger and more determined than she ever gave herself credit for. But, in order to fend off Charlie’s protestations to the contrary, Helen now opened the present and was surprised and pleased to find that it was a new scarf – a replica of the one she’d lost.
‘I heard you mislaid the last one, so here’s No. 2. Try not to lose it this time, eh?’
Helen smiled and uttered a brief thanks, suddenly choked with emotion by this thoughtful gift. Wrapping it around herself – much to Jessica’s amusement and delight – Helen vowed that she would take very good care of this one, because of what it meant to her.
For the first time in ages, Helen didn’t feel alone.
143
Christmas was over for another year. The turkey had been eaten and presents exchanged, and the clean-up operation was in full swing. Christmas Day in the Gardam household was always a big deal – Sarah taking it upon herself to up the ante each year to keep the horde of relatives, friends and plus ones entertained. She always complained about it, but Jonathan Gardam knew that secretly she loved it – the excitement, the preparation, and that contented feeling afterwards when you knew it had all gone well.
The TV was on, but nobody was really watching it. Sarah and the kids were playing a board game and his mother was slumbering quietly in the easy chair. Jonathan took this as his cue to slip away. He enjoyed Christmas as much as the next man, but the claustrophobia of it sometimes got to him and then he liked to escape to his office – or his sanctuary, as Sarah labelled it – at the top of the house.
Hovering in the office doorway, he listened for any signs of pursuit. But nobody seemed to have noticed his departure, judging by the raucous and good-humoured accusations of cheating among the board game participants, so he pushed the door to gently and turned the key in the lock. This was probably overkill and might arouse suspicion, but he didn’t want to be disturbed.
There had one been gift to himself that he’d been looking forward to all day. Something special, something secret that nobody but him would appreciate.
Seating himself at his desk, he switched on the light and opened the top drawer. It was stacked full of files as usual, but Gardam lifted these out now, placing them carefully on the nearby coffee table. Beneath them in the drawer was a small plastic bag and within that was his prize.
Gardam slipped his hand inside and was immediately excited by the feel of the material. It was a guilty pleasure for sure – a gift that he had stolen rather than been given – which made it all the more enjoyable. He smiled to himself now as he pulled Helen Grace’s scarf from the drawer.
He held it to his face, breathing in her scent, before gently brushing it against his cheek, revelling in its softness. He closed his eyes and for a moment was transported away from work and family, away from all the things that were as much a duty as a pleasure, to the real centre of his affections.
The enigmatic but compelling DI Helen Grace.
THE BEGINNING
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PENGUIN BOOKS
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Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com
First published 2015
Copyright © M. J. Arlidge, 2015
Cover Photo © Oleksiy Maksymenko Photography/Alamy
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-1-405-91922-7
Liar Liar: DI Helen Grace 4 (A DI Helen Grace Thriller) Page 31