by Helen Cox
‘Trust me,’ Charley whispered in her ear, pausing at the last button on her coat. ‘I’m going to show you how beautiful you are.’
Evie wasn’t sure exactly what this would entail but given the look on Charley’s face reflected in the mirror, she definitely wanted to find out. She nodded and that was the only cue Charley needed to pop open the last button of Evie’s coat and remove it. She placed it on the bench where her bag was still sitting and then, without skipping a beat, began unbuttoning her blouse. With every button popped, Evie felt a strange intensity building inside, the sense of being somehow lighter and heavier at the same time. Charley looked at Evie through the mirror and Evie looked right back at her as the blouse was taken off, revealing a red lace bra beneath.
‘My God,’ Charley whispered into Evie’s ear as she admired the view of her standing in her bra, skirt and heels. A moment later, Charley’s hands were on her zip and Evie’s skirt dropped to the floor. Evie couldn’t believe she was going along with this but was too curious to see where it might lead to even think of stopping it. She lowered her eyes and kicked the garment off to the side.
‘Eyes on the mirror,’ Charley said.
Slowly, Evie looked back at her reflection.
‘You are beautiful,’ Charley said. ‘Beautiful.’
Evie stared at the woman looking back at her. In the full-length mirror, when she looked at her whole person, her scars were less of a focus. Right now they were offset by the contrast between her red underwear and the peachiness of her skin. The way her calves looked curvier in her black kitten heels. Whenever she had been naked in front of past boyfriends, Evie had always felt a coldness come over her. She was convinced they were sitting there thinking parts of her body were too saggy or that she was overall too pale. Right now, though, she didn’t feel anything like that. The look in Charley’s eyes was unmistakable. She saw beauty. In Evie. And, for what felt like the first time ever, Evie saw it too.
She smiled at herself, and then at Charley.
‘You know, this was a cheap trick to see me in my underwear again?’ Evie said, meeting the officer’s eye.
‘Well, can you blame me?’ said Charley, walking around to face her. ‘Who wouldn’t want to drink in your body every chance they got?’ Charley closed the cubicle door and leant a hand against it so that she was leaning over Evie the way she had seen boys lean over girls in the school corridor in countless American high school movies. ‘Who wouldn’t want to push you up against this door, and kiss every inch of you?’
At that suggestion, Evie’s lungs failed her. Looking into Charley’s eyes and trying to catch her breath she heard herself say: ‘I wish you would.’
Charley tilted her head to the side then, as though this were some kind of trap. ‘You do?’
Evie nodded. ‘Look, Charley, this is new to me. I can’t tell you I’m ready to go public or even if it will lead to anything. But you are on my mind a lot, I can tell you that and right now, today . . . I want you.’
At those words, Charley’s breathing seemed to deepen.
‘You have to decide whether that’s enough for now,’ said Evie.
Charley’s eyes travelled all the way down Evie’s body, and back up again. ‘It’s all I needed to hear.’
Without a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed Evie with both hands and pushed her up against the changing room door. The jolt of it made Evie gasp, and then a short giggle was swallowed up in Charley’s mouth. Evie had forgotten how deliciously soft Charley’s lips were and nibbled on the bottom one. Charley moaned, a sound that only made Evie kiss more hungrily.
Charley wasted no time making good on her initial promise and began kissing along Evie’s neck. She opened her eyes and her whole body arced as she saw their reflection in the mirror. The perfect view of the back of Charley’s head as she kissed her way down, down, down the body that she had for so long believed didn’t deserve any kisses at all.
Thirty-Four
‘Whatever it is,’ said Kitt, ‘you’d best be out with it before Grace gets here.’
‘What do you mean?’ said Evie, enjoying the warm smell of fresh popcorn as it mingled with the scent of the carrot and coriander soup being served up to the Saturday lunchtime crowd. Such were the delights of going for a coffee at the City Screen bar just off Coney Street, a stylish lounge bar with an attached cinema.
The building had a glorious glass frontage that offered panoramic views of the Ouse. Evie bagged one of the low tables nearest the window. From there, one could look out through the glass terrace doors and watch the river gush by. You could see down as far as Lendal Bridge without too much craning of the neck. It was the kind of view she had been avoiding since the incident in October but somehow looking out across that silver length of water today wasn’t so much of an issue.
‘I mean,’ said Kitt, ‘that you’ve had a funny smile on your face the whole time we’ve been sitting here. What’s going on?’
Evie pursed her lips. Was she ready to say this out loud? She had already sort of said it out loud to Kitt once and she’d been perfectly all right about it so there was no reason to believe she would be surprised to learn about what had happened between her and Charley last night. Still, the words stuck in Evie’s throat more than she would have expected.
‘After you and Halloran dropped me off at the house last night, I went to see Charley.’
‘And . . . ?’ Kitt said, with a knowing look on her face.
‘I tracked her down at the gym and we . . . you know, did stuff.’ Evie could feel the grin spreading across her lips as she spoke.
‘At the gym?’ said Kitt. ‘A public sex act, very daring.’
‘Huh, I didn’t think of it that way at the time,’ said Evie. ‘There was only us in the changing area so perhaps not quite as daring as it sounds.’
‘So is this the start of something?’ said Kitt.
‘Yes,’ said Evie. ‘I don’t know what, but the start of something.’
At that moment, Grace trotted over to where they were sitting.
‘Sorry,’ said Grace. ‘I had to round off a couple of things at the library before getting here. We’re a person down this week, you know.’ Grace glanced at Kitt and Kitt rolled her eyes.
‘Honestly, the way you go on, you make it sound as though the place would fall apart without me,’ Kitt said with a wry smile.
‘It’s not optimal,’ said Grace. ‘Let’s just say I’ve had far too much to contend with this week to even look at tidying the journal shelves.’
‘Yes, well, in the words of Scarlett O’Hara, I’ll think about that tomorrow.’
‘Who?’ said Grace.
‘From Gone With . . . Never mind,’ said Kitt. ‘This has been one of the most exhausting weeks of my life. I don’t have the energy for it.’
‘Never mind all right,’ said Grace. ‘It’s one thing that I didn’t get invited along to last night’s little gathering.’
‘You had no connection to Ricci, it was suspicious enough us going along as it was!’
‘But to delay relaying every last detail about Ricci’s arrest is just plain cruel.’
‘We don’t know every last detail about Ricci’s arrest,’ said Kitt. ‘DS Redmond and Chief Superintendent Percival handled the matter while Halloran drove me and Evie back to York. The last I heard was a phone call from Halloran just after midnight. He went to the station after dropping me off just to see what was what and decided to stay and help with questioning Ricci, and from the sound of things quite a bit of paperwork.’
‘Well, what about Redmond?’ Grace said, turning on Evie. ‘Did he tell you anything?’
‘No,’ said Evie. ‘I haven’t heard from him. He only took me to that thing because it was part of Percival’s plan.’
‘Yeah, a likely story. I’d keep it all business if my boss told me to take a Marilyn Monroe lookalike to a
party too.’
Evie laughed. ‘I don’t think I’m quite a Marilyn. Besides anything else, I suspect Redmond has had his hands full at the station.’
Had Charley gone into the station this morning? Evie found herself wondering. When they parted ways at the gym last night, Charley promised she would call after she’d had some much needed rest. But Evie hadn’t heard from her.
‘Hello, you three,’ said a deep voice.
Evie, Kitt and Grace all turned round to see DI Halloran and DS Banks. Charley at once flashed Evie a little smile which she couldn’t help but return.
‘How did you know we were here?’ asked Kitt.
‘We, er, have our ways,’ said the inspector.
Kitt narrowed her eyes. ‘Did you use police resources to triangulate the position of my phone?’
‘I wouldn’t do that, that would be an abuse of the system,’ said Halloran, his face deadpan.
‘But—’
‘Kitt, look, we’ve got a problem,’ said Halloran.
‘What’s going on?’
Halloran looked around the crowded bar. ‘I can’t go into every last detail here. It would be great if there were at least a handful of York residents who didn’t know more than they should about this business by the time we catch whoever’s responsible.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Grace. ‘Haven’t you got the culprit? Didn’t you apprehend them last night?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Halloran.
‘Mal, you’re not saying—’ Kitt started.
‘We may not have the right person. We were going through some of Holt’s older records to prepare our case against him for court and in doing so one of our officers made an alarming discovery.’
‘About six months ago,’ Charley said, ‘a police officer invested and lost a great deal of money in one of Holt’s property schemes.’
‘Who was the officer?’ asked Evie.
Charley lowered her voice. ‘DS Miles Redmond.’
‘What?’ said Evie, her heart racing. She had sat next to Redmond last night. In his car. Had she been unwittingly making polite conversation with a murderer? A double murderer, in fact? Guess it wouldn’t be the first time . . .
‘Jinkies,’ said Evie. ‘Last night in the car, Redmond was asking about all the things we’d learned about the case. I thought he was just trying to help us solve it but now I’m wondering if he was trying to work out if we were onto him.’
‘Have you broken the news to Percival?’ asked Kitt.
Halloran shook his head. ‘No, he only left the station at three this morning. Bear in mind it’s his retirement party in just a few hours. I can’t tell him about this. There’s too much evidence against Ricci, this might be nothing. Essentially what we need to do is rule Redmond out as a suspect.’
‘So, you haven’t already arrested him?’ said Grace.
Charley shook her head. ‘Just like we had to build a case against Ricci we’d have to do the same for Redmond. The fact that he might have done business with Holt six months ago is not enough to tie him to two murders.’
‘Though the fact that he never mentioned it is a little suspicious,’ mused Kitt. ‘So, what are we going to do?’
‘Well, you’re right that it’s strange he didn’t mention it but he might have been embarrassed or worried he’d be taken of the case if he did. To be sure, I’m going to go back to Holt who is out on bail but has been given strict instructions to make himself available for questioning on demand. I’m going to take a statement on his interactions with Redmond, see what his reaction was when he lost the money.’
‘Given my less than winning reaction to Ricci’s arrest last night,’ said Charley, ‘it’s been decided I’d be better placed looking through Holt’s records to see if I can build more of a case. We really want to gather as much evidence as we can before Percival’s retirement party later this afternoon. With a bit of luck, we can discount him as a suspect. If not, we’ll be able to pick him up there – discreetly. Given the sharp deadline we were hoping you might be available to look through the records but you’ll have to sign non-disclosure agreements, of course.’
Evie started an enthusiastic nod but her positivity was drowned out by Kitt and Grace.
‘You’re leaving us with the paperwork?’ said Kitt.
‘I can’t believe I got my hopes up, I never get to do the interesting stuff,’ said Grace.
‘Well, it’s sit with Banks and look through records or you can sit in the police car while I visit Holt, but those are the choices. You can’t speak to Holt directly.’
‘I’ve spoken to him before,’ said Grace. ‘We’re practically old friends.’
‘Time is of the essence,’ said Halloran. ‘We need to deal with this swiftly and professionally . . . so what’s it going to be?’
Thirty-Five
Sitting in the window seat at the Teddy Bear Tea Rooms on Stonegate, Evie smiled across at Charley as she watched her scanning yet another sheet of A4 paper. She highlighted the odd phrase here and there as she read. Though the streets below were full of Christmas shoppers, in the last hour they had only seen one family and another couple nip in for a quick pit stop, and both groups had now left the building. The kitchen staff could be heard chatting along the corridor from the main tea room but other than that the pair were completely alone, which enabled Evie to look at her new beau without any restrictions.
‘What you looking at?’ Charley asked without taking her eyes off the paper.
‘How do you know I’m looking at you?’
‘Industrial-strength peripheral vision, just one of my super powers,’ Charley said, at last looking up from the stack of papers. She reached a hand over to Evie’s cheek. ‘Finding it difficult to concentrate?’
‘Maybe, but we’ve got to behave. We’ve got company,’ said Evie, her eyes drifting across to the large blue teddy bear seated on the third chair at their table.
Charley laughed. ‘You’re right, there are innocent minds present.’
‘You didn’t have to buy me a bear, you know.’
‘I know, but I saw the way your face lit up when we walked in here. I couldn’t help myself,’ said Charley. ‘Besides, we couldn’t have left . . . Hamilton the Third on the shelf.’
‘Oh, Kitt’s going to go mad when she finds out that you’ve encouraged this.’
‘I think, if pressed, Kitt would admit your playfulness is part of your appeal,’ said Charley. ‘But out of interest, I can understand naming a bear Hamilton, but why Hamilton the Third?’
‘You’re asking a thirty-three-year-old woman who likes teddy bears to explain her logic to you?’ said Evie. ‘And people think I’m dotty.’
Charley laughed again and this time Evie joined in.
‘How do you think Kitt, Grace and Halloran are getting on?’
‘I don’t know.’ Charley looked at her watch. ‘They should be there by now so hopefully we’ll hear from them soon.’
‘Do you think Halloran really made Kitt and Grace wait in the car?’
‘Of course,’ said Charley with a frown.
‘I’ll bet you dinner at the Lamb and Lion that Kitt at least managed to talk her way into the conversation with Holt.’
‘You’re on. I hope you’re good for it.’
‘You underestimate how mad those two can drive you once they get going. You end up agreeing to anything for a quiet life,’ said Evie.
‘We’ll see,’ said Charley.
‘Any luck with your documents?’
‘Aye, a bit. I’ve found Redmond’s account details popping up a couple of times in these papers so we’ve definitely got evidence of more than a brief relationship between him and Holt.’
‘Sounds like you’ve had more luck than I have. These are just Holt’s client profile documents as far as I can tell,’ said Evie. �
��I haven’t found Redmond’s yet, or anyone else connected with the case. I’m not even sure how accurate they are. Does Holt strike you as the kind of person who is a stickler for record-keeping?’
‘I don’t know, he might go that far. Trying to keep up the appearances and sucker people in to handing over their money? You’d be amazed at the lengths people will go to to cover up their criminality.’
‘Not as amazed as I would have been two months ago,’ said Evie, raising her eyebrows.
‘I know,’ said Charley. ‘You’ve been through a lot but I’m going to do all I can to look after you now.’
‘You’ve been through a lot too,’ said Evie, putting her hand on top of Charley’s. ‘And looking after you sounds like something I could get used to.’
The pair smiled at each other and then returned to the paperwork they were sifting through. Evie turned page after page of profile pictures and lists of investments. She couldn’t decide if the people in the pictures looked dull to her because they generally had a lacklustre air to them or if it was down to the fact that the documents had been printed in patchy greyscale. Whatever the reason, she wanted to yawn just looking at some of them.
She took another sip of tea as she turned the page and it was then that her hand froze mid-air. Evie wasn’t sure if she was about to spit out her beverage or choke on it but somehow she managed to swallow. Slowly, she reached across and tapped Charley’s arm.
The officer looked up from her reading. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I found Holt’s profile for Miles Redmond.’
‘Anything useful on it?’
‘Look.’ Evie turned the paper around so Charley could see it. Or more specifically, so that Charley could see the photograph.
The officer’s eyes widened. But then her brow lowered and the same shadow Evie had seen fall over it the night before was cast once more.
Without a word, Banks whipped her phone out of her jacket pocket and started dialling. ‘Sir,’ she said. ‘I’m putting you on speaker phone so Evie can hear OK?’
Charley pressed a button on her keypad.