“You two are sick. What the fuck’s wrong with you? Look!”
Tony reached down beside him and pulled up the thing that had shocked Croft so much. The guy looked as though he were going to vomit any second as Tony waved his leg in the air.
Lorne heard Croft gag. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “It’s all right—it’s a false leg.”
Croft let out a relieved breath and held his head in his hands. “Jesus Christ. I had no idea. To see the bloody thing lying there like that…”
Tony laughed. “Guess I better take a trip to the hospital to see what damage has been done.” He ran his hands down either side of the prosthetic limb and winced. “Won’t be able to use this one again, the state it’s in.”
“Any other injuries, either of you?” Lorne asked.
Croft checked himself over and looked down at the blood on his hands that had come from a wound on his forehead. “It’s just a scratch, I think.” Lorne watched him wiggle his legs beneath the steering wheel, which had surprisingly remained intact.
“I’m good. How are you, hon?” Tony asked, smiling at her.
“I’m good… Well, I suppose we’d better make the call to report this little incident. Did either of you see anything?” Both men shook their heads. “The windows were blacked out. I noticed the plates were removed. I’ll bet that car intentionally hit us; this is more than a hit-and-run by a scared teenager.”
“Yep, that seems suspicious in itself. Oops, we seem to be attracting an audience.” Tony said, pointing at the gathering crowd.
Lorne eased open the back door and stepped out onto the tarmac of the car park. Under the gaze of the crowd, none of whom rushed to offer any form of help, she fished her mobile out of her jacket pocket and dialled 9-9-9.
“Yes, police, please. There’s been an accident. No, no one was injured. Only the police need to attend.” She gave the girl on the switchboard the location and hung up.
Tony got out of the vehicle and flung an arm around Lorne’s shoulders for support.
“I’ll deal with the police when they arrive. I’ll tell them we were chatting with an acquaintance in his car, and then some guy hit us from behind with his car and drove off. I’ll settle you in our car before they arrive.” Lorne helped Tony over to her father’s Nova, which was thankfully parked on the other side of the car park out of harm’s way, near the entrance. After settling Tony in the front seat, she returned to Croft’s beat-up vehicle and surveyed the damage.
“Hey, it’s a good job I’ve been considering a replacement,” Croft said, standing alongside her.
In spite of what had happened, Lorne was amazed at how matter of fact he was being. Despite someone trying their hardest to frighten the hell out of them, he appeared totally chilled out; others might have been shaking in their boots by now.
Lorne shook her head. “Now do you see who you’re dealing with?”
Croft shrugged nonchalantly. “Makes no odds to me. I’ve got them on the run.”
“You really don’t get it at all. These guys mean business, Croft. This was a warning, that’s all. If they had really wanted to harm you, they could’ve just killed us.”
“Yeah, but I’ve got a magic weapon now. I’ve got the great DI Lorne Simpkins working with me.”
His words forced a smile out of her, but left her wondering if she really had it in her these days to deal with the dirtiest criminals around. There was only one way to find out.
Chapter Nine
By the time they’d given a statement to the police and taken Tony to the hospital to get checked over, it was late, and it was past midnight when they got home.
Lorne was surprised to find her father still up and pacing around the kitchen waiting for them to come home. “Hi, Dad, everything all right?”
“I couldn’t flaming sleep. You guys are late.”
“Yeah, later than we anticipated.” Not wishing to cause her father any unnecessary worry, Lorne hesitated before telling him what had occurred in the last few hours. But the expression on his face told her he had already guessed that some form of trouble had found them.
“Okay, what went on?”
Lorne, Tony, and her father slumped into the chairs around the table and Lorne proceeded to fill her father in. He listened intently, without interruption. After she had finished, he reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Christ! Are you sure you’re okay? Must have been a hell of a fright.”
“And then some. Yeah, we’re both fine, Dad. The hospital gave Tony a temporary limb to use until a replacement can be made. They gave him the all-clear, too. I just hope Croft recovers from his ordeal of seeing Tony’s leg lying there.” She laughed to break the tension. “Any calls while we were out, Dad?”
“Actually, yes. Jade called. She said something about arranging a meeting with one of her friends.”
“Angie—that’s right.”
“I said you’d give her a call first thing for a chat.”
“That’s brilliant. Let’s hope I can meet up with her soon. The sooner the better, if tonight’s little tangle is anything to go by.”
They all said goodnight and set off to bed. Lorne spent the night snuggled into Tony’s back, scared to let him go.
*
Lorne groaned and hit the alarm beside her bed. Sometimes she hated getting up before the sun rose. Henry licked her face. “All right, I’m coming.”
She trudged downstairs and let the dog out the back door before she filled the kettle and then flicked the switch. The morning felt crisp, and the mist she could see in the dim light hinted that the day ahead would be a pleasant one.
After letting the dog back in and feeling more awake, she ran upstairs and threw on her work clothes. An hour later, she had finished all the basic chores outside in the kennels and headed back inside the house. Her father was sitting at the table, waiting for her.
“Good morning.” She pecked him on the forehead and gazed down at him. His skin looked pale, but she knew better than to point it out. “Did you sleep well?”
“Not really. I was too busy worrying about you.”
“Aww…come on, Dad. There’s no need for that, I’m a big girl now,” she teased, flinging her arms around his neck and planting another kiss on the top of his head.
“No matter what age you are, you’re still my baby. Promise me you’ll be careful on this case, Lorne.”
“Hey, that goes without saying, Dad. I’m always careful. Don’t forget I’ve got Tony by my side, too. That means we have twice the muscle and the brainpower. It’s Croft we’ve got to be wary of. He’s like a bull in a china shop, that one.”
“If anything, he’s my main concern in all this. No point in having a word with him, I suppose,” her father said.
She exhaled a large breath. “Believe me, I’ve tried. Even after last night’s incident, I tried to tell him that these guys mean business, told him he should take what happened as a serious warning, but I can’t see him doing that.”
“Then why work with him? Why put yourself in jeopardy like that, love?”
“Hey, come on, Dad, this isn’t like you. You’ve always given me credit in the common sense department. What’s with the doubts this time?”
“A gut feeling I have. I’ll back off under the proviso that you’ll be extra vigilant on this case. You know how tetchy these criminals get if their income is interfered with.”
“I’ll be careful—that goes without saying. Anyway old man, Tony won’t let anything happen to me.” Lorne could tell by the look on her father’s face that he remained unconvinced by her words. “I know he was with me last night, but we didn’t see the car before it struck us.”
“Right…” was all her father said before he left the room.
That went well! She watched him walk up the passage, but he stopped midway and hit the palm of his hand on his forehead, then walked back towards her.
“Sorry, mind like a sieve. I wanted to remind you to ring Jade first thing.”
/> “I will, Dad.” She took a few steps forward and kissed his cheek. “And don’t worry about me, promise?”
He smiled at her, but the smile never reached his eyes. He turned away without uttering another word.
Knowing how hectic Jade’s morning was with two toddlers in the house, Lorne left it until nine o’clock before she rang her sister.
“Hi, Jade, how’s the tribe?”
“Remind me again why I wanted a handful of kids? I’m so glad I decided to stop at two.”
Lorne laughed. “Hey, that’s one more than I managed to cope with. Driving you to distraction, are they?”
“Yeah, you could say that. I need a kind and caring auntie to volunteer to take them off my hands for a few days while hubby and I have a break.”
“Ah, well, ordinarily I would jump at the chance—you know that—but if you and Luigi went away together, you’d probably come back pregnant again. Think of your two being a cheap version of contraception.”
“You’re just too practical for words sometimes, Sis.”
“I aim to please. Dad said you called last night.”
“Yeah, I finally tracked Angie down; you know she’s the type to do lunches and charity balls, etc. She says that she can fit you in sometime this afternoon, around four-ish. Does that suit you?”
“Nice of her to squeeze me into her busy schedule. Will Jai San be there, too?”
“As far as I know, yeah. I’ll ring her back and confirm it, then, shall I? If I don’t call back, you’ll know I’ve managed to fix the appointment for you. You have the address, don’t you?”
“I have. Thanks, Jade. I hope the kids don’t play you up too much today.”
Lorne hung up just as Tony entered the kitchen. “Looks like I have an appointment this afternoon with Jade’s friend.”
“That’s great. What time?” he replied, giving her a cuddle.
“Four. I’m going to chase up Katy this morning, too. I’m not happy that the police aren’t making this case a priority, it’s all too quiet for me.”
“It does seem strange, especially after all the publicity.”
“In fact, I think I’ll ring her now. I’ll sort your breakfast out in a moment, hon.”
“Do what you have to do. I’m quite capable of throwing a few slices of bread in the toaster. I’ll be sure to watch for the smoke coming out the top.”
Lorne shook her head and tutted at her husband’s joke. She picked up the phone and dialled Katy’s number. “Hi, any news?”
“I was going to share all I had over the weekend, not that I’ve found out much. It’s looking more like a coverup the more I delve into things,” Katy told her in a hushed voice. “Hold on a sec, I’ll go through to the office. Yep, AJ, I need that info ASAP before I go out.” There was a moment’s pause before Katy spoke again. “Sorry about that. Can’t talk for long, just on my way out to arrest someone. Look, the more I dig into things, the more the barriers are going up. I spend half my day trying to ring people to find out some kind of information about the ship that went down, but no one returns my calls. Roberts is getting a bit antsy about the time I’m spending on the case, too, so I have to be careful.”
“I understand. Why do you think information is proving difficult to come by?”
“I’m guessing there are some pretty high up people involved in this. You know how these things go, Lorne. It galls me to think of these people getting away with this. Have you managed to find anything out?”
“As it happens, yes. I’m meeting up with one of Jade’s friends later. The woman’s au pair had a sister on board the illfated ship. Also, yesterday Tony and I met the journalist who ran the story. We met him and had a pretty eventful evening. I’ll fill you in over the weekend. Are you still coming tomorrow?”
“That’s a definite. I can’t wait to be with sane people.”
Lorne chuckled. “You’d better go elsewhere for the weekend if that’s the case, then.”
“Got to go. See you tomorrow.”
*
Lorne jumped in the car at a quarter past three and was en route to Angie’s house when it occurred to her that maybe she should have left the meeting with Angie until the weekend; it would have been better to have had Katy’s perspective on things and to team up with her former partner again. Deep down, she missed the rapport she’d once had with Katy. Actually, this weekend it had been Lorne’s intention to try and persuade Katy to join the firm; the only stumbling block Lorne could see was the question of salary. They’d never be able to afford to match her Met salary yet, not until the business really took off.
She turned in through the gates of the large mansion house, which was not dissimilar to the Wallaces’s house she had visited a few days earlier. Archetypical for the wealthy—stinking rich brigade in the London area, Lorne guessed. She drove past an army of men tending the beautiful garden who appeared to be redesigning one of the beds, ripping out the spring bulbs and making way for the abundance of summer bedding plants that were lined up in trays in regimented lines along the drive. She suspected that if she stayed around long enough, she would be privy to military precision at its finest.
A butler rushed out of the house and opened the door to Lorne’s car when she pulled up outside the front entrance. Embarrassed, she smiled at the wizened old man. “Sorry, have I parked in the wrong place?”
The butler seemed surprised by her question. “No, ma’am, I’m just opening the door for you. Mrs. North is expecting you. Walk this way, please.” The butler shuffled up the hallway.
If I walk like that, mate, your mistress will think that I’m some kind of primate, she thought before reprimanding herself for being grossly unkind and insensitive to the man’s obvious disability.
The hallway of the house took Lorne’s breath away. A large, sweeping galleried staircase, which appeared to be very Americanised for the house, greeted her. If it had been any other house of this era, Lorne had the feeling the staircase would have looked out of place, but the way this one was designed with its backdrop of windows was truly spectacular.
The butler coughed slightly to gain her attention. “This way, ma’am.”
“Sorry, interior design fascinates me and I’ve never seen anything quite so beautiful.”
“Ah. Mrs. North employed the services of a top architect when she purchased the house five years ago. This area alone took almost six months to complete.”
“I can believe it.”
He showed her through a small hallway and into a vast lounge at the rear of the property. Angela North was sitting in a winged chair alongside the open bi-fold doors. The petite lady was smartly dressed in a cream-coloured pencil skirt and a chocolate boucle buttoned-up cardigan. She stood and limply shook hands with Lorne.
“You have a beautiful house, Mrs. North.”
The comment brought a sparkle to the woman’s eyes and a tinge of colour to her cheeks. When she spoke, her voice was gentle and barely above a whisper. “You’re very kind. Not everyone appreciates the alterations I’ve made to the house.”
“I’m surprised. You have an excellent eye for detail.”
“Thank you, that means a lot. Would you care for a tea or coffee?”
“A coffee would be nice, thank you.”
The butler left the room while Angela motioned for Lorne to sit on the white leather sofa opposite her chair. As they sat, Lorne’s eye was immediately drawn to the landscaped gardens and the beautiful open countryside beyond.
After seeing the admiration on Lorne’s face, Angela said, “Isn’t it beautiful? I spend most of my day just taking in the view. I’ve always loved this house—more for the location than anything else. A house can be altered to your specifications, but you can’t change a view—that’s what my father always told me.”
“He’s right. If ever I win the lottery, I might come and make an offer on this place; it has to be my dream home. You’d probably send me off with a flea in my ear for being so cheeky.”
Angela smi
led proudly. “They’re going to have to carry me out in a box, I think. Anyway, enough of my luxuries I know you’re a very busy lady—let’s get down to this awful tragedy.” Sadness swept her smile away and tears moistened her eyes.
“Jade told me your au pair had a relative in the disaster—is she here?”
“Do you mind if I introduce you later? She’s very timid. I thought I could fill in the details for you first, if you don’t mind.”
Lorne nodded reassuringly. “Of course I don’t mind. It must be hard for Jai San to be in a strange country having to deal with something so tragic.”
“It is. She’s such a sweet girl. My heart really goes out to her.”
“Has she worked for you long, Angela?”
“About six months, I suppose. She was so excited when she learned her sister would be joining her here. When I say ‘here,’ I mean in the UK, not here in this house. My little Anthony absolutely idolises her. Before she came into our lives, he used to drive me and his previous au pairs to distraction. Throwing temper tantrums every minute of the day—I don’t mind telling you I was at my wit’s end. She has a calmness that surrounds her. Does that sound strange?”
“An aura, you mean?”
“Not exactly. She’s a Buddhist. I know I’d be lost without her. My days at the charity can be stressful enough, you see I’m a bit of a soft touch where Anthony’s concerned and he tends to play on that when I get home. His tantrums were getting more and more out of hand and were having a detrimental effect on my sanity until she came along.”
Lorne understood completely where Angela was coming from—her own daughter Charlie hadn’t been the easiest child to bring up. Not that Lorne had brought Charlie up, per se; that onerous task had been down to Tom, her ex, most of the time. During her teens, Charlie had been a devil child, and even before she had reached her teens, she had demanded Tom’s attention throughout most of the day. Rather than get into the whys and wherefores of parenting with a stranger, knowing the subject could be as volatile as politics or religion to some people, therefore avoided at all cost, Lorne steered the conversation back to Jai San. “Can I ask how you found your au pair? Did she come recommended?”
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