Killer Plan

by Leigh Russell

  Eve didn’t respond although she must have heard him call her from the hall. Hungry, he went into the kitchen. She wasn’t there, although the oven was on. It was empty.

  ‘Hello,’ he called.

  When she didn’t answer, he turned off the oven, and checked the rest of the house. She wasn’t in. Relieved, he returned to the kitchen, put a couple of slices of bread in the toaster and took some cheese from the fridge. He wasn’t aware his wife had come in until she spoke.

  ‘You eat like an animal. Can’t you use a knife and fork?’

  He laughed bitterly. ‘You want me to eat toast with a fork? Is there a clean fork in the place?’ He looked at her in unbearable irritation. ‘Jesus, just look at the state of you. You must be freezing. Go and get yourself dry, for Christ’s sake. Why didn’t you wear a coat? You’re worse than a child.’

  Smoothing down her drenched hair she stalked out of the room, muttering to herself under her breath.

  ‘What’s that?’ he demanded sourly. ‘Can’t you at least try to behave normally? I’ve just come in from a long day at work, for Christ’s sake. Most wives would be at home to put the kettle on, never mind have a conversation with me for a change, instead of talking to yourself all the time.’ But she was already out of earshot. ‘I ought to have divorced you a long time ago,’ he called out.

  16

  Geraldine regretted having agreed to go out for a drink with Nick. At first morose, he surprised her by suggesting they go somewhere more private. When she rejected his suggestion, the evening ended abruptly. They walked back round the corner to the car park without exchanging a word. It was growing dark by the time they parted, and beginning to rain. With a terse goodbye she hurried away. If he had registered her disappointment it would have been humiliating, but he seemed too preoccupied to pay any attention to her feelings.

  Pleased to get home, she fixed herself a simple supper of cheese and pasta, with a glass of red wine. She had finished clearing up and was flicking through channels, television remote control in one hand, glass of wine in the other, when her phone rang. Not having heard from her sister for over a week, it was no surprise to hear her slightly nasal voice at the other end. Expecting Celia to start grumbling about how she never called, and didn’t want to spend time with her family, and hardly ever saw her niece, Geraldine prepared to make her excuses.

  ‘Guess what?’

  Celia sounded surprisingly cheerful. She usually phoned to complain. Feeling guilty that Celia always called her, Geraldine threw out a few suggestions: her niece Chloe had passed a piano exam; she had come top in a class test; she had been chosen to play the lead in the school play. Only news about Chloe could prompt such excitement in her mother.

  Celia gave an impatient laugh. ‘No, no. It’s nothing to do with Chloe. Why are you so fixated on Chloe all of a sudden?’

  ‘I give up.’

  ‘That is, it is something to do with her, but it’s more to do with me. I mean, it’s going to change things for her. For all of us.’

  Geraldine tried not to sound as tired as she felt.

  ‘You’ve got a job?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. You’ve booked a holiday?’

  ‘No. Guess again.’

  ‘I can’t. You’ll have to tell me.’

  ‘I’m pregnant!’

  ‘What?’

  Taken by surprise, Geraldine didn’t respond straight away. Not for the first time, she envied her sister. It wasn’t that she wanted children herself. Far from it. Even if she had been in a relationship, she couldn’t imagine allowing anything to distract her from her work. But she couldn’t help feeling that her life would have been more fulfilling, if only she had been a different kind of woman.

  ‘Aren’t you going to say anything?’

  ‘That’s wonderful news!’

  After a convoluted account of how she had been afraid she might never conceive again Celia paused, and Geraldine butted in with a promise to invite her niece to stay for a weekend as soon as she could.

  ‘What does soon mean?’ Celia demanded. ‘When are you going to have her?’

  ‘Oh God, please don’t go all hormonal on me. I’m really up to my ears right now, but I’ll see her as soon as I can,’ Geraldine repeated, already regretting having committed herself that far, ‘but you know my time’s not my own when I’m on a case.’

  ‘You’re always on a case,’ Celia complained. ‘Since you moved, we hardly see anything of you, and it’s almost impossible to get hold of you.’

  Geraldine did her best to placate her sister. She knew exactly what Celia was after. Such exchanges usually ended with Geraldine agreeing on a date to take her niece out.

  ‘You’ve got no idea how fast she’s growing up,’ Celia repeated a familiar refrain. ‘Soon she’ll be a teenager and then she won’t want to go out with you. It’s really important for you to establish a good relationship with her now, while she’s still young enough to be excited about seeing you and being taken out.’

  Since their mother had died, nearly two years earlier, Celia had been increasingly desperate for Geraldine to form a relationship with her niece. Geraldine had done her best to point out that she couldn’t take their mother’s place, but it was hard.

  ‘It’s different for you,’ Celia had insisted tearfully. ‘You weren’t as close to mum as I was.’

  There had been a good reason for that, although Geraldine had only discovered it after their mother’s death. Not until she and Celia had been going through their mother’s papers had Geraldine learned that their mother had been unable to have any more children after Celia was born. Not wanting Celia to be an only child, her parents had adopted Geraldine. What made the revelation more painful was that Celia had known the truth all along. She had been genuinely amazed by Geraldine’s shock, insisting that she had always believed Geraldine knew her own history.

  At last Geraldine succeeded in ending the call.

  ‘You know I’d love to have her. I’ll make a date with you as soon as I can. And congratulations again. I’m so excited!’

  She was genuinely thrilled for her sister. But when she rang off, she unexpectedly burst into tears. She had hardly settled down to watch an old film on TCM when the phone rang again. Assuming Celia was calling back, she was pleasantly surprised to hear the voice of her former sergeant. Working together in Kent, they had developed an intimacy that frequently developed between officers who were together for a long time. They had only met occasionally since her move to London, since when Ian Peterson had also relocated. Recently promoted to detective inspector, he had gone to the North of England. She was really pleased to hear from him. In contrast to her sister, Ian was genuinely interested to hear how she was progressing on the Met. She told him about her current case.

  ‘In his own garden shed?’ he repeated, ‘Blimey. And there I was, thinking my shed was a safe haven from the rest of the world, no phone, no internet, and the wife never sets foot in there. It’s just me and the spiders.’

  Geraldine laughed, but she felt an irrational pang of jealousy at the reminder that he was married.

  ‘How is your wife?’ she asked, and then wished she hadn’t.

  Sitting alone in her flat, she didn’t want to be reminded that, like Nick, Ian had someone waiting for him at home. Sometimes it felt as though she was the only person she knew who was still alone. Some of her friends had met their partners through online dating. She had gone as far as registering with a couple of agencies, but somehow work commitments had always prevented her from following it up.

  ‘What have you got to lose?’ Sam had teased her. ‘If a guy pushes his luck, you can always arrest him! A lot of men might like to be clapped in handcuffs.’

  Ian was talking about his new post. A few minutes passed in discussing the difference between the workload and responsibilities of an inspector compared to the role of a sergeant. Having finished indulging in understated mutual congratulations on their success so far in t
heir careers, they moved on to commiserating with one another about the loss of overtime pay they experienced as inspectors. From there they chatted in a desultory fashion about their former colleagues in Kent. Ian had only left recently but the memories had lost their immediacy for Geraldine, and the conversation moved on to the cases they had recently worked on. There was plenty to talk about. Chatting with Ian, she felt like a young girl talking to her boyfriend outside school. But she wasn’t a schoolgirl talking to her boyfriend. She was a woman on her own, and he was a married man. She resolved to make more of an effort with Nick. A relationship with a colleague might stand a better chance of success than seeing someone outside the force who would never appreciate the constraints her work placed on her time. Even her own sister didn’t understand.

  17

  The next morning Nick was in the office before Geraldine. He barely glanced up when she entered the office. She hoped their evening hadn’t put him off her. Apart from the possibility they might actually hit it off if she gave him a chance, it would be tricky to fall out with each other when they shared an office. By late afternoon the atmosphere between them was tense and Geraldine decided it was time to do something about it. Turning her chair so she could look at him directly, she cleared her throat. She couldn’t decide if she was nervous because he was a colleague with whom she shared an office, or because he was an attractive man who had taken her out for a drink several times and assured her he was estranged from his wife. His motive in inviting her out had been fairly obvious, whatever he now said.

  ‘Nick?’

  He grunted without glancing up from his screen.

  ‘I was wondering if you were thinking of going for a drink after work tonight?’

  That made him look up. He gazed around the room as though to find out whom she was addressing. Geraldine laughed at his charade but he didn’t smile.

  ‘Do you fancy going for a drink after work tonight?’

  He hesitated. ‘I don’t think I’d be very good company right now. I’ve got a lot on my mind.’

  ‘We’ve all got a lot on our minds,’ she muttered, ‘but if you’d rather not join me for a drink that’s fine…’

  ‘No, no, that’s not what I meant. I’m just very tired, that’s all.’

  They returned to their screens, but Geraldine couldn’t concentrate on reading witness statements, hunting for inconsistencies. Abandoning the search, she began to sort through a list of expenses claims, a mindless task that allowed her thoughts to wander. She had given up all hope of getting anywhere with Nick when he broke the silence, suggesting they go for another drink in the local pub frequented by colleagues after work.

  To begin with when they had gone out together, Nick had taken her to a comfortable pub off the beaten track where they wouldn’t be recognised. Although relieved he still wanted to spend time with her, Geraldine was faintly disappointed he didn’t want to go somewhere more discreet. His suggestion seemed to signal he was no longer interested in her as a woman, if he ever had been. Shrewd in her reading of suspects and witnesses, somehow she never managed to understand her personal relations with men. Although she missed her friend and colleague who was off work injured, she felt a frisson of guilty pleasure Sam wasn’t there to see her going out with Nick. She could imagine her sergeant’s scathing indignation.

  ‘He’s a snake, Geraldine.’

  She left work early and walked to the pub where she found him waiting for her in a quiet bar. Taking their pints to a corner table, they sat down. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes.

  ‘You’re not your usual self,’ she hazarded, in an attempt to break the silence. ‘If I’ve said something to offend you, I’m sorry, but…’

  He looked up at her in surprise. ‘Not at all. Like I said, I’m just a bit preoccupied at the moment. You would be too if…’

  He broke off and glanced around, as though afraid they were being watched. Geraldine remembered that he was in fact married, although he claimed to be estranged from his wife. She wondered whether Sam had been right all along, and she had completely misjudged his intentions. He was still living with his wife, after all.

  When she announced she was leaving he sprang to his feet and followed close behind her. In the darkness, she thought she had misheard him when he asked if he could follow her to her flat. Despite the solemn warnings ringing in her head, she couldn’t suppress a smile. She hoped he didn’t notice. She turned away, muttering something inane about his wife.

  ‘I’ve told you, it’s over. We’re separated.’

  He was standing so close to her, she could feel the soft touch of his breath on her cheek. She didn’t move away.

  ‘Nick, you know as well as I do that just because people separate, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the end of it.’

  ‘Look, I’m not suggesting any impropriety…’ She wished she could see his face. ‘But it’s early, and I’ll be on my own at home, so I just thought a coffee, a chat.’ There was an urgency in his voice that startled her. ‘Geraldine, please. I have to speak to someone.’

  She knew it was a mistake to agree.

  In the kitchen her fingers fumbled with the cafetière as she brewed coffee. She was aware of Nick standing behind her, so close she could detect a faint whiff of his aftershave. When she turned, holding the coffee pot between them, he leaned forward slowly until his lips brushed hers. She pulled away, clutching the pot, careful not to spill it.

  ‘Careful, it’s hot.’

  ‘Forget the coffee. You’re hot.’

  His voice was low and his eyes stared intensely into hers. Geraldine’s resolve crumbled. Wordlessly she put the coffee down and led him into her bedroom. It was a long time since she had last slept with a man. It crossed her mind that she ought to ask if he was going to stay the night, or if he intended going home to his wife. But they were both adults. If he was cheating on his wife, it was without Geraldine’s knowledge. There was nothing wrong with her seeking physical comfort in the arms of a man who had assured her he had no ties.

  Nick was a sensitive lover. Afterwards, when she snuggled up against his firm warm body, he began to talk in a low voice. Only half listening, she understood he was worried.

  ‘I’m sure it will be fine,’ she assured him sleepily.

  Her head rose and fell as he sighed.

  ‘That’s what I need,’ he admitted, stroking her hair gently, ‘someone sensible telling me everything’s going to be all right.’ He paused. ‘But what if it isn’t?’

  He half sat up, pushing her aside, and began to speak rapidly, as though talking against the clock. She raised herself up on one elbow so she could see his face, and was shocked to see he was close to tears. In silence she listened with increasing concern to what sounded like paranoid ranting.

  At last she interrupted him. ‘If what you’re saying is true, you need to do something about it.’

  ‘If?’ he repeated indignantly. ‘What? You think I’m making it up?’

  ‘No, no, of course not. But you could be mistaken.’

  Nick flung himself back on the pillow and stared gloomily at the ceiling for a moment. Then he turned a miserable face to look at her.

  ‘At first I thought I was imagining it,’ he said helplessly. ‘I couldn’t think why anyone would want to follow me. But you know how it is; we’re trained to observe accurately…’

  ‘And to report coherently,’ Geraldine thought.

  ‘It was the same van, the whole time. I drove all the way round the block, and it was there, right on my tail.’

  ‘Did you get the number?’

  He shook his head.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘It was too close, and it was impossible to see. It was chucking it down with rain. But I could see it was the same van,’ he added quickly.

  ‘What about when you got home? When you got out of the car?’

  ‘It disappeared.’

  ‘Disappeared?’

  Nick sat up, growing animated as he tried to expla
in. ‘I live on a corner and before I knew it, he’d disappeared. I should have followed but, well, I know it sounds unlikely, me losing my head, but I panicked, all right? I wasn’t thinking, and I let him get away. He just sped off and was gone before I had a chance to gather my thoughts. Do you think I should report it?’

  ‘Report what?’

  ‘What I just told you. That I think I’m being stalked.’

  ‘If you’re sure the van was following you.’

  ‘That’s just it, I can’t be sure. I mean, I could be wrong. It could have been chance that it was going the same way as me, all the way.’

  Geraldine refrained from pointing out that he was contradicting himself. He was clearly too flustered to think clearly.

  ‘What did Reg say?’

  ‘I haven’t told him. I haven’t told anyone else.’

  ‘Why don’t you wait and keep an eye out for it? If you see the van again, report it. And make sure you get the registration number this time.’

  She felt smug, knowing he had confided in her alone. All the same, it had been a confusing visit. Her emotions were a mess. She was relieved when he climbed out of bed and told her he had to go. She didn’t ask why. Uppermost in her mind was the thought that it might be wise to guard against falling for Nick. There were too many complications.

  ‘Just take it easy,’ she told him as he was getting dressed. ‘No one’s out to get you.’

  ‘I find that very disappointing coming from you,’ he replied, with a return to his usual good humour, ‘after my performance just now, I can hardly believe my ears!’ He bent down to kiss her. ‘I’ll have to try harder next time. Don’t get up. I’ll let myself out. See you tomorrow.’

  And with that he was gone, leaving her confused and elated, and decidedly uneasy.

  18

  Geraldine was disappointed to discover that Nick had the day off on Saturday. In theory his absence meant she was able to get on with some work without any distraction. In practice she couldn’t help speculating about whether he might want to sleep with her again. She couldn’t recall which of them had made the first move, but once he had set foot in her flat it had been inevitable they would end up in bed together. It would be embarrassing if he lost interest in her after they had spent just one night together.