He’d have another after this.
Maybe two.
It would take that before he could face the trip home.
Seven
Catherine Reed rolled onto her back, her chest heaving, her breath coming in deep, racking gasps.
‘Jesus.’ she murmured, trying to slow her breathing.
Beside her, Phillip Cross was also trying to get his breath back. He reached across to the bedside table and retrieved the can of Carlsberg there, taking a swig, wincing when he tasted warm beer.
‘Can I have some of that?’ Cath asked, taking the can from him.
‘It’s warm.’ he told her. ‘I’ll go and get us a couple more.’
She too sipped at the lukewarm fluid, watching as Cross swung himself out of bed and walked naked across the room.
Cute arse.
She smiled to herself, stretching her long legs, then bending them, clasping her hands around her knees as if she were preparing for some kind of exercise routine.
Cross looked back at her and grinned.
‘I thought you were going to get the beers.’ she said, looking at him, framed in the doorway.
He nodded and disappeared through into the sitting room. She heard rattling around by the fridge in the kitchen and, moments later, he returned and sat down on the bed beside her, holding out a cold can for her. As she went to take it he pressed it to her left breast, rubbing her already stiff nipple with the cold metal.
She yelped and slapped his shoulder, chuckling.
At thirty, Cross was two years her junior, but his face was heavily lined for one so young. Cath was aware of lines on her own face, but around the eyes she preferred to call them laughter lines. It was as good a euphemism as she could think of.
‘Do you think anyone at the office knows about us?’ Cross said, taking a sip of his drink.
She lay back, stretching her legs again, admiring their shape herself.
Cross ran a hand along her right calf and thigh, stroking the smooth flesh there.
‘I doubt it, we’ve been pretty discreet. Besides, nobody gives a shit. They’re too concerned with their own lives or how to fill the paper. Nobody cares about what we’re doing.’
‘What about you?’ he said, looking into her green eyes. ‘Do you care?’
‘Phil, don’t start this again,’ she said, smiling.
‘It’s not funny,’ he snapped.
‘I’m not laughing, am I?’
‘You smiled.’
‘What do you want me to do? Break down in tears?’ she swigged her beer. ‘Look, what we do together is fun, right? I enjoy being with you, but it’s not a big romance.’
‘Is that because you don’t want it to be?’
‘Can we save the big inquests for some other time, please?’
‘We just finished making love, I think that’s a fair enough time to ask about feelings, isn’t it?’
‘Phil, we just finished fucking,’ she smiled and touched his cheek. ‘There is a difference.’
Cross looked at her with accusing eyes. ‘You can be a right bitch sometimes,’
he said, acidly.
‘Sorry,’ she said, shrugging, taking a sip from the can. ‘I just don’t want you getting carried away with what’s going on between us.’
‘According to you, there’s not much to get carried away with anyway.’
Cath took one last sip of beer then clambered off the bed, pulling on her leggings.
‘What are you doing?’ Cross demanded.
‘Getting dressed. I’m going home.’
‘I thought you were staying the night.’
‘I didn’t say that, did I?’ she retorted, pulling on a denim shirt and fastening it.
‘I just thought…’
She kissed him on the forehead.
‘You think too much,’ she said, pushing her feet into her trainers.
He pulled on his jeans and followed her through into the sitting room, watching as she gathered up her handbag and jacket, checking in the pocket for her car keys.
‘I’ll call you tomorrow,’ she said, kissing him lightly on the lips.
Cross pulled her more tightly to him, easing his tongue past the soft flesh, happy when she responded.
‘You’re a pain in the arse.’ he said, attempting a smile. ‘No wonder that copper at Euston got so uptight when he saw you.’
She nodded.
‘I suppose he had his reasons,’ she said dismissively, then turned and headed towards the hall. ‘I can find my own way out, Phil, and
besides …’ she nodded towards his crotch, ‘you don’t want to frighten the neighbours, do you?’ She giggled.
Cross looked down to see that his flies were undone.
As he hurried to zip them up, Cath stepped out.
He heard the door close behind her.
The photographer stood alone for a moment then sat down on the edge of the sofa, running both hands through his hair.
He could smell her perfume on his fingers.
He’d be able to smell it in the bedroom too.
He always could.
As he got to his feet, the phone rang.
Eight
‘What’s your name?’
Shanine Connor jumped slightly in her seat as the silence inside the car was suddenly broken.
She glanced across at the driver who took his eyes off the road momentarily and smiled at her.
Her own expression remained blank. Instead, she ran cautious eyes over the driver’s features. He was in his early forties, his face a little on the chubby side, his hair thick and lustrous, although in the gloomy interior of the Astra it was difficult to tell what colour.
The only other light was supplied by the lamps on the M60. There wasn’t much traffic travelling in either
direction, and even when vehicles did pass by on the opposite carriageway, Shanine hardly noticed their headlamps. She was too concerned with checking the wing mirror beside her. Glancing in it every few moments.
Checking.
She was sure she’d seen a dark blue Nissan tuck in behind the Astra about twelve miles back.
She couldn’t be sure it wasn’t still there.
Following?
The Nissan had had plenty of opportunities to overtake, but she was sure it had sat in the inside lane, keeping a respectable distance, sometimes dropping back out of sight, sometimes coming closer.
Wasn’t it?
She held the holdall close to her, one hand resting on the side of the bag where she had secreted the kitchen knife.
The driver had offered to put the holdall in the back seat for her but she’d shaken her head vehemently, preferring to keep it near.
He’d told her his name but she’d forgotten it. He’d been trying to make conversation for the last fifteen miles, ever since they left Manchester. All she could remember was that he’d said he was heading back home to Liverpool
