David wasn’t going to be home, that was one positive. She wouldn’t have to engage in small talk - You manage to close that Bates account, David? No, you manage to catch that psychopath, Holly? - and she wouldn’t have to make an excuse to not make love. Again.
The cars were moving now, the traffic breaking up. Second gear. And third.
Fighting to keep her eyes open, she focused on an image of her bed. It was beautiful, and if she was lucky she might get a full two hours.
*
As she neared her house there was more night than day around, but it didn’t take a genius to see she was being followed. She recognised the car. It was the same burgundy Vauxhall she’d seen yesterday at the bar, its driver still obscured neatly behind glass and velocity.
She flicked on the indicator and turned into her street. The Vauxhall went speeding past. At the back of her head the lump began to tingle again as she recalled the jeering message left for York at the scene, the taunting voice on the recordings. Mark my words, York had said, this is going to get personal. And now she was being tailed. A shudder ran along her spine. Did he always have to be so bloody right!
Pulling on to her driveway, she shut off the engine and paused. David’s car was there.
Frowning, she climbed into the warm evening and took off the sunglasses.
David was supposed to be in Middlesbrough, though she couldn’t deny she was glad he was there. The strange Vauxhall had unnerved her.
She let herself in and lingered in the deserted hallway. Sitting primly on the laminate floor was a suitcase, one of David’s full-sized bags and too big for a quick trip up north.
She found him in the living room. He was sitting in the centre of the sofa and in silence, leaning forwards, a glass of golden fluid nestled between both hands. As she entered he glanced up with his ocean grey eyes and placed the glass on the coffee table. She loved those eyes. They were the first thing she noticed about him when they met in that coffee shop seven years ago.
‘Didn’t expect you to be here.’ She edged further into the room.
‘I decided to stay home,’ David muttered. There was no welcome in his voice, no spark.
‘What’s going on, David?’
‘Sit down,’ he said, eyes more piercing than sexy.
‘Are you going to tell me –’
‘Sit down, Holly,’ he said firmly.
Doing as asked, she began to grow concerned. She perched herself in the armchair, stared straight ahead.
‘You can’t even look at me, can you?’ said David.
She didn’t know what to say. So she didn’t say anything.
‘I knew something was wrong. That trip to Jersey, the entire time, you were never there.’
‘What do you mean? Of course I was there.’
‘But you weren’t there, Holly! I tried to talk to you, but you were off somewhere else. You had this…blankness in your eyes. At first I just thought it was some case you were wrapped up in, but it didn’t take long to work out you were seeing someone else. Those little telltale signs.’
‘David, I –’
‘When we got home I hired someone. I had to know.’
Newport took a deep breath, tried to compose herself. ‘Does this person drive a maroon Vauxhall by any chance?’
He looked up.
‘Jesus, David, I’m in the middle of an investigation to track down a killer and I keep seeing this car everywhere. I thought I had a deranged psychopath following me around, what the fuck were you thinking!’
‘What the fuck were you thinking, Holly?’ He hurled the remote controller across the room. ‘Huh? When were you going to tell me you’d gone off cocks? I mean I know we haven’t been having much sex lately but good god, if I’d known you were a rug-muncher I wouldn’t’ve bothered trying!’
‘Oh, don’t be so crude, you righteous prick!' She climbed to her feet. 'Do you think it’s been easy for me? I’ve tried to tell you, I just didn’t know how. And now you throw it in my face like I’m the root of all evil. I was lost, David, okay. You were never here and I was lost. I met Kellie and she was a friend when I needed one.’
‘Kellie,’ he mouthed. ‘So it has a name.’
‘Look, David, I never wanted to hurt you. Bloody hell, I don’t even know what I want anymore. But Kellie was there for me when I was lonely. I’m not making excuses, I still shouldn’t have done what I did. But you don’t know how bad it was. You were so wrapped up in your work I became a piece of furniture to you. I was about as far from happy a person can be.’
Reaching into his jacket, David withdrew a small envelope and dropped it on the coffee table. ‘Then you should’ve talked to me, Holly. You should have come to me. But not this. I didn’t deserve this.’
Swigging back the remainder of the whiskey, he climbed to his feet.
‘Where’re you going?’ she uttered.
‘Staying with my dad for a while until I figure this out.’
She inched closer. ‘You…you don’t have to go.’
‘Yes, I do.’
Closer still. ‘Please, David, I want you to stay.’
‘Why, Holly? We don’t have anything more to say to each other. You’ve fucked up something good. How do we bounce back from this?’
She took his hand. ‘I don’t think you want to go.’
He tried to pull away. She held tight, a sliver of their past pulsing like lightning through the contact. She kissed him hungrily and David responded. She
