‘Where’s the problem in that?’
‘Because if you push him too far, who do you think he’ll take it out on? The next time you stand in front of him, maybe it’ll be you he beats to a pulp. Maybe you’ll be the one he murders. And worst of all, Jimmy… you don’t even appear to care if that’s the way things go. You’ll just die with a wide grin on your face, knowing you got your man.’
Bliss flapped a hand and turned his head away. ‘You’re being dramatic.’
Emily broke away from his embrace and sat forward. She reached out, pulled his hand back down and clutched it in her own once more. ‘Am I?’ she asked him, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. ‘Am I really? I don’t believe that’s the case, Jimmy. I don’t know if this has something to do with what happened to Mia, or whether it’s a culmination of everything you’ve experienced in your adult life. Maybe it’s even the fact that you see yourself being out of this way of life all too soon. I’m not sure if even you know. But you are on a downward spiral, and though you have me and Penny and your mother all eager to help pull you out, nothing seems to reach you.’
The muscles in his face became taut, his jaw clenched. He felt heat rise from his throat to his face. He could almost feel his eyes withdraw into their sockets. This was not something he wanted to hear. No matter how close to the bone, for him this was no mere conversation; this was his life. Emily and those she had mentioned were special to him, important in every conceivable way, but he was done with being moulded. That had ended a long time ago. He was not the man Emily wanted him to be, nor the one Hazel had ever imagined he could become – but eventually you had to accept who you were rather than the person you might have been. Or the one others wanted you to be.
Living the way he did came at a price, and once again it was asking him to pay out. And he knew he would. He’d forego whatever comfort he and Emily could have drawn from each other in future years if it meant he could still put people like Neil Watson in prison. In the same way that he’d sacrifice a more restful, peaceful lifestyle if he could nail the man who had strangled the life out of at least four young women.
That was who he was. It was who he would always be.
It was the one thing Jimmy Bliss was certain of.
Twenty-Five
Bliss was running on a combustible cocktail of adrenaline and anger. With Emily having left soon after their conversation faltered, he knew he ought to stay at home, spend the night in his recliner, listening to music and drowning his sorrows in alcohol. It was the tried and trusted method of blocking out emotional pain, and it had worked well in the past. But this time he felt beyond that, and knew precisely where to go to pick a fight.
SheDevils was located in the city centre, opposite Peterborough’s main marketplace. If you had a penchant for shelling out on overpriced booze and watching young women cavort on stage wearing little and sometimes nothing, with private dances highly encouraged, SheDevils was the place for you. It wasn’t the kind of establishment Bliss would usually want to be found anywhere near, but Neil Watson worked the entrance as a doorman. When Bliss cruised by, he made sure the bulked-up man was aware of his presence before he swung the car around and pulled up in a vacant slot further along the road.
Watson threw several hard stares Bliss’s way, all to no effect. This went on for fifteen minutes. Then, right on cue, he broke away from his equally brawny partner, crossed the road and headed towards the parked pool car. With mounting excitement coursing through his bloodstream, Bliss watched the irate man approaching. The sensible thing would have been to drive away, having successfully slipped beneath the man’s skin enough to prompt a reaction; on another night, he might well have done so. On this particular night, however, he was not quite himself. Instead of powering off, he got out of the car to confront the clearly furious doorman.
‘Okay, you prick!’ Watson snarled, teeth virtually meshed together like an enamel cage. ‘I’ve had about all I’m willing to take from you. I’m calling my solicitor. Right now.’
Bliss regarded him casually, as nonchalant as he could manage. ‘Please do. It’s a free country, or so I am told.’
‘He’ll take you to the cleaners, Bliss. This is harassment!’ Watson spat the last word, spittle fleeing his lips as if it had been trapped against its will.
‘You think? I was merely sitting here pondering my day, wondering whether to pop in for a drink. You’re the one who crossed the street to confront me, not the other way around.’
Watson took a step closer, glaring and prodding the air in front of him. ‘Because you’re following me.’
‘So you allege. I say that’s not the case.’
‘So what are you doing here? Outside my place of work?’
‘This is where you work? I had no idea. I was just out for a drive. Feeling a bit restless.’
‘Yeah? Then why aren’t you still driving?’
‘I got tired. You know what they say about pulling over when you get tired.’
‘And you happened to feel tired here?’
‘It does look that way. Believe me, it’s pure coincidence. We’ve all got to be somewhere, right?’
Another step. Another jab with the pointing finger. ‘You’re talking out of your arse, and my solicitor
