Shallow Water

by Hunter J Walker

  ‘What’s going to be awkward?’

  She took her hand off his shoulder and pirouetted, still holding his other hand. ‘Come…let’s find out,’ she said and led him by the hand to the bedroom.

  She only forgot his wound once and afterwards she made up for the mistake by bringing him a cool drink in a glass and she remembered the straw. She placed the drink on the floor on his side of the bed and padded round to the other side before sliding back under the duvet. She moulded her naked body to his and laid her head on his chest.

  ‘Worried about going back to work tomorrow?’ she asked.

  ‘Why would I be worried?’ he murmured.

  ‘That scar across your face.’

  ‘Thank you for bringing it to my attention, I don’t think they’ll even notice.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘They are all technical nuts, or in common parlance, geeks.’

  ‘Are they good geeks?’

  ‘They’re mostly average, a couple are good and then there is Marcus – the real genius, but he’s just this side of barking mad.’

  ‘He seems all right whenever I meet him.’

  ‘As my brother’s girlfriend, you’re a special case; he knows he shouldn’t hit on you.’

  ‘He did once…sort of.’

  ‘When was this?’

  ‘You and Henry were away. He looked lonely when I met him in the pub and I went back to his flat with him. We were pretty drunk by the end of the night and we sort of fell into bed together.’

  ‘You know the guy is a fruit and nut case?’

  ‘I know, James, but he is a genius and if he left, the company would fold and you wouldn’t have a job.’

  ‘That could be true. I wonder what’s happened to him?’

  ‘He said he used to work for the government in London.’

  James raised himself on one elbow and looked down at her. ‘He never mentioned that to me.’

  ‘We were both drunk and we started exchanging secrets. He said it was very secret and he shouldn’t really talk about it.’

  ‘I wonder if the Dragon Empress knew that?’

  ‘You don’t like her much.’

  ‘That woman is the epitome of the rule: If you can’t do it, then run it. She doesn’t have a clue, but everyone has to dance to her tune. She could be a great dictator, but she’s a lousy managing director. The only reason she gets to run it, is that her father put up the money.’

  ‘Why stay there?’

  ‘I’m beginning to wonder about that.’

  *****

  Douglas followed Tanya’s instructions, leaving the M80 at Junction 2 and turning left at the roundabout at the top of the slip road. He found himself driving on a dual carriageway with a retail park on his right. He passed a McDonald’s and the Asda supermarket came into view. At the next roundabout he turned and followed the flow of shoppers into the retail park, turning left at the next roundabout he slowed as the cars in front braked to turn into the supermarket car park. He saw a black BMW immediately to the right of the entrance with a woman in the driver’s seat. He parked close to it and got out and approached the car.

  Tanya got out of the BMW and walked over to meet him. She had changed out of her grey trouser suit into a white top with thin straps, faded blue jeans and black shoes with heels, which meant she overtopped him by several inches.

  ‘I like the car as an antique…how old is it?’

  ‘Don’t be like that,’ she said slipping her arm through his. ‘It is a classic five series: two point five litre engine and only one six zero on the clock. A bargain at sixteen hundred pounds.’

  Douglas allowed her to guide him towards the trolley shelter. ‘You mean one hundred and sixty thousand miles don’t you. It’s older than my car and that’s saying something. Can’t we afford something better?’

  ‘We’ve been married for less than a day, Douglas, and you’re already moaning about my decisions.’

  ‘Well, real marriages have other compensations.’

  ‘How do you know this one wouldn’t?’

  ‘Mm…I think my girlfriend would have something to say about that.’

  ‘Yes, but you don’t live with her.’

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘Julie was very forthcoming about your sex life, Douglas.’

  He wondered just how much Julie had told her and retaliated: ‘Mm…and she was also very forthcoming about your encounter with Dave Knox.’

  ‘Ah…’ Tanya said and with a deft flick of her wrist separated a trolley from the snake of trolleys in the shelter.

  ‘She said you wrenched his arm out of its socket with about as much effort as it took to pull that trolley out.’

  ‘It’s all in the training and that slimy little toad deserved it,’ Tanya snapped.

  ‘Right now I’m feeling small.’

  ‘Don’t worry; we’ll sort that out later.’

  Douglas hurried to keep up with her as she pushed the trolley towards the supermarket entrance. Inside, it didn’t take her long to realise he wasn’t used supermarkets and she allocated him the task of pushing the trolley while she piled stuff into it. His one attempt at shopping was foiled when she grabbed his packet of biscuits out of the trolley and put them back on the shelf. ‘We are not having that sort of stuff in the house,’ she said.

  ‘Don’t I get to choose anything?’ he replied and a man following his wife and three children gave him a sympathetic look as he passed.

  ‘Have you ever been round a supermarket with your girlfriend?’ she asked.

  ‘No, I’m not sure she’s ever been to a supermarket.’

  ‘I see. You can help me choose when I get to the clothing, or is that something you’ve never done with her either?’

  ‘Yes, but not in a supermarket.’

  *****

  An A-line mini skirt followed by washed denim, knitted and tube mini skirts. At this point Tanya pointed him to the longer skirts and told him to choose two. He pointed to a jacquard and a metallic print pencil skirts.

  ‘I can see you’re getting into character,’ she said adding them on top of the pile in the trolley and leading him to the racks of tops. He chose two scoop neck tops, two thin strap vest tops and two animal print tops. Next she pointed at the dresses.

  ‘I can’t see you as dress type of person,’ he said.

  ‘Just choose one!’

  Douglas chose a white and black one in a stretchy fabric, hoping it would fit.

  ‘I’ll try it on when we get home.’

  ‘How about underwear,’ he said.

  ‘The boss would be shocked at you, she thinks you’re a nice person,’ Tanya said then added: ‘Maybe next time.’

  As she pushed the trolley he felt comfortable walking with her and put his arm around her waist. She didn’t seem to object. ‘Do we need anything else?’ he asked.

  ‘Breakfast cereal and possibly dishwasher stuff, but that can wait.’

  ‘Yes, dear.’

  She grinned at him. ‘Let’s get this load to the checkout.’

  They paid for the trolley load with their new credit card in the names of Neil and Jane Ellis. He pushed the trolley out to the BMW on the far side of the car park and filled the boot. He waited by the car while ran the trolley back to join its brothers and went she returned and got in the driver’s side. He shrugged and opened the passenger door.

  Tanya looked at him while she started the engine.

  ‘What?’ Douglas asked.

  ‘No hysterics at me driving?’

  ‘No, I assume you can drive properly.’

  ‘This car may look good, Neil, but it has well over a hundred thousand on the clock and needs gentle handling.’

  Douglas wondered whom she was talking to until he remembered he was supposed to be Neil. ‘Mm…we need some practise doing the me Neil, you Jane bit.’

  As they drove out of the car park Tanya said: ‘Have you ever been to Aldi or Lidl?’

  Douglas shook his head.
<
br />   ‘Where does your girlfriend shop?’

  ‘Shops with labels I recognise.’

  ‘Aren’t you a lucky man, Douglas? Has she got lots of money?’

  ‘I don’t know, I don’t think she has at the moment. Her parents may have money, I don’t really know. They never talk about money, that could mean its old money, or they could have lost the lot in the Lloyds scandal, or the Banking crisis. They have a house and an estate and some other properties, but I don’t know if they are mortgaged.’

  They drew up onto the short drive in front of the two storey detached house. Douglas went round and opened the boot while Tanya walked up to the front door and unlocked it. He followed her through the front door with four plastic bags of shopping – After dropping them on the kitchen table he went back for more. When he went out to the car for the third time he noticed the woman in the garden of the house opposite – she was short, overweight and looked aggressive. He waved to her and smiled – she reluctantly waved back. The next trip emptied the car and he closed the boot. He didn’t have the key, but he decided nobody round here would steal it with over a hundred thousand miles on the clock and went inside. In the kitchen he found Tanya filling the cupboards. Leaving her to finish the job, he walked back through the arch into the living room and up the open stairs to the bedrooms. He walked into the master bedroom; it had a large double bed, a dressing table and two small tables by the beds. The wall opposite the bed was completely covered by fitted wardrobes with sliding doors of mirrored glass.

  He walked back downstairs to the kitchen, where Tanya was now filling the freezer drawers with the frozen food. ‘There’s a problem,’ he said.

  She paused to look at him.

  ‘We forgot the beer.’

  ‘I’ll put that at the top of the things to get list, along with the cheesy snacks.’

  ‘I can see this is going to be fun…how big is that TV?’

  ‘Fifty inch,’ Tanya said. ‘We’re supposed to be overspending, so there is a Blu-ray player and the rest of the gadgets.’

  ‘Cool,’ Douglas replied and went in search of the TV controller. He would have expected all the controllers to be on the low table or by the TV or somewhere other than the back of one of the kitchen drawers. He took all the controllers back to the living room and set them out on the table. Picking the likeliest one he pointed it at the TV and pressed the largest red button. The small red light turned green and the screen turned from black to blue and auto-tuning instructions appeared in large letters. He was so engrossed he hardly noticed Tanya going upstairs to the bedroom.

  The TV had finished tuning itself and displayed channel one, which he was glad to see was BBC1. At this point a thought struck him. ‘Do we have a licence to watch live TV?’ he shouted. ‘I would have thought they would have remembered that one, or are Mr and Mrs Ellis going to get a large fine?’

  ‘Don’t worry, they send a letter first,’ Tanya said as she clattered down the stairs. Appearing from the hall she stood in front of him wearing the white and black dress. She turned a full circle to show it off. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘Wow…it fits,’ he said taking in the curving lines to her waist, bust and hips.

  ‘You must have an eye for this, Neil; I assume you don’t want me to take it back.’

  ‘No, you have the figure for it…hmm…Jane.’

  ‘The name thing gets easier with use. Anyway, we’d better be going. I’ll go and change back.’

  Ten minutes later Tanya locked the house and they set off in the BMW. She drove back to Asda’s car park and dropped off Douglas to pick up his own car. It was only when he was driving on the M80 back towards the city centre that he remembered he was going to ask her about the double bed.

  *****

  Douglas had just opened a bottle of Pilsner and had just made himself comfortable on the sofa in front of the TV when the doorbell rang. He cursed under his breath before putting down the TV remote and going to open the front door.

  ‘Hello, Douglas,’ Susanne said and kissed him before walking past him into the flat, leaving a scent trail of expensive perfume behind. He followed the trail into the living room where she stood in the centre of the room in a long grey coat – she didn’t make any move to take it off. Douglas noticed she was wearing shiny black shoes with three-inch heels.

  She picked up the remote and turned off the TV. ‘You’ve forgotten we are going out.’

  ‘It’s Tuesday night, where are we going?’

  ‘Out, get your jacket on.’

  Douglas reluctantly put on his shoes and took his jacket out of the cupboard in the small hallway.

  Susanne took one look at him and said: ‘Get your leather one.’

  He went back to the cupboard and swapped the jacket for her choice. They left the flat to find her taxi was still waiting in the street, although the driver was looking nervous – it was obviously not the sort of neighbourhood he liked to hang around. She gave the destination and his sigh of relief on getting moving was audible.

  As they moved off Douglas said: ‘That’s a fair way from here, I’ll get a taxi back,’

  ‘No you won’t, it’s close to my flat, you can get a taxi back here tomorrow morning,’ she replied.

  He knew Below the Stairs was not the sort of place where he would encounter his colleagues. In the small space defined by the bare brick walls of the old cellar sofas, armchairs and low tables jostled for space with dining room tables and chairs. Susanne selected a sofa near the back and Douglas sat down on a chair opposite while she took off her coat, revealing a tight black dress. She sat down and crossed her legs.

  ‘What’s the occasion?’ Douglas asked.

  ‘We need to talk, Douglas.’

  He assumed she had an agenda. ‘About what?’

  A waitress appeared and Douglas ordered a bottle of the house red. They perused the menu in a leisurely fashion and had consumed most of the bottle by the time they ordered two frittatas. They had started another bottle of red wine by the time the food arrived at the table.

  ‘When were you going to tell me about this undercover operation?’ she said suddenly after the waitress removed the plates.

  He was fairly drunk by now and the question caught him by surprise. ‘I think I’ll go the no comment route with that one, on the grounds it’s a secret.’

  ‘It may be, Douglas, but when were you going to tell me.’

  ‘I can’t tell you if it’s a secret, can I?’

  ‘It’s not much of a bloody secret if I know about it.’

  ‘There is nothing I can do about that.’

  She slowly uncrossed her legs giving him a clear view of them and then she re-crossed them. ‘It’s time you moved into my flat. Your flat is a slum and it’s in a dodgy area…and mine is bigger.’

  ‘Any other reasons?’

  ‘We would both save money.’

  He nodded. ‘Any other reason?’

  ‘We can have sex every night.’

  Douglas considered this for a moment and replied without giving any serious consideration to the pros and cons. ‘Yes, what do we do now?’

  Susanne lent back and patted the sofa. ‘We could have hot steamy sex on this.’

  Douglas shook his head. ‘Attractive although the idea is, the other customers might notice.’

  ‘Back to my place for hot steamy sex it is then.’

  Chapter 6

  Wednesday

  Douglas pressed the button for Black Coffee and a cup fell into the dispenser, followed by a rush of black liquid. He waited until the flow ceased, took the overflowing cup out of the dispenser and ignored the pain from his fingers until he could drop it on his desk. He put his hurting fingers into his mouth to cool them and glanced round the squad room to see who was around, but the place was quiet, and still, at this early hour of the morning. He settled at his desk, switched on his computer and while it booted up he took a notepad out of the drawer and started his to-do list for the day: find the postman for the b
lock of flats, follow up James Smythe and the whereabouts of his brother, and follow up Tam’s post-mortem results?

  He logged into his computer and drank his coffee while it finished booting up. The coffee was gone before he was able to open his emails – he needed to talk to Collins about a new machine, this one was at least five years old.

  He had read the twenty-two email messages and filed most of them in the recycle bin by the time the door opened again. He heard the tap-tap sound of a woman’s heels on the floor behind him. ‘Good morning, ma’am,’ he said.

  ‘No it isn’t, it’s a bad morning, Dougie. But let us not get too depressed; my office in five minutes and I need some tea first.’

  He turned in his seat to look at Nicola. ‘Let me get that.’

  She gave him a look. ‘OK, I’ll be in my office.’

  Douglas walked over to the drinks machine, inserted money, and pressed the button for: White Tea With Sugar. He saw someone out of the corner of his eye then heard DS McCray say: ‘Ashburner, I need a word.’

  ‘Sorry Sergeant, I’m afraid DI Collin’s instructions preclude that right now.’

  ‘Huh. Do not disappear without seeing me, Constable,’ McCray said and poked him in the chest with a stubby forefinger to indicate his dissatisfaction with the outcome of their conversation. Douglas took the cup of tea out of the machine and headed for Nicola’s office. The door was open. He walked in and put the cup down on the desk in front of her.

  She glanced up at him. ‘Thanks, shut the door and take a seat.’

  He thought her mood had improved, but he changed his mind as soon as he was seated.

  ‘I have argued this until I’m blue in the face, but the Fiscal’s office will not budge from their decision that Tam’s death was natural causes. I spoke to your girlfriend yesterday and she put it to the Fiscal, but he wouldn’t authorise any investigation without evidence of wrongdoing. What do you think, Douglas?’