Reluctant Witness

by Rachel Brimble

  She crossed her arms. “Is that so?”

  “Yep.”

  They stood facing each other and Daniel’s stomach knotted, looking into her angry eyes. It was a sad thing to admit, but God, he found her sexy when she was mad.

  “Don’t even think about laughing at me again, Inspector.” “Excuse me?”

  “You’re doing that thing with the corner of your mouth again.”

  He smiled. “What thing?”

  The color of her cheeks darkened. “You know. That...that thing.”

  “Sorry,” he said, taking a tiny step closer. “What thing?”

  She stepped back and held her palms up like a shield. “Forget it. Look, I’m fine. Are we going in or not? I was planning to have something to eat and a shower before my set tonight.”

  “You’re on edge, Julia,” he said.

  She laughed dryly. “You think that’s unusual after what I went through yesterday?”

  Without thinking, he gently cupped a hand to her chin.

  She immediately stiffened.

  “The conversation you were having just now was not about yesterday,” he said.

  “And how do you know?”

  “I just do.”

  “Really?” She lifted a hand and swatted his fingers away. “Do you mind?”

  “Sorry.” He took a step back. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

  “No, you shouldn’t have.”

  “It isn’t professional.”

  “It’s not professional at all.”

  “But...” He swallowed. I want to touch you. “I’d like to help if I can,” he finally said.

  She hesitated, her eyes searching his for the briefest of seconds before she turned away and looked up the street. “Why don’t you just tell me how you want to handle this once we go inside? I’m here to help you with the case. You have no right to ask me about anything else.”

  Her jaw was set when she met his eyes again, but the unshed tears confirmed Julia Kershaw was hurting. Daniel wanted to say so much more to her, but knew now was not the time to push it. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  Her shoulders relaxed a little. “Apology accepted. So...what happens next?”

  He glanced toward the betting shop. “I want to find out how Derek was getting the money to gamble. Thelma said once she’d found out about the gambling, she looked after all the money. She gave him nothing spare. I’m hoping one of his gambling buddies will be able to point me in the right direction.”

  “Don’t be surprised if the customers aren’t very generous with the information. People around here don’t like snitching on each other.”

  “Fair enough, but I don’t think they’re the type of people who would want to stop me from finding the man who killed their local store owner, either.”

  She smiled softly. “You’re right. They’re not. They’ll help, I’m sure of it.”

  He lifted his arm to the side, gesturing for her to go in ahead of him. She took a step forward and then stopped.

  “Look, before we go in, I need to warn you about Suzie.”

  Daniel frowned. “What about her?”

  “She’s...” She paused, as though searching for the right words. “Do you know what?” she asked, waving a dismissive hand in front of her. “I’ll let you find out for yourself.”

  Daniel shrugged and walked inside, leaving Julia to follow on behind.

  Kendricks’ Bookies was not the type of place Daniel would have chosen to take a woman of Julia’s caliber. A brown and off-white curtain hung at the door and when he pushed it to the side, the smell of stale tobacco and fast food hit them full force. It appeared no one left Kendricks to even go eat. To the compulsive gambler it clearly made more sense to order in, rather than risk missing the next race.

  They weaved their way through the punters, heading for the front desk. The cashier looked about forty, but was obviously determined to stay in her hey-day of the early 1980s. She stood behind a pane of protective glass, her light brown hair three times the size of her head, and sprayed to within an inch of its life. The shoulder pads of her shiny red blouse scraped the sides of the minuscule booth.

  She looked up and flashed him a grin the size of Great Britain, before hitching her massive bosom onto the counter, allowing her terrifying cleavage to stretch against the deep V of her blouse. Daniel ignored Julia’s snigger behind him.

  “Good afternoon, I’m Detective Inspector Daniel Conway.”

  “Detective Inspector, yum, yum!” she said, giving a lewd wink.

  He held out his ID. “And you are?”

  “Suzie Parsons, but you can call me what the hell you like, sugar pie.”

  “Well, Ms. Parsons, we are here—”

  “Looking to handcuff me and throw me over your shoulder and out of here, I hope.” Suzie grinned.

  Not wanting to encourage her, Daniel ignored the comment. “We’re here to talk to a few of your customers in connection with an ongoing investigation.”

  “Aw, can we have a little fun first? Just you and me?”

  Daniel glared at her. “No, Miss Parsons, we can’t.”

  She tutted. “Spoilsport. Anyway, who’s we? I can only see you from where I’m sitting. Not that it isn’t a mighty fine view, darlin’.”

  He stepped to the side. “I believe you know Miss Julia Kershaw, she’ll be helping...”

  “Hi, sweetie! How you doing?”

  Julia smiled. “I’m fine, Suzie. I can see you’ve dressed appropriately for work, as usual.”

  “Why, thank you. You know I always try to look my best. Not that it’s appreciated by any of the boys in here,” she muttered. “I’m sure this lot wouldn’t notice if I walked in with tassels on my nipples and glitter on my ass.”

  Daniel’s insides gave a lurch just thinking about that particular vision, but Julia laughed out loud and pressed a hand to her belly. “You crack me up, Suze. A night out with you is just what I need right now.”

  Suzie’s face broke into a tentative smile. “Sure, sweetie, name the time and place and I’ll be there.”

  Daniel stepped forward. “Look, I hate to interrupt the organizing of your social life, ladies, but we’re here on official police business.”

  The two women exchanged a look and Daniel rolled his eyes. Women. He drew his notebook from his pocket.

  “Right, I’ll get started then...”

  Suzie held up her hands. “There’s no need to get your knickers in a twist, Inspector. We all need to laugh, you know. Now, what’s this investigation all about? You said you’ve got some questions? Well, there isn’t a lot I don’t know about the goings on in this place, I can tell you. I spend half my life in this God forsaken place.”

  Daniel put a hand on the counter and lowered his voice. “Yesterday a man was murdered...”

  “Murdered! Who? Oh, my God!” Suzie clasped a ringed hand to her throat.

  Julia stepped closer. “It’s all right, Suze.”

  The color had drained from Suzie’s face and her eyes were filled with terror as she looked from Julia back to Daniel.

  “It…wasn’t one of my guys, was it? Oh, please tell me it wasn’t one of the stupid oafs who come in here day in, day out driving me up the wall.”

  The tears in her eyes and tremble in her bottom lip gave no substance to the words tumbling from her mouth. Daniel guessed it was far more likely that Suzie loved each and every one of her customers.

  Julia reached forward and took Suzie’s hand through the gap at the bottom of the protective glass. “It was Derek, Suzie. I’m so sorry.”

  Suzie swayed on her feet before dropping back onto the stool behind her. Tears drew lines of electric blue mascara down her cheeks. “Derek? Oh, my God.”

  “I was there when it happened.”

  “What?” her friend cried, her eyes wide. “You were there?”

  “Yes, I saw him shot.”

  Suzie blanched. “You saw it?”

  “I was at the beach and I noticed this boat.
And then…and then. Oh, Suze, he threw him overboard like he was a piece of rubbish.”

  “Oh, honey.”

  “He was dressed all in black with this cap pulled down over his face, Suze. I can’t tell the police a single thing about him. It’s hopeless.”

  Suzie squeezed Julia’s hand. “We’ll find out who did this. We have to. Oh, poor, Thelma. I told the stupid man to tell her what was going on. He’d got himself into such a damn mess, trying to cover his tracks and keep her from knowing anything. Why do men think we need protecting all the damn time?”

  Daniel’s interest sparked. “You knew about Derek’s debts?”

  Her fingers smeared the zigzags across her cheekbones. “Uh-huh. He’d lost an awful lot of weight, at least thirty pounds, he was constantly wringing his hands. I knew something was wrong. These guys trust me to keep their secrets and I always do, but it doesn’t stop me from encouraging them to tell their wives what’s going on. Especially when you have a wife like Thelma. I knew she’d do everything she could to help him.”

  Julia sighed. “He did tell her, Suze, and she did try to help, but he was in deeper than even Thelma could manage.”

  Daniel leaned forward, lowering his voice. “Did Derek mention any dealings with loan sharks?”

  “Loan sharks? Derek was involved with loan sharks?” Suzie’s baby-blue eyes were wide. “Aw, the stupid, stupid man.”

  Daniel glanced around him. The clientele eyed him suspiciously through a haze of cigarette smoke. It seemed highly unlikely they’d answer his questions with particular candidness. Maybe they’d get a whole lot further if Suzie asked the questions. From what she’d just said, she held the customers’ trust and they would certainly feel less threatened by her than by the new Detective Inspector.

  “Would you be willing to ask this lot a few questions for me, Suzie?” he asked. “You know, try to see what you can find out from the regulars who come in here?”

  “Too right, I will, Inspector. What is it you want me to do?” she asked, drying her face with the back of her hand. “Just name it. I may be a glammed-up good time girl but believe me, there’s a brain behind this bouffant.”

  Daniel smiled, warming to her in spite of her zealous greeting a few minutes earlier. “I want you to try to find out if any of Derek’s friends knew who he was borrowing money from. If you manage to get a name, fantastic, but any possibilities at all would be more than I have right now.”

  Suzie peered through the glass at the brood of ten or fifteen men sitting along the line of TV screens. She winked at Daniel. “Leave it to me.”

  Daniel passed her his card. “I’m available twenty-four hours so ring me whenever you need to, OK?”

  “I will. Thanks.”

  He nodded before gently taking Julia’s elbow and leading her away from the counter. She waved a hand to Suzie to say goodbye as he ushered her back through the grimy curtain.

  “What’s the rush?” Julia asked. “You didn’t even give me chance to say goodbye.”

  He turned Julia to face him. “Thanks a lot,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

  “What did I do?”

  “It’s what you didn’t do,” he said, nodding toward the betting shop, struggling hard to keep his grin under control.

  “Oooh.” She smiled, her emerald eyes glinting mischievously. “I see.”

  “Why didn’t you warn me about her?”

  She laughed. “You’re acting as though she pinned you against the wall or something.”

  Daniel fisted his hands on his hips. “If I wasn’t here investigating Derek’s murder and there hadn’t been a glass partition between us, she would have.”

  He watched her consider this for a moment before she lifted her shoulders. “You’re probably right. It takes a certain kind of man to handle Suzie,” she said, matter of factly. “It’s not my problem if a tall, strapping detective is scared of a tiny five foot one inch woman, is it?”

  “Very funny.”

  They stood grinning at each other, and Daniel thought she looked so happy in that moment that he would have given anything not to break it. But then she turned away and lifted a hand to her brow, shielding her eyes from the sun.

  “I’d better go,” she said.

  He followed her gaze. “Me, too. I haven’t heard anything from the team all afternoon.”

  Turning back to him, she smiled gently. “OK, then. I’ll see you.”

  She pulled her car keys from her bag and stopped. “Maybe I should give you my cell phone number.”

  “Good idea.”

  She found a piece of paper in her bag and wrote it down.

  Daniel resisted the urge to snatch the scrap of paper when she offered it to him, and did his best to casually stuff it in his pocket. “I’ll...um...keep you updated.”

  “Great.” Her eyes held his for a moment longer before she turned and slid into the driver’s seat of her car.

  ****

  By the time Julia arrived home the sun was beginning to set, bathing the front of her house in a warm orange glow. She walked up the garden path, pausing to pick up some fallen petals and straighten the wonky gnome. Despite the horror of the last two days, she felt strangely happy. And guilty. She knew the reason behind her sudden excitement and it meant disaster with a capital D.

  Daniel, Daniel, Daniel.

  A smile bubbled up inside her. He was tall and dark, kind and funny. In fact he ticked all the right boxes. She sighed. Daniel was fast becoming a third reason to climb aboard the Princess II as quickly as her size nine shoes could carry her.

  Julia opened her locked front door and stepped inside. She casually threw the keys into the ceramic dish sitting on the radiator cover—and froze. Lifting her nose, she sniffed the air. Marcus. The spicy scent of expensive aftershave hung in the air like a menacing overture.

  She swallowed. “Marcus?”

  Nothing.

  Step by careful step, she made her way along the hallway.

  “Marcus? Are you in here?”

  Nothing.

  She glanced into the living room, the kitchen, until she finally entered the den at the back of the house.

  The hairs on the back of her neck stood erect and her heart pulsed thickly in her chest. He was here, she was sure of it.

  Then she saw the curtain billowing and falling on the wind from the open window and let out a frightened laugh. The scent she had smelt was stronger in here and she saw why. The bowl of pot-pours she kept on the windowsill was blown all over the room like scattered confetti.

  She closed the window and knelt to sweep the mess into her hands and back into the bowl. Frowning, she tried to recall opening the window earlier that morning but couldn’t. She put the bowl back on the window sill and looked around. Everything was as it should be, but still something wasn’t quite right. Feeling foolish, Julia picked up the heavy paperweight on her bureau and checked behind the door and the curtains. Nothing. She released her held breath and put the paperweight back. The sooner she left town, the better.

  Either that, or she’d end up in an institution.

  She made her way upstairs, took off her dress and tossed it into the wash basket. Dressed in her bra and knickers, she walked into the bedroom feeling exhausted. She glanced at her watch. Having slept badly the night before, she decided to catch a couple of hours sleep before she went into work.

  She lay down on the bed and closed her eyes.

  “Hello, Julia.”

  She scrambled upright, grappling for the comforter to cover her semi-nakedness “Marcus! What do you think you’re doing? How did you get in here?”

  His grin dissolved. “Hey, I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, coming closer and closer until he sat beside her on the bed.

  Julia swallowed the bile in her throat. “I asked you a question, Marcus. How did you get in here?”

  “You left the den window open, silly. You should be more careful. What if someone other than me got in?”

  “
I was just in the den and you weren’t in there. Where were you?”

  “I was in the downstairs bathroom. Are you all right?”

  “I called out to you, Marcus. Twice.”

  He lifted his shoulders. “I didn’t hear you. What’s wrong?”

  Julia stared at him, her heart racing. She had not left that window open, she was sure of it. Marcus’ eyes never left hers and she had already noted the tension in his jaw. The safest thing she could do was placate him and get him out of her house as soon as possible. She forced a smile.

  “Nothing’s wrong. Maybe you’re right. Anyway, it’s shut now.”

  “Good, good.”

  “Marcus, I’m not dressed...”

  He grinned wolfishly, leaning toward her, his eyes on her mouth. “I know, and you look lovely.”

  She curled her hands into fists around the comforter. “Would you mind going downstairs while I get dressed? Why don’t you wait in the kitchen?”

  Irritation quickly replaced his adoration. “I’m not going to jump on you, Julia. Why do you insist on this coy act all the time? You and I both know you act as wantonly as a cheap whore when you’re at the club.”

  “Marcus—”

  “I would have seen past girlfriends naked twenty times over in the time you’ve teased and tormented me these last few weeks.”

  “I do not tease, Marcus.”

  He laughed. “What do you call it, Julia? Foreplay?”

  She swallowed, repulsion heating her cheeks. “I want to get dressed, Marcus. Please, will you go downstairs?”

  He ignored her. “You really shouldn’t have called me at the bank, Julia.”

  The change in subject confused her. “What?”

  “It will not do for my staff to see me accepting personal phone calls.”

  “I didn’t want to ring you, Marcus, but I had twelve missed calls from you on my cell,” she said, trying to keep the tension from her voice. “It’s got to stop and I could see no way of making you understand that other than calling you.”

  “Yes, my secretary said your tone was quite insistent. Would you convey that insistence as the behavior of someone who has lost interest in having a relationship? Or, what is it you said to me last night? Oh, yes, someone who has never had any interest in me at all?”