Reluctant Witness

by Rachel Brimble

  He’d pre-planned this trip and knew exactly where the Dial-A-Debt office was situated. He pulled to a stop outside and pushed open the door. He walked into a plush, white-walled office with little decoration and even less personality. A tall, dark-haired man in his late thirties rose to his feet from behind one of the two desks.

  “Richard Bainbridge, how may I help you, sir?” he asked, flashing a bright white smile and extending his hand.

  Daniel barely shook his hand before pulling his ID from his inside pocket. “Good morning, I’m Detective Inspector Daniel Conway. I’m here on official police business. I’m hoping you will be able to help me.”

  “Well, yes, yes, of course, Inspector,” Bainbridge said, smoothing back his hair with a brush of his hand. “Won’t you have a seat? Tea? Coffee?”

  Daniel sat and studied the man in front of him. Vain was the first word that leapt to mind. His clothes, hair and manicured hands left little doubt this guy took personal grooming very seriously. “Coffee would be great.” Daniel looked around. “Does anyone else work here? It seems kind of quiet.”

  Bainbridge walked over to a small table holding tea and coffee making facilities. He picked up the aluminum coffee pot and filled a cup for each of them. “Um, yes, my secretary Gillian, but she’s out sick today, I’m afraid. Is it her you’ve come to see?”

  Daniel raised an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”

  He shrugged. “No reason.”

  “No, Gillian is not the reason I’m here,” Daniel said. “I’m sure you’ll be able to help me as much as your secretary could.”

  “Oh?” he said, passing a steaming cup to Daniel.

  “I’m looking for any record you may have of a Mr. Derek Palmer. Do you recognize the name?”

  “Derek Palmer?”

  Daniel watched as Bainbridge looked off into the distance. When he turned back and met Daniel’s eyes, his gaze was cool. Calm.

  “No, no, I can’t say I do. I’ll check for you though. How long ago do you think he may have used our services, Inspector?”

  “If you could check over the last twelve months or so.” Daniel deliberately paused. “For now.”

  “Right. Right. Is there a number I can call you on?”

  Daniel smiled and leaned further back in his seat.

  “I’m quite happy to sit here and wait. If it’s all right with you.”

  Color rose in the other man’s face and Daniel smiled inwardly. Maybe not so cool after all.

  “Of course. No problem at all, Inspector,” Bainbridge said, stiffly.

  He began tapping away at his computer, running his finger down the screen, getting up from his seat once or twice to check the filing cabinet. Finally after twenty minutes, he said, “Nothing, I’m afraid. There is no Derek Palmer on our records. I took the liberty of checking back two years. Nothing.”

  Daniel blew out a breath. “OK, could you print off a copy of all your clients over that period and let me take them with me? He may have been using an alias.”

  “Everything we hold on file is extremely confidential...”

  Daniel sighed and drew out his cell phone. “I can obtain a warrant if needs be.”

  Their eyes locked for a long moment. Then Bainbridge turned back to the computer, tapped a few keys and the printer began throwing out pages. He gathered the papers and handed them to Daniel.

  “You might want to try Lawson’s at the other end of town,” he suggested. “And the bank, of course. Money can be borrowed in any number of places in this town, Inspector.”

  Daniel nodded. “I appreciate that, Mr. Bainbridge. Lawson’s is next on my list. Thanks for your help.”

  “Not at all.”

  Daniel nodded curtly before turning and heading out the door.

  Lawson’s was as much a waste of time as the bank was afterward. It appeared Suzie’s informant was completely off the mark. Whomever Derek had been getting the money to gamble from, they were not located in Kendlewood, unless it was a completely independent source, or worse, an underground organization. Daniel’s stomach knotted uncomfortably. He didn’t even want to contemplate going down that route. His phone vibrated in his pocket.

  “DI Conway.”

  “It’s me.”

  He felt a grin emerge like magic. “And how are you this morning?”

  “Great, how are you?”

  She sounded shy, and Daniel’s smile widened. “Great.”

  There was a pause. “I was wondering how you got on

  with the debt agencies. Any luck?” Julia asked.

  “Nothing, but I’m not giving up yet.”

  “Does that mean you have a plan B?”

  “In fact, I do,” he said, and wondered when his plan had somehow miraculously included her. “Coincidentally, it involves you.”

  “Oh? How?”

  “I need your help again. Do you mind?”

  “Mind? God, no, I’m desperate to help. After you...um...left last night, I was pretty sure my involvement was no longer needed.”

  Daniel lifted a hand to his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut. He’d left abruptly because if he’d stayed one minute longer, he would’ve ripped those spotted pajamas from her body and taken her right there in the hallway. The raw animal need that had pulsed through his veins like molten lava had frightened the hell out of him.

  “I rushed off because I’d lost all track of time and wanted to make an early start this morning,” he said, feebly. “This investigation is my priority right now.”

  Another long pause. “But of course it is. Mine, too. The Princess II sails in five days and the last thing I want is to leave knowing Derek’s killer is still out there somewhere.”

  Daniel sucked in a breath against the unexpected stab in his chest. The truth of it was he was a fool for thinking about any possibility of a future with her. He might as well get used to the idea that after the end of the week, the next time he’d see Julia Kershaw she would be sitting in a witness box.

  “Daniel? Are you still there?”

  He forced a smile into his voice. “Still here. Listen, where can I catch up with you? We need to put this plan into action.”

  “I’m going to the Cove if you want to meet me there. I don’t want to avoid the place forever. It’s been special to me for too long.”

  Daniel looked up at the azure blue sky. The sun burned brightly, the day heating to the predicted eighty degrees. He closed his eyes. A perfect day for joining a lover at the beach in his swimming shorts rather than on police business. Dream on, Buddy.

  “I’ll see you at lunch time and fill you in on your next assignment, OK?” he said.

  “Great. I’ll bring the food.”

  “Food?”

  “Well, I thought, no, forget it,” she mumbled. “Bad idea.”

  “What?”

  “I thought we could, you know, make it a working lunch? Just a sandwich, nothing fancy.”

  “That sounds great.”

  “It does? I mean, good, that’s good. OK, I’ll see you at twelve-thirty, then.”

  She hung up and Daniel stood staring at his phone, knowing there was no turning back. He’d fallen for the last person he had any business falling for.

  ****

  Standing in front of the mirror, Julia eyed herself critically. The black bikini felt too safe but the red too obvious. The real question was why she was trying on a bikini in the first place? She was meeting a police officer to discuss the subject of murder. With a groan of frustration, she stripped off the bikini and threw it on the bed. If she could get the fantasy of Daniel’s hands on her body out of her head for one lousy second maybe she wouldn’t be so intent on baring all.

  She finally settled on a strappy pale pink vest top and white cotton shorts. She tied her hair back from her face with a pink bandana and slipped on white leather flip-flops. She may have looked suitably cool and casual, but her insides were alive with guilty—-and fiery—excitement. They’d connected last night. She’d felt it, and was convince
d he had, too.

  After a night of little sleep and a whole lot of thinking, Julia had decided maybe running away wasn’t the answer to her problems. Daniel Conway had become important to her. It felt sudden, inappropriate even, but who was to say he wasn’t the man she was meant to be with? What if there was a real possibility he and she could have what most people never found their whole lives?

  She picked up the brochure sitting on her bureau. Its glossy cover boasted the thrills and relaxation of four months aboard the Princess II. Honeymooning couples and elderly companions relaxed under a blazing hot sun. In the background, children wearing clown noses and painted faces laughed and played in the brightly decorated kids’ clubs.

  Just a short few days ago, Julia had thought this was the perfect escape route from both her mother and Marcus. Now the idea of leaving made her resent them both. She didn’t want to leave any more—-at least not yet. Not until she was certain this hunch she had about Daniel was more than good old-fashioned lust.

  Should she ring and resign from her position on the ship right now? The most poignant lesson she’d learnt from her brother’s and Derek’s senseless death was that life was as fragile as the human heart. Julia reached for her cell and opened the front page of the cruise brochure. She was probably too late to break her contract, but it was worth a try.

  Before she could dial, the phone rang. For a long moment, Julia just stared at the number on the display. She was in such a fragile, nerve-jumping place at that moment she was unsure if she could take another barrage of abuse from the person on the other end of the phone. Drawing in a breath, she pressed talk.

  “Hi, Mom,” she said, quietly.

  “Before you say anything, I’m ringing to apologize. I shouldn’t have hung up on you last night, darling.”

  “It’s fine, Mom. Don’t worry about it.”

  “No, no it’s not. Your father made me realize while we were lying awake last night that I haven’t even asked how you are feeling since witnessing poor Derek Palmer’s murder. I’m so sorry, sweetheart, really I am.”

  “I’m fine, Mom. Honestly.”

  “But how can you be? To see such a thing. To be personally involved in two senseless shootings in a year. It’s unheard of, Julia. Your heart must be in pieces—”

  “Mom, listen to me. The police—”

  “The police? Please tell me you’re not putting your faith in them doing the right thing and bringing Derek’s killer to justice,” she said, coldly. “They’re nothing but selfish, cold-hearted, evil, gun-shooting murderers, the whole lot of them.”

  Her voice cracked and Julia felt the heavy weight come crashing down once more on her shoulders. “Mom, this has got to stop. One minute you ring me to apologise, the next you rant and rave at me for something that is completely out of my control. I refuse to keep letting you do it, Mom. It’s not fair.”

  “Now, you listen to me—”

  “I hate upsetting you, but would you rather lie to you?”

  “Of course not, and I’m not upset, Julia. I’m angry. I don’t want you to ever lose sight of what the police are, that’s all.” She sighed. “You’re a good girl. I should’ve guessed that they’d get to you too, eventually.”

  Julia squeezed her eyes shut. To hear such imbedded animosity spewing from a woman who six months ago would have stepped in as mediator between anyone involved in the smallest of disputes was so hard to listen to. She let out a long breath.

  “Do you want to come out for a bite to eat with me tomorrow, Mom?” she said, pressing her fingers to her closed eyelids. “We could go—”

  “Oh, I see. You want to take me out one more time.”

  “What do you mean, one more time?”

  “Before you leave me here all alone and go off around the world. A farewell lunch, you might say.”

  “I’m hardly leaving you all alone. Dad will be here, Mom,” Julia said, deep down knowing her father was no longer enough. None of them were. She opened her eyes. “Let him get close to you again, Mom. He loves you. Phil isn’t coming back and you have to try and accept that. You’ll never forget him but he wouldn’t want you to be like this.”

  Margaret Kershaw’s breath hitched. “You don’t understand.”

  “I’m trying to. I lost a brother and it hurts so much but I know it is not the same as losing a child. I just don’t know what to do to help you, Mom.”

  A somber silence stretched over the line. Julia felt warm tears on her cheeks as she listened to her mother’s breathing hitch and release.

  Finally her mother spoke. “Oh, I’m sorry, sweetheart. Really, I am. Can’t you come over this afternoon? I need to see you. I can’t bear being in this silent house all day, every day.”

  Julia pulled her hair back in a fist as Daniel’s face rose into her mind’s eye. “I have a meeting with Inspector Conway, Mom. I can’t.”

  “You’re meeting with the police?” Her mother’s voice was dangerous low.

  Julia swallowed. “Yes. I am.”

  “You’ve lost your mind.”

  “I’ve witnessed a murder. I have to cooperate as much as I can.” She paused. “I want to help them find Derek’s killer. Is that so wrong?”

  There was a long pause and if Julia wouldn’t have heard her mother’s shaky breath, she would have thought she had put the phone down.

  “Mom?”

  “Fine,” Margaret said with a sigh. “Do what you have to. But don’t you forget for a second they killed your brother, Julia. Killed him. My heart goes out to poor Thelma losing Derek like that but I will never, ever trust a policeman again as long as I live.”

  And that sealed the lid on any ideas of pursuing a relationship with Daniel. How could she even think for one second they would have any sort of future? It would be like flaunting Phil’s death in front of her mother every time she set brought him to the house.

  “Julia? Are you listening to me?”

  “Yes, Mom. I heard every word.”

  “Good. Because I hate every last one of them.”

  Ten minutes later, Julia dropped the receiver into its cradle and collapsed back onto her bed, exhausted. Everything was closing in on her. Her mother, the murder, Marcus. The hum of sexual tension between Daniel and her was hardly enough to make her entrust her heart as well as her belief in a man who carries a gun each and every day. Heaving herself to her feet, Julia turned the cruise brochure face down and picked up her bag. The sooner she found what she could do to help with the investigation, the better. She had to leave—-her growing feelings for Daniel could no longer be a deciding factor.

  The beach was packed with holiday makers. School had finished for the summer and people from all over the UK had traveled south to catch the best of the sun. Julia weaved among them as she made her way to the Cove. But when she reached the final boulder which served as the entrance, a brutal and sudden wave of nausea struck her.

  The moment Derek was shot flashed clear and vivid in her mind. The memory of his limp body being tumbled overboard brought a hand to her open mouth. She gripped the boulder as the sand shifted beneath her feet. His killer was still out there, running free. Squeezing her eyes shut, Julia waited for the dizziness to pass. She could not allow the killer to take her Cove as well. Opening her eyes, she hitched her bag higher onto her shoulder, and continued to march resolutely across the sand.

  She came to a quiet, secluded spot, dropped her bag and the picnic basket onto the sand. Shielding her eyes against the sun, Julia stared out toward the horizon. Death might have taken Derek, but it couldn’t take away the way the sun shone upon the water or the feel of its rays upon her face. Corkley Park was her haven, the place where she had grown up and never felt afraid, but in the last six months, everything had changed.

  She heard crunching sand behind her. She turned and her stomach gave a jolt. Daniel.

  He raised a hand. “Hey.”

  “Hey.”

  Her heart picked up speed as he walked toward her. She swallowed and turn
ed back to the water.

  He came to a stop beside her, his bicep brushing her shoulder. “How are you doing?” he asked, quietly.

  She had to tip her head back to look at him. “Fine. You?”

  His eyes met hers and he smiled. “All the better for seeing you.”

  Heat seared her cheeks and she laughed softly.

  “Corny, Inspector Conway. But still nice.”

  He pressed his hands to his chest. “Give a guy a break will you? It’s been a long time since I did this stuff.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “What stuff?”

  “You know.”

  She couldn’t help teasing him, even though deep down she knew she should not be flirting with him. “You mean I’m not the first girl you’ve wooed this way?”

  He laughed. “Wooed? When were you born? 1810?”

  She punched him playfully on the arm. “Hey!”

  “I’m wooing you? Who uses words like that anymore?”

  “I do. OK?”

  As he stared down at her, Julia could see the rise and fall of his chest, moving strangely in time with her own.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked, noticing the sudden sadness that clouded his eyes.

  He brushed the hair from her eyes. “That I’m a cop and I shouldn’t do what I’m about to do.”

  His lips were warm against hers and so tentative, Julia barely dared to breathe. She was aware they were playing a dangerous game, and if Daniel was feeling half of what she was, they would both soon be left with a cold and empty void in their hearts. Daniel was tough and capable, kind and funny. He was everything she wanted and now that she’d found him, she would have to let him go...

  Abruptly he pulled away from her. “Are you crying?”

  She swiped the tears from her cheeks, unaware they had fallen. “Of course not.”

  “Julia—”

  “Daniel, please. I can’t talk about it.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  She met his eyes. “You’re right. We shouldn’t be doing this, allowing this to happen. There’s no point to it.”