by Sophia Bond
It was a windy evening, unsettled and showery. The pavement was wet from rain showers and eaves blew down from the trees with every gust of wind. Lily shielded herself from the onslaught and ran for the tram. She had an idea.
Chapter Eight
Lily looked up at the building. It was still a construction site, fenced in with debris everywhere. The ground was muddy and her heels sunk in as she paced in front of the gate. Finally she heard a car slowing down. It turned in and stopped.
“Can I help you, love?” the man asked, stepping out of the van to unlock the gate.
Lily flashed her police ID. She knew it wasn’t a badge, but she hoped he was like most people and when he saw the police department logo he wouldn’t question her credentials. She felt guilty using this tactic, but she was desperate.
“I’m just inquiring about the CCTV surveillance footage on this site. I’m interested in footage from Friday night,” she said.
The man rolled his eyes. “As I told your colleague earlier, everything gets reset on a Sunday morning by our security company. If we haven’t been broken into, we delete the footage. It’s just wasted space. We don’t have millions to spend on back-ups you know.”
Lily’s heart sank. She watched the man get back into his van to drive through the gates and noticed a red blinking light on the dashboard.
“Wait a second!” Lily cried.
“What now?” he asked, getting exasperated.
“That camera,” Lily said, pointing to the small dash cam. “How often does that get erased?”
“I don’t know. I’d have to ask my boss.”
“Can you tell me who was working here on Friday night?” Lily’s heart was racing. Even if the police department was set on charging Jamie, there was a glimmer of hope. There might be something she could do to prove he wasn’t at the murder site at the time of the murder. It might not be enough to get him out right away, but it’s enough to cast doubt on the solidity of the case.
The man took out his phone, Lily could feel he was close to losing his patience with her.
“From our crew there was one van, a young lad named Dominic Burton,” he said. Lily scribbled down the name.
“Do you have a number?” she asked. The man gave it to her, and then put away his phone, clearly signalling that he was done talking.
“You’ve been very helpful, sir, thank you. I just have one last question. What was the name of my colleague you spoke to earlier?” she asked.
“I think his name was Steve,” the man replied. He started his van and rolled through the gates, leaving Lily standing on the side of the road wondering how Steve knew to check this building. A shiver ran through her as she realised he had been following them. Not only them, Steve had been following her.
Lily jogged back to the tram stop and called Dominic Burton. After a few flirty words and a promise to have a drink with him (a promise she didn’t intend to keep) he agreed to meet up so she could download the footage from his van.
“You can’t let my boss know I’ve done this,” he said. “This is my van, but he makes us use these cams for insurance, or something.”
“Your boss will never find out,” Lily promised, hoping it was true. She plugged the camera into her laptop and some software automatically installed. She clicked through the menus and downloaded the footage from the last four days. When it was done she closed the laptop with a click and smiled at Dominic.
“Thanks so much, you’re a lifesaver,” she said.
“So when are we going for that drink?” he asked with a lopsided grin. Lily smiled back, he was young, and barely looked old enough to drink.
“I’ll call you Dominic, thanks again.”
She got back on the tram and slipped into a cafe at Victoria station, the bustle of people and train announcements calming her nerves. She slipped her headphones on and opened her laptop. She made sure the screen was facing the wall before she opened the video files. She clicked through to Friday night and her heart raced when she saw Jamie’s bike pull up and stop. His registration plate was clearly visible, and she watched the two of them walk up to the building. She shivered as she remembered his hand on her lower back. Looking back on the scene now she noticed something else, he looked genuinely happy.
The two of them disappeared into the building and her eyes scanned the screen for any sign of Steve. Finally a patrol car pulled up and parked. She could make out Steve’s silhouette through the window and saw a flash of red spark as he threw a cigarette onto the ground. Smoking in a car. If she couldn’t get him for anything else, she would at least get him for that. She took a series of screenshots and found some software to extract video clips. She mailed them to herself as a backup, and then she hopped back on the train to the office.
Lily strode into the building. A cluster of reporters had gathered outside, filming their pieces for the evening news about the murder. Lily walked into her bosses office without knocked. She was an intimidating woman, sharp and no-nonsense.
“I have something to show you,” Lily said, and slipped the laptop out of her bag.
****
A week later Lily sat her her office, too anxious to interview. She had cancelled all of her cases for that day. The past few days had been a blur. After Lily had exposed the video of Steve stalking her and Jamie, Lily had been asked to keep quiet. An internal investigation had been opened into his conduct. There had been complaints about inappropriate behaviour, and the fact that he had followed a colleague in a police car while she was out of working hours was a serious offence. Lily had kept quiet, knowing something was going on in the background but not knowing exactly what. It had been hard keeping things civil with Steve. She had to spend a week pretending everything was normal, when all she wanted to do was hide from him.
Then, yesterday evening, Lily had been called in to a briefing room. The TV screen was dimmed, and a laptop sat on the table.
“We have some things to show you, Lily. And they’re going to be distressing,” her boss had said. Lily nodded, she wasn’t sure what they could be, but when the screen turned on she wanted to be sick. There were hundreds of pictures of her, taken by Steve. It seemed like he followed her everywhere. Pictures taken through her bedroom window, through Jamie’s windows. Many of them were of her undressed, or getting undressed. Finally she had to tell them to stop. She couldn’t see any more.
“How many pictures were there?” she asked, her voice quiet.
“Over a thousand.”
Lily’s stomach churned.
“That’s not all. We believe Steve broke into Jamie’s flat in order to plant evidence on the scene of the murder.”
“What?” Lily asked, confused. Then it slowly dawned on her. “Steve committed the murder and framed Jamie?” she asked in disbelief.
“That’s what the evidence leads us to suggest,” she said. “He had these photos saved on his work PC. God knows what he has at home. The arrest warrant is being issued as we speak.”
The next day Lily came into work to a hushed office. Steve’s desk was empty, completely cleared out. A rectangle of dust-free table top showed where his PC once sat. It was probably being combed through, every case he had involvement in revisited. The repercussions of this would go on for months.
Lily was waiting anxiously to hear about Jamie. There was a rumour he was being released today. There was also the looming conversation about Lily’s job. The topic hadn’t been approached yet, but it was only a matter of time.
Lily packed up for the day, she had barely made a dent in her paperwork, and she slid some into her briefcase to take home. It might be easier to concentrate out of the office.
She stepped through her front door of her flat and shut it behind her. The anxiety of the day hadn’t subsided and she decided to run a bath before sitting down to work. She slipped off her dress and stepped into her bedroom.
“That’s quite a way to greet someone,” a familiar voice said. She looked up. Jam
ie was laying on her bed, legs crossed and arms behind his back. As casual and sexy as ever. Her stomach twisted with excitement and desire.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. She climbed onto the bed and straddled him. His body was lean and muscular under her hands, and she grabbed his face and kissed him. He rolled on top of her, pinning her to the bed and playfully nipping her neck until she squealed.
“I’m a free man, thanks to you,” he whispered in her ear. “They let me out this afternoon.”
“Why didn’t you come see me at work?” she asked, breathless as his fingers found the hook on her bra and unclipped it with ease.
“Because I couldn’t do this at work,” he said, and lowered himself down her body. She moaned as he pushed her thighs apart. His fingers slid inside her, one first, teasing her and making her wet, and then another. She gasped and spread her legs wider, one hand clutching the sheets and the other on the back of his head, guiding him between her legs. When his tongue found her clit she moaned and arched her back. Jamie pursed his lips and sucked her clit, sending waves of heat and pleasure through her body. She moaned and writhed on the bed, his strong hands holding her hips down and applying more pressure, sucking and licking until Lily’s legs shook from the pleasure. She moaned as an orgasm spread through her, making her toes curl. She giggled with the intensity of it as Jamie slid up her body. He undid his belt with one hand while holding her wrists with the other. His body over hers was thrilling, she didn’t think she would ever get tired of it.
His cock slid easily inside her. All of her nerve endings were on edge and the intensity of him filling her made Lily gasp. He kissed her as he rocked on top of her, slowly increasing his pace. He leg go of her wrists and gathered her legs around him, pulling her body close to his. She could smell his sweat and cologne, and a faint hint of cigarettes. It was intoxicating. Lily could feel herself building to another orgasm, and Jamie could feel it to. He sat up and rubbed her clit with his thumb as he rocked his cock in and out of her, each thrust deeper and harder. She moaned and pulled him closer with her legs, rocking in time. Finally she came again, gasping and moaning, she could feel herself tightening around his cock with each wave of her orgasm. The intensity of it made him come inside her.
He gathered her in his arms as they both caught their breath. “I think I might be falling in love with you,” he whispered into her hair.
“I should hope so,” she replied, “I rescued you.”
Lily looked at him and he grinned down at her, he kissed her lips and then leaned back into the bed, closing his eyes. Lily closed hers, and for the first time in a long time she felt content. She felt happy.
