04 Run for Cover by Graeme Hampton

Author:Graeme Hampton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: City, Police, Sleuths, Divorce, Hard-Boiled, Crime, International, Life, &, True, Women, Mystery, Traditional, Marriage, Thrillers, Fiction, Procedural, Detective, Family, Organized, General, Suspense
Publisher: Hera
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty

Molly approached Paul Chitterly with caution. He was still wary of the police after all, and it was more than a little disturbing to find him hot on her heels in a street in East London when she was technically off duty.

She tried to stop her heart from leaping out her mouth.

‘Paul… What the fuck are you doing?’

He seemed flustered and was shaking. She wondered if he’d taken something. ‘I wanted to speak to you. I saw you outside the snooker hall and I followed you to that bar. I wanted to wait until you were alone. I don’t trust that other woman.’ He looked at his feet. ‘I don’t like her.’

‘But what are you doing here?’

‘I was scared you were going to tell them it was me that tipped you off about them.’

‘Tell who?’ Then it dawned on her. He was talking about the Heaton brothers. ‘How did you know where they’d be?’ She shook her head. ‘Look, let’s go somewhere to talk. There’s no sense in having this conversation on the street.’

There was a coffee shop halfway along a modern-looking square next to the station. It was still open. She led him in there, sat him down on a faux leather sofa and ordered two coffees and a couple of cinnamon muffins. He seemed nervous and hungry, and dug into his muffin straight away.

‘How do you know the Heatons?’ she asked. ‘And how did you know where they’d be?’

He spoke through mouthfuls of muffin. ‘They’re always there. They spend more time there than at home. There, or there’s a pub on the Balls Pond Road they go into sometimes.’

She waited until he’d finished eating. ‘What I actually meant is – how do you know them?’

He’d finished the muffin and looked eagerly at Molly’s. ‘Aren’t you eating yours?’

She pushed the plate over to him, wondering how long since he’d last had something proper to eat. ‘You can have it,’ she said. ‘I’m not very hungry.’ She sipped her coffee and watched him eat. ‘I repeat: how do you know Blair and Connor Heaton?’

‘Dil knows them,’ he said eventually, through mouthfuls of muffin.

‘Dylan Lee knows Blair and Connor Heaton?’ She was aware that her voice had just risen an octave. ‘Then why the hell didn’t he name them as his attackers?’

‘I don’t know. But he knew them. That’s why he said there was valuable stuff at their mum’s house.’

‘Except there wasn’t, was there?’

He shook his head. ‘But Dil swore he knew for sure there was.’

This was getting them nowhere. ‘We didn’t mention you to the Heatons, Paul. And if it’s any consolation, I don’t think they killed Bryony. And I don’t think they’ll be coming after you. You can relax.’ She wasn’t sure if either of those statements were factually accurate, but it was what Chitterly needed to hear right now. And if that reassurance would stop him following her down side streets, then it seemed like a good idea. ‘Paul, I’m aware that I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but you really do need to stop bullshitting me and tell me the truth here.

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