A Deadly Thaw (Inspector Francis Sadler Book 2) by Sarah Ward

Author:Sarah Ward [Ward, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571321056
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2016-08-29T18:30:00+00:00

48

Kat woke up in Mark’s uncomfortable spare bedroom. After their conversation about Lena, Kat had pleaded a headache and had gone upstairs to bed. Charlie followed her and settled on her blankets. The cat had made himself comfortable in Mark’s house, and she could hear him purring contentedly as she stirred awake.

If Mark had made an effort with the rest of the house, he hadn’t bothered here. The walls were bare. Thin, cheaply made curtains hardly blocked out any light. But it was warm, probably from the water tank in the airing cupboard. Kat stretched out her legs and reached into her bag for the novel she was reading. It wasn’t there. She must have left it in the living room. She checked the time on her phone. Half eight and, unless she was imagining it, she’d slept straight through the night. She pulled on her woollen jumper over her pyjamas and headed downstairs.

From the living room she could hear men’s voices, muted, and then a chuckle of laughter that wasn’t Mark’s. She turned on the kettle and watched it boil, wondering whether to alert them to her presence. How would Mark explain the fact that she was in his house?

A man came into the kitchen, a mug in his hand, and started when he saw her. Then smiled. ‘You’re Kat? I’m Brian.’ He held out his hand, a curiously old-fashioned gesture. She took it. His palms were calloused. He saw her looking. ‘I was a mechanic. In the army. Tanks are harder on the skin than cars.’

‘That’s how you know—’

‘Mark. Yes.’

The unspoken question hung between them. ‘He told me about the gun. It must have been a shock. It’s better you’re staying here. He can keep an eye on you.’

‘It was a shock.’ She didn’t know what else to say. She marvelled at the wider world’s acceptance of her presence in Mark’s house.

Brian walked over to the sink, rinsed the mug and tipped it upside down onto the draining board. Mark came into the kitchen, and she slid past him. ‘I’d best get dressed. I didn’t realise you had visitors.’

He smiled after her. ‘There’s someone I want you to meet. We’ll wait for you in the front room.’

Kat hadn’t brought enough clothes and searched through her bag for the last pair of trousers. She’d need to go back to Providence Villa to pick up some clean stuff. The thought of doing her dirty laundry in front of Mark didn’t appeal. She dressed hurriedly and went back downstairs.

In the living room sat a man so resembling Father Christmas that Kat did a double take. He was in his sixties with cropped white hair and a long beard. He was rifling through what looked like a set of black-and-white photographs.

Mark did the introductions. ‘This is James Plower. I wanted you to meet him. He’s from the university in Manchester, but he lives in Bampton and is a friend of Brian’s. There’s a couple of things I want him to talk to you about.

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