Animal Instinct by Animal Instinct (retail) (epub)

Author:Animal Instinct (retail) (epub) [Instinct, Animal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788631921
Publisher: Canelo Digital Publishing Ltd
Published: 2018-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

19

The Bentley was parked outside the isolated cafe, high up on the white cliffs, overlooking the Channel. The car still had its showroom sheen, its appearance disfigured only by graffiti daubed on its black bonnet in red paint, the colour of a postbox. Vermilion. Joe could see why Katie hadn’t been keen to say the words aloud in a room full of colleagues.

I love cock.

He circled the car, feeling the mid-afternoon sun on his shoulders. He raised an eyebrow at his son.

‘I assume this is nothing to do with you.’

He tried to make it sound like a statement not a question.

Luke shook his head. ‘It was like that when I got here.’ He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. ‘I told them but they wouldn’t listen.’

Joe turned to survey the men outside the cafe. Wearing shorts, Tom Lycett was standing alongside Felix Goodchild. The lawyer had his arms folded. Detective Sergeant Hugh Duffy was in his shirtsleeves, lighting a roll-up. Joe hoped Luke and Duffy weren’t going to find themselves standing side by side any time soon. This was not the moment to be searching for signs of resemblance.

‘Can we get this over with?’ Goodchild took off his jacket loosened his tie. ‘A tow-truck’s coming.’

‘Is the engine not working?’ said Joe.

‘The engine is fine,’ said Felix. ‘But I can hardly drive the car in this state. I need it cleaned up.’

‘I bet you bloody do,’ muttered Duffy under his breath.

Joe pretended not to hear. He checked his watch. Nearly one thirty. They could still make the court appearance, as long as the situation was resolved quickly. He turned to his son.

‘Talk me through what happened.’

Luke’s sing-song tone suggested he was talking to a dim-witted child.

‘I went to the wildlife park this morning and they said Lycett might be here—’

Joe interrupted. ‘Why did you go to Pennefeather’s?’

‘To find out what happened to Bella,’ said Luke, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Joe frowned. ‘Why would you do that?’

‘I could ask you the same question,’ said Luke. ‘At least I knew her, which is more than you did.’

Joe stifled a sigh. This was no time to rise to his son’s bait.

‘Go on,’ he said.

Luke laced his fingers together and cracked his knuckles as he continued with his version of events.

‘A girl at the ele house said that Bella and Tom used to have sex. I was pissed off – jealous, I guess – but I wanted to talk to him anyway. The girl said he often has lunch here, on his day off. So I turn up and the Bentley’s sitting here, like this – I love cock all over it. I’m about to go into the cafe when these two blokes come out’ – he gestured at Felix and Tom – ‘and start yelling at me, like I had something to do with it. Which I didn’t. Then they phone him.’ He pointed to Hugh. ‘And he phones Mum and she phones you, and here we all are.

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