DEATH IN THE RIVER a gripping British crime mystery full of twists by P.F. FORD

Author:P.F. FORD [FORD, P.F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JOFFE BOOKS crime thrillers and mysteries
Published: 2024-04-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

Goodnews was sitting in her office, gazing out of the window behind her desk. She wasn’t looking at anything in particular, just staring into space, wondering what the hell was happening to her life. Normally, nothing was ever done without her taking the time to assess the likely outcome. She was always in full control and things ran like clockwork, but just lately it seemed a lot of things were happening over which she had no control, and last night she had even become reckless and let her guard down — something she never did. It seemed everything was beginning to fall apart.

She normally worked with an open-door policy, but this morning the door was closed. A sudden knock interrupted her thoughts; she had asked Slater to come up and see her. Reluctantly, she slowly swung her chair round to face the door.

‘Come in,’ she called.

The door opened slightly and he poked his head through. ‘You wanted to see me?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Come in and shut the door.’

She watched him as he did as she asked and walked across to her desk. She looked up at him from behind the desk. For once, she didn’t feel quite as confident as she normally was, and she suddenly realised she was using the desk as a barrier between them. As if to prove to herself just how rattled she was, she found she was fiddling nervously with a pencil on her desk.

‘Is this about last night?’ he asked.

She looked away for a moment and her cheeks flushed. ‘I thought we had agreed nothing happened last night,’ she said. ‘It was just two colleagues having a couple of drinks while they discussed a case.’

She watched as he pursed his lips. He was clearly irritated.

‘I think you’ll find you agreed that,’ he said. ‘I don’t recall being asked what I thought.’

‘Look,’ she said, realising she probably sounded rather desperate, ‘if anyone was to find out, it would be the end of my career.’

‘Well, no one’s going to find out anything from me,’ he said.

She thought for a second. ‘Everyone found out about Darling being at your house that night,’ she pointed out.

‘I think you’ll find that was a bit different. That night I was the one who had had too much to drink. She did me a favour and took me home. Anyway, nothing happened when Darling stayed over and you know that.’

‘It took a lot of denying from both of you, though, didn’t it?’

‘I can’t help it if people have suspicious minds,’ he said.

‘Well, I don’t want to have to deny anything, okay?’

‘You’ve already made that crystal clear,’ said Slater, testily. ‘But, like I told you a hundred times already, I know how to be discreet. I won’t tell a soul.’

Goodnews placed her elbows on her desk and put her head in her hands. ‘Less than a week ago, my life was going just how I wanted, and I had everything under control,’ she said. ‘But now, well, I don’t know. It’s like I’m driving a car downhill, but the steering’s gone, and there are no brakes .

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