Personal Protection by Tracey Shellito

Author:Tracey Shellito [Shellito, Tracey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0954763459
Publisher: Creative Content Ltd

10

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Work,” I mumbled, muzzy from whatever Craig had dosed me with.

“Back to bed, soldier, you’ve been relieved of duty.”

“I have?”

“Brian Senior came round this afternoon. They’ve found a replacement for Spink. They tried to phone, but I’d turned the ringer off. You needed to rest.”

I sat heavily on the swivel chair. The bedroom seemed too far just now.

Tori indicated a neat stack of twenty pound notes on the desk. “He left last night’s pay, severance and a bonus for saving his car.” She chuckled. “I hadn’t the heart to tell him the truth. He’s so tight, getting anything out of him is blood out of a stone.” She flourished a membership card with my name. “He also left this. Unlimited Membership, no expiry date. I’m impressed. The only other person who has one of these in the Chief Superintendent.”

“Not sure I’m going to need it if my reason for going there is gone,” I told her honestly.

She set down the membership card, knelt on the floor and began fussing with the buttons on the shirt I’d been trying to get into, unable to meet my eyes. I caught her hands.

“You really should go back to bed,” she mumbled.

“So you can kick me when I’m down?”

Her eyes snapped up, annoyed. “No!”

I dropped her hands and caught her face instead. My knuckles were split.

“Talk to me. Are you leaving me?”

“It doesn’t seem right discussing this with you when you’re…”

“Bad news doesn’t get better for putting it off. When do you go?”

Her eyes were on my lips, her hands making impotent fists on my knees. “They want me to come down and try out on Saturday.”

Five days. I let go of her face. My hands had started to shake. I didn’t want her to see.

Now I was unable to meet her eyes. I didn’t seem to be able to draw breath. She sensed my distress, caught my hands in hers and stroked the backs, avoiding the split knuckles.

“Randall, I may not make the grade! I might not like the place, or the way they want me to do the job. It’s very different…”

She was trying to convince herself. I knew what was coming next.

“If it pans out, you could come down, too. I’m sure there’d be someone more than happy to employ you, with your reputation. Maybe you could even persuade Dean to relocate! Or if that doesn’t work, we could always meet up at weekends...”

What made it worse was she believed it.

“Tori, I can’t. My life is here. Not because I want it to be here, because I can’t afford to go anywhere else. The only things mine to sell are the Porsche – which isn’t the genuine article – and the furniture in this apartment. I don’t own the place. I’m a tenant. I have no savings. All the money I have is tied up in the business. I had to get a loan to buy into that when I became a partner. I owe the credit card company a mint from the bender I was on when you met me.

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