THE COMPLETE DETECTIVE KATE POWER BOOKS 1–6 six absolutely gripping crime mysteries full of twists by CUTLER JUDITH

Author:CUTLER, JUDITH
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books crime thriller and mystery box set
Published: 2023-05-24T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kate and Derek were walking past Lizzie’s half-open door, Kate trying not to tiptoe like a particularly guilty Pink Panther.

‘Is that you, Kate?’

They exchanged a look.

‘Gaffer?’

Lizzie pulled open the door. ‘Look — Kate. I’m . . . I was out of order there; well out. D’you fancy a jar? Oh, and you, Ben,’ she added, managing a grin in his direction.

‘Good idea,’ they said together.

‘Have you got an umbrella?’ Kate added. ‘Derek’s got this idea that it’ll rain any moment.’

That was the first laugh: embarrassed, stilted, but still a laugh. While Lizzie locked up, Derek risked a thumbs-up. Kate winked back. They both heaved silent sighs, however: fun evening this was not going to be.

The city centre bars and the pavements outside them were heaving.

‘Maybe somewhere further out?’ Derek suggested.

‘Forget Brindley Place: that’ll be solid,’ Lizzie said. ‘Let’s head towards that place in St Paul’s Square, and if we find anything with so much as a window-sill to park our glasses on, we stop there.’

‘Sounds good,’ agreed Kate, loathing the whole thing. Loud, laddish laughter seemed somehow even more unlovely in the street than in a bar. It was as if the hilarity had to be inflicted on the world, not just fellow drinkers, and if you were simply making your quiet way home, your very sobriety made you less of a person.

In the event, they found a pub in the business area where they could not only drink, but drink inside.

‘My shout,’ Lizzie announced, heading for the bar before either could argue or, indeed, say what they wanted. She turned, drawing a question mark in the air, and seemed unimpressed by the thought of two orange and lemonades.

But she bought one for herself, and crisps for them all. This was not going to be a one-drink evening, was it? And of course, as far as Kate was concerned, there was no reason why it should have been. There was nothing else on the agenda, after all. No need to visit Aunt Cassie, no point waiting in for a call from Graham. She could make a night of it, do a club: except that clubbing seemed so much more the province of the young, not the coming-up-to-thirties. And it was best done in gangs, and not as a loner. God, she’d better sort her social life soon, hadn’t she?

Derek’s was obviously more organised. He was already glancing at his watch. What if he sneaked off and left her tête-à-tête with Lizzie? Forgiving and forgetting this afternoon were not the same at all as enjoying a quiet drink with a friend.

The talk circled round the weather. It was agreed that Derek — still Ben, as far as Lizzie was concerned — was likely to need his rainwear this weekend, on the principle that it always rained at weekends. The gardens needed a drop, anyway.

‘Mine certainly does,’ Kate said. ‘All those poor little things struggling to put out roots, and what does the weather do? It starves them. I’m watering them every night.

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