The Copper Heart by Sarah Painter

Author:Sarah Painter [Painter, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Siskin Press Ltd

Chapter Fourteen

Back at the flat, Lydia was sitting at her desk. She had also been eyeing up the almost-full whisky bottle on top of her filing cabinet which had been making ‘come hither’ eyes at her for the last hour. It had been that kind of a day.

Her phone buzzed. Aiden. ‘People are asking for a meeting.’

‘When you say people…’

‘John, mostly. But some others.’

Lydia got up and moved to the kitchen. She filled the kettle while Aiden spoke, realising as she did so that she wasn’t thirsty for anything except alcohol. She got a beer instead and popped the cap. ‘They aren’t happy about…’

‘Not on the phone,’ Lydia warned.

‘I know. I’m on my way.’

Lydia’s motion sensor went off a second later and she heard Aiden’s heavy footsteps in the hall. She opened the door before he could knock and led the way to the roof terrace.

With the radio playing she indicated for Aiden to speak by gesturing with her beer.

‘It doesn’t look good.’

‘I’m aware.’

‘The community knows that we were friendly with Mark. And now he’s dead. That makes us look weak.’ Aiden winced, as if expecting Lydia to throw something at him. ‘Sorry.’

‘What does John want me to do about it?’

‘He wants a meeting…’

‘Don’t give me that. He already knows what he wants me to do and he’ll have been shooting his mouth off to anyone who will listen.’

Aiden looked at the floor. ‘He wants a proportionate response.’

‘An eye for an eye?’ Lydia sighed. That sounded right. John was nothing if not traditional. Especially since he never had to get his hands dirty. He and aunt Daisy lived in their comfortable house and enjoyed the reputation and financial safety net of the Crows without getting into the messy details. An eye for an eye sounded pretty good when you didn’t have to gouge it out yourself. ‘So, it’s just face-saving? Not personal?’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Was anybody close personal friends with Mark Kendal? If someone is going to do something silly, I need to know.’

‘Not that I know about,’ Aiden said. ‘But I’ll ask around.’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.