Framed in Fire by Iona Whishaw

Author:Iona Whishaw
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Touchwood Editions
Published: 2022-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

ames sat brooding at his desk. He’d brooded away a good part of the day. He was being ridiculous. No, he was ridiculous. He was going to become, once again, the butt of Darling’s jokes about his love life, and O’Brien had stared at him a bit too closely when he’d come in. He ran his hand through his hair, realizing he’d not combed it before he’d slammed his hat on his head when he’d left the house to sit by the beach. What exactly was wrong with him? He’d had a lovely woman, whom he admired and respected for her independence and talent—he’d learned that much from Darling, anyway—and then he’d become jealous when she exhibited those same traits he admired.

He knew perfectly well, when he examined himself in the light of day, that he didn’t really suspect her of preferring Terrell. Though here he admitted his secret conviction that Terrell was the better man, so why not? In fact, she had said exactly why she’d liked him. Past tense. He nearly barked his scorn out loud. When had he ever understood a girl? And she was right. He wasn’t being kind. He was being an ass.

“Sir? I was thinking of popping over to get lunch and some coffee.”

Ames looked up at his imagined rival and knew what it was to be an ass, and what it would take not to be one. “Yeah, why not. I’m not making any progress. I could use a cup of coffee, to be sure. That one from this morning has worn right off.”

April beamed when they walked in but then narrowed her eyes. “You okay, Sergeant Ames? You look a little worse for wear. A case keep you up all night?”

“I did not sleep well, it’s true. I could use a full vat of that coffee I smell.”

April poured the coffee and said confidentially, “It’ll be that investigation. I don’t blame you for being worried, but you have nothing to worry about. I’m sure the station will come through with flying colours. Mark my words, it’s just gossip. You should hear my ladies here in the afternoons. They do nothing but tear down anyone who’s not at the table with them. Well, that’s not fair. Not all of them. Some of them try to temper it a little.”

Ames hadn’t even thought to be worried about the upcoming interview with the RCMP officer, so taken up had he been by his anger at Tina, and then himself, but he nodded. He watched Terrell smiling his thanks at April for the coffee, and her lingering smile for Terrell, and propped his elbows on the table and rested his head on his hands. How the hell was he going to make it up to Tina?

“Headache, sir? I have some Aspirin here.” Terrell reached into his trouser pocket. “I thought you and Miss Van Eyck were going to the pictures; did you go for a booze-up instead?”

“No, Constable, we did not go for a booze-up. You were already interviewed, weren’t you? What’s it like?”

“Yesterday afternoon.

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.