Page 3 of Ticket Out

“A young, beautiful girl like you. You should be settling down and having babies.” He said it in a way that made her sure he knew he was being provocative.

She said nothing in response. It wasn’t the place for an argument. She was horribly aware of the eyes staring blankly from the car, a silent watcher to them both.

At that moment two bobbies rounded the same corner that she had ten minutes earlier. One must have just made the height cut off, the other was massive, head and shoulders taller than herself.

“You with Kensington Traffic?” the smaller one asked in surprise.

“Morning rounds,” she confirmed. “Approached the car as it was illegally parked in a loading zone. Found him.”

The café owner had stayed to watch the proceedings, although he had taken a few steps back as if to distance himself from them. He wanted to be an observer, not a participant.

The bobbies studied the body in the car.

“I’ll go back to the station, shall I? Get someone out?” the shorter one asked.

“Go on, then.” The bigger one turned to her and the café owner as his partner loped off and took out a small pad and a pencil. “Name?”

“Gabriella Farnsworth.” She gave her badge number. “Can I be off now? I’ve got rounds.”

He thought about it. “All right. We can find you again easily enough.” His gaze flicked to the café owner. “And you, sir?”

The café owner burst into a flood of Italian, and Gabriella had to work to keep her face neutral at the nonsense he was spewing.

She eventually cut him off. “He works up the street. I asked him to call the police for me, so I didn’t have to leave the body unattended.”

“Right. What café is it?” The bobby looked grateful for her interruption and craned his neck to try and see the café name from where he stood.

“Gennaro’s,” Gabriella said.

The bobby wrote it down. “Do either of you know who the victim is?”

“No.” And that was the truth.

“And you, sir?”

Gennaro threw up the hand not holding the cup and saucer, as if the world itself was a mystery.

Gabriella just caught the sly glint in his eye before he turned and walked back to his broom and his café, muttering darkly the whole way.

“That’s foreigners for you,” the bobby said, cheerfully. “You all right, though? Can’t be nice, finding this.”

“No. Not nice.” She drew a deep breath. “Worse for him.”

“Got that right.” The bobby turned to look down the street, and Gabriella saw his partner was coming back, looking animated.

“Well, cheers.” Gabriella turned on her heel and walked away before she got caught up in it again.

She had targets. Rounds.

And a deep, abiding wish to not see those eyes any longer.

She had a feeling they’d haunt her for a while.

chaptertwo

“What’s this about a body,Ms. Farnsworth?”

Gabriella had just stepped out of the changing room, and she’d hoped to have a clear run at the door. She turned to Mr. Greenberg politely. He was standing in the doorway to his office, his age no drag on his bearing or smartness of dress. An elderly sentinel at the gates.

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