Page 65 of Read Between The Lines

I was grasping at straws here, but I couldn’t seem to stop. ‘I could give him an abbreviated version of the truth, that I recognised his voice at the obstacle course and managed to find him in Oxford when I couldn’t keep up with him at the event. I’ll ask him if he’s dyed his hair, and pretend I’ve not noticed he’s half a foot shorter in real life than he appears in his profile pictures. He’ll probably be flattered that someone has gone to such an effort to meet him.’

I sank back onto a chair, exhausted by my mental gymnastics.

‘Or he’ll start worrying that he’s got a stalker. I’m not telling you what to do but, as your friend, I’d advise you to reconsider.’

‘I have to do something,’ I said, a little more brusquely than I’d intended as I tried not to get caught up in overanalysing his use of the word ‘friend’. ‘We can’t carry on forever like a budget Holmes and Watson, never achieving anything.’

‘Morse and Lewis would be more accurate, given our usual surroundings,’ said Leo, a genuine warmth in his voice for the first time in this strange conversation. ‘And I’m offended that you’d describe us as “budget” anything. Haven’t you just tracked down your man? I would say that makes you quite the crimefighter.’

‘Yes, but it’s seemingly not going to make a scrap of difference unless we can bring him to justice. I need to move on with my life. We can’t keep going like this.’

‘Sure, I understand,’ said Leo, suddenly all business again. ‘You’re right. We sort out the Scammer Brian situation and then we can both move on.’

I wished he hadn’t agreed so readily.

ChapterTwenty-Five

It was difficult to concentrate on work on Monday when I knew Leo was elsewhere carrying out surveillance on the man we now knew to be Blake Jenkins. I was worried about him being out there by himself, but Leo had refused to listen to my concerns when he’d dropped by this morning.

‘Trust me, I’m experienced at this kind of thing. He won’t look twice at me. As far as he’s concerned, I’m just an average bloke hanging around in the street.’

I fought the urge to tell Leo there was nothing average about him, but now was not the time.

I tried a different tack. ‘It’s not fair making you do all the legwork. I don’t want to take advantage of your good nature.’

‘You aren’t, I promise,’ he said.

‘And you really think you’ll find out useful information by following him around for a while?’

‘It’ll help us establish his routine and usual haunts, which means that, if– and it’s a very big if– we go ahead with your plan of waiting near the stage door, I’ll have a good idea of where he might suggest you go afterwards. With this kind of operation, the more preparation we can do, the better.’

‘It sounds like you’re coming round to my way of thinking,’ I said.

‘What part of “if” don’t you understand?’ he said, although his tone was benevolent.

‘I know, I know. You only want me to be safe.’

‘I care about you. Of course, I want you to be safe,’ he replied before doing a swift about turn and stomping out of the library.

‘My, oh my, we’ll need to get air conditioning in here if you’re going to carry on heating up the place with all that sexual tension between you two,’ said Moira, appearing from behind the fantasy section where she’d been unsubtly eavesdropping. She fanned herself.

‘Ha ha, very funny,’ I said, looking anxiously towards the street where Leo had disappeared.

‘He’ll be fine,’ she added. ‘He’s a big boy. He can look after himself. And he’s got a point about the need to be careful. A wild beast is always most dangerous when it’s cornered.’

That didn’t make me feel any better.

Fortunately, I had a meeting with Doris about the seniors’ social media group to distract me. Once we’d sorted out the logistics of her running a few sessions, I took the opportunity to ask her about assisting Leo with his business plan. I knew I should have done it ages ago, but I hadn’t at the beginning because I’d been dubious about whether he’d actually help me. Then, as things progressed, I’d been selfishly putting it off because I didn’t want our arrangement to end. But the delighted expression on Doris’s face made me feel guilty I’d not asked sooner.

‘You really want me to get involved? Are you sure? I’ve been out of the loop for a while. I could probably put you in touch with someone better.’

‘There’s no one better than you,’ I reassured her. ‘It’s important to me that Leo’s business gets the best possible start, and I know that you’re the person to help him do that.’

She almost visibly grew in stature.

‘You’re very kind, pet. In which case, I’m more than happy to help. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and make a few phone calls to some old contacts who might know about funding opportunities for start-ups in Oxford. It doesn’t do any harm to think ahead.’

She was so keen to get started that she forgot to ask whether her latest book reservations had arrived.

---