Page 74 of Read Between The Lines

Blake took a noisy slurp of his drink. ‘Would you mind if we went on another occasion? I really prefer to get as much rest as possible on a two-show day.’

‘But you told me you didn’t need to be back at the theatre until thirty-five minutes before curtain-up,’ I pointed out. ‘And you didn’t say you had to rest when I invited you here for coffee. Maybe the real reason you don’t want to go to the police is that you knew all along what Dom was up to?’

He frowned. ‘I promise you I didn’t. I guess I’m running out of excuses. Sorry, I know I’m not being very helpful, but there was this phrase that Dom always used when we were at boarding school together– snitches get stitches. It leaves one with a rather nasty taste in one’s mouth.’

Leo squeezed his shoulder, half in comfort, half as a gesture to urge Blake to pull himself together. ‘That’s what the macchiato is for. Good thing Kat got it in a cup-to-go for you. Look, don’t worry that you’re “snitching”. It’s only a phrase, mate. From what we’ve seen of Dom’s MO, he prefers not to get his hands dirty. And if he’s not done anything wrong, then he won’t have anything to worry about, will he?’

I could see that Blake was still trying to come up with a reason not to get involved, but between Leo’s hearty encouragement and my pleading expression, he was left with little choice.

* * *

We walked across town together to the police station on St Aldate’s, Blake spending the whole journey looking around nervously as if he half expected Dom to leap out and try to stop him. To be honest, I felt pretty jumpy myself and wouldn’t have been surprised if the SO Ox founder had pulled a stunt like that. I thought back to the two occasions I’d met him face to face, first at the Single Mingle and then at the obstacle course event. He’d seemed so ordinary and unassuming, acting like I was just another app member, even though we’d been exchanging messages for weeks. Or maybe even the written stuff had been generated by AI too. That could explain why he’d never used my name. He’d probably created a programme which mined all the great romantic works for their best lines. Brian James was even more of a fictional creation than I’d imagined.

As we got to the entrance to the police station, Leo pulled me to one side.

‘How do you want to handle this?’

‘I assumed we’d go to the front desk and tell them what’s happened. That’s what I did when I found a lost credit card in the street and handed it in there.’

‘You’re a thoroughly good person, you know that, right?’ Leo smiled. ‘But reporting someone for fraud is a little different from handing in a lost credit card. What I was trying to ask is, do you want me to call in some favours? I know you’re perfectly capable of handling this for yourself and don’t need me putting my size tens where they’re not wanted.’

‘You and your clompy shoes,’ I said. ‘As long as they’re not on the furniture in the library, I’m pretty happy for you to put them wherever you like. You’re right, I can deal with this, but I would appreciate your support. If you’re happy to pull some strings to get things moving faster, I’d be a fool to say no.’

‘Let me call Sid and see if he’s on duty. He may not be in CID, but he keeps his ears open. A lot of my detective colleagues have moved on, otherwise I’d approach them directly, but Sid will know who’s got the lightest workload at the moment, and who will deal with this the most sensitively and efficiently.’

Thankfully, although Sid wasn’t on duty, he was happy to take Leo’s call, and before we knew it, we were being hustled into an interview room where a friendly detective constable– ‘Call me Laurie’– listened to my story and took copious notes.

‘Thank you for giving a statement, Ms Fisher,’ he said at the end of the interview. ‘Leave it with me and I’ll be in touch. Off the record, it looks like you’ve given us enough probable cause to bring him in for questioning, but we’ll get a warrant and do some more digging around his electronic footprint first, so we’re armed with as much information as possible. Don’t want him to start wiping computer records, do we?’

‘Absolutely not,’ I said.

‘Try not to worry,’ said Laurie. ‘I’m determined to get to the bottom of this, believe me. There are too many con artists like Dom out there. I shall have great pleasure in making sure he’s taken off the streets. I’ll also be your liaison officer, keeping you up to date with the status of the investigation. Any questions, here’s a card with my contact details on, just drop me a message.’

As he escorted us out of the police station, he turned to Leo.

‘You were here the other day with Jill Gladstone, weren’t you? I thought I recognised you.’

Leo frowned, his body tensing. I instantly recognised him going into protective mode.

‘Will you send her my best wishes?’ continued Laurie, apparently unaware of Leo’s discomfort. ‘I’m really glad that she’s doing so well, from what I hear. She must be so grateful having you on her side.’

Leo cleared his throat. ‘I’ll let Jill know you were asking after her,’ he said gruffly.

‘Goodness, that was quite the experience,’ said Blake as we emerged onto the street. He was bouncing with energy, his earlier good mood completely restored. I suspected, under the right circumstances, he probably had what Doris would describe as golden retriever energy. ‘I really must make some notes for myself, so I don’t forget it. What incredible background research should I ever be lucky enough to get a role in a crime drama. I must suggest it to my agent. I think I’d make an excellent detective.’

‘Undoubtedly,’ I agreed, more because I felt the need to thank him in some way for helping unlock the mystery of Brian James, rather than because I had a strong opinion of his acting talents.

However, he looked thrilled by my apparent endorsement.

‘Thanks, Kat. I really appreciate it. Look, I know we met because of a weird situation, but do you fancy going on a date with me? I owe you a coffee, after all, and I’d love to get to know you better.’

I was very conscious of Leo standing next to me. He was affecting disinterest, but I could tell he was listening to the conversation, although what his thoughts were on Blake’s unexpected question was anybody’s guess. What I really wanted to do was to say no to Blake, and turn to Leo and ask him out instead. But I’d just heard him promise to convey the detective’s best wishes to Jill and I’d seen the way his expression had softened when he’d said her name. I needed to find out where I stood, but first I needed to turn Blake down.

‘Blake, I…’ I started to say.

Leo cleared his throat. I spun to look at him and was shocked by the mask-like expression he now wore.

‘I’ll leave you two to make plans and compare coffee orders. See you around.’

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