Page 40 of The Girl in the Grave
‘I forgot my phone, went home for it and found Jodie in bed with Carl from CSI.’
‘Oh no, I’m sorry, Josh. You must be so hurt.’
He shrugged. ‘Hurt yes, but a little bit relieved. Things haven’t been good for a long time now.’
‘What will you do? Have you got somewhere to go?’
‘I’ll find somewhere.’
‘You have somewhere here, Josh, and it would be nice to have a bit of company. You can stay here as long as you like, there’s plenty of room. You can eat your breakfast and stare at your favourite view every day. You might have to feed yourself, though, I’m not really the domestic type.’
Josh laughed. ‘Thank you, Beth.’ He stood up and walked around to where she was sitting. He bent down and kissed her on the cheek. ‘I promise I won’t get in your way.’
She felt her cheeks flush pink and her fingers reached up to touch the spot where he’d kissed her.
Fifty-Four
Josh carried the small suitcase in from the back of the car and Beth took him up to the spare room. He put the case in, thanked her again then told her he had to go. She gave him the code for the gates, and he knew that for her this was a huge step, though he’d never betray her trust. He was glad she was beginning to come out of her shell. He’d watched her hide away for far too long.
He left her waiting for the camera guy and went back to the station to see where everyone was up to with the enquiries he’d left for them to follow up. He was still angry about Carl, and the fact that he worked with him and had trusted him irritated him all the more. As he pulled into the station’s car park the CSI van was nowhere to be seen. Good. Carl had better stay out of his way. Parking next to Sam’s Clio, he got out and went inside. The smell of fish and chips lingered in the corridor. Something about the design of this building meant that no matter what someone ate for lunch, the rest of the building could smell it until the next meal time. He was full of Beth’s pasta and grateful for her offer of a place to stay with no strings attached. Both of them worked hard, would likely pass like ships in the night and spend very little time together, so at least they wouldn’t get on each other’s nerves. Well, he hoped he wouldn’t get on hers; he knew she could never get on his.
He sat down at his desk and logged onto the computer. He needed a break in the case and he needed it now, before anything else happened. The door opened and Sam walked in.
‘Boss, there are three burials planned this week. Two of the graves have already been partially dug. The cemetery manager has put a stop on them until the morning of the funeral. Barry and the other bloke, I can’t remember his name, are going to take it in turns to keep an eye on the three separate sites.’
‘Good, thank you. I think I’ll ask for volunteers to sit in a car in plain clothes and watch as well.’
‘Is everything okay?’
He didn’t want to get into it with Sam, with anyone. He didn’t want the whole station speculating about his personal business. Paton arrived in the office, took one look at Josh and grimaced.
‘Anything on Jason Thompson?’ Josh asked.
‘We’ve been given another ex-girlfriend’s address by the ex-girlfriend we paid a visit to. She’s out of the country working on a cruise ship, so it’s a possibility he’s hiding out at her place. Task force are on their way there to stake it out.’
Josh was about to speak but Paton cut him off.
‘They can put the door through if they need to.’
‘Good.’
Josh’s phone began to ring; when he saw it was Beth he answered it.
‘Hi, it’s me. Remember the girl from the undertaker’s I told you about earlier?’
He nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Well, I’ve just had a very interesting conversation with her. She phoned me to tell me she’d like to speak to me in person, somewhere away from Dean&Sons. She thinks she recognises Chantel Price.’
Josh let out a whoop so loud it made both Sam and Paton jump as his fist smacked against the wooden desk. ‘When?’
‘I told her forty minutes in the coffee shop near the Windermere Lake Hotel you were at yesterday. Can you make it?’
‘Yes, I’m on my way. Thank you, Beth.’
Grinning, he stood up. ‘We might have a pretty decent lead; Paton, I still want you to go with task force and put that door through if you need to. Thompson isn’t off the hook yet.’
‘What about me?’ said Sam.
