Page 41 of The Girl in the Grave
‘You can come with me, but you might have to wait in the car. I don’t want to spook her if she has information and too many of us might tip the balance. Is that okay?’
‘Fine by me.’
For the first time in hours he felt a spark of hope that things might fall into place. That this woman might give them a connection to Dean&Sons, so they could get a warrant and tear the place apart.
Fifty-Five
Beth met Josh at the hotel car park, and they walked across the narrow pedestrian street to the coffee shop together.
‘I don’t want to scare her, so if you sit a couple of tables away from me when she comes, I’ll ask if she agrees to you being present. If she does, I’ll give you the nod.’
‘Thank you, Beth, you don’t know how much this means.’
‘It might not be anything, so don’t get your hopes up, but you’re welcome. I think you’re becoming a bad influence on me, Josh. I’ve never felt the need to go and act all Kay Scarpetta on a case. I don’t know what came over me.’
He laughed. ‘Me neither, but I like it. What with me getting my arse kicked for sneaking around the other day and you going there out of the blue, if this all goes horribly wrong we can set up the best private detective agency in the UK.’
It was Beth’s turn to laugh. ‘God, I hope not. I don’t think I could cope with the anxiety, although it would be a bit exciting. In fact this is the most exciting thing I’ve done in a long time. I’ve even had to cancel my security guy to come here; I’mtrulyliving dangerously now.’
He stared at her a little too long, and she felt the heat begin to rise up her throat, turning her cheeks pink.
‘You didn’t have to do that.’
‘I know, but I thought we’d better catch her whilst she wants to talk, in case she thinks about it and changes her mind. I also thought if you were stopping at mine I might feel a little bit safer and not quite as paranoid.’
He reached out and squeezed her arm. ‘I hope so. You deserve to be happy, Beth. Not living under the shadow of what happened.’
The café was busy; the perils of a warm summer’s day in the Lake District. Josh snagged a table outside on the patio whilst Beth went to get the drinks. When Alex arrived he’d leave her to it and go and sit on the church wall opposite. He looked around, he loved people watching and was sure that was what made him a good detective.
After a while Beth appeared with three cardboard cups and passed him one.
‘I got you a latte with an extra shot. I thought you might need the caffeine.’
He smiled as he took it from her and stood up. ‘There’s nowhere to sit, so I’ll go and hang around the church.’
‘God, not you as well. Where were you last week?’
He spat the mouthful of hot coffee all over the front of his suit. ‘Very funny for a doctor.’ Shaking his head, he screwed the napkins up she’d passed him to blot up the coffee and left them on the table. He walked off and settled himself on a bench in the churchyard that looked onto the café.
Fifty-Six
Beth sipped her latte, hoping Alex hadn’t changed her mind and had second thoughts. The thought of Chantel Price’s body being stuck in the mortuary fridge for the foreseeable future made her heart break. She could see Josh: he was sitting on a bench, his eyes closed, face lifted to catch the sun’s rays. He didn’t deserve what had happened to him this morning, even if his marriage was already on the rocks.
‘Beth.’
She turned to see Alex, her face hidden behind a pair of large designer sunglasses.
‘Alex, I bought you a latte. I hope that’s OK?’
She nodded. ‘If it contains caffeine, I’ll drink it. Thank you.’
‘I have to say, yours was much better this morning. Have you ever considered opening up a coffee shop?’
The woman laughed. ‘I’d love to, anything to get out of the family business would be great. It wasn’t my first choice of career.’ Alex pulled out a chair and sat down opposite her.
‘How did you end up working there then? Sorry if I’m being overly personal, just tell me to mind my own business.’
‘No, it’s fine. I told you, I don’t get to have many conversations with living people. I kind of got sucked in to it. About three months after my mum passed away, my dad had a minor heart attack right when I was about to leave for university. I didn’t want to leave him; James is lazy at the best of times and I knew he wasn’t about to change. That business means everything to my dad; it was my grandad who started it. I didn’t have the heart to leave him alone to run it when he wasn’t in great shape.’
