Page 39 of The Girl in the Grave
‘Bugger, something smellsburnt.’ Beth hurried back towards the kitchen where the pasta was boiling over and the vegetables were sticking in the pan. She turned the pans down, threw the chopped-up chicken in with the veg and added a sachet of sauce. Turning to him, she shrugged.
‘I’ve never said I was a good cook.’
He laughed. ‘No, but you do try, and I love you for that.’
She felt her heart double beat, busying herself by slicing the fresh baguette she’d bought on her way back from the undertaker’s. Josh sat down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar, and she knew without looking that he was staring out of the window at the lake. She glanced behind her; he looked so sad she had an overwhelming urge to wrap her arms around him and tell him everything was going to be okay. Only she didn’t. She served up the food and carried the plates over to him.
‘Do you want to eat outside?’
He shook his head. ‘Here’s fine, I can stare at the view without worrying about sharing my food with the flies.’
‘To be honest, Josh, I don’t think the flies will touch this. It isn’t my finest creation.’
‘It smells wonderful to me; I haven’t eaten all day.’
They ate in silence. Beth didn’t want to push him and put him off his food. She’d never seen him this down in all the years they’d been friends. When he’d finished everything on the plate and mopped up with several slices of bread, he carried his plate and hers over to the sink, rinsed them and then put them into the dishwasher. Beth sighed.
‘Jodie has trained you well.’
He snorted. ‘Yeah, you think so. She doesn’t seem to appreciate it much.’
‘Marriage is like that; you get used to each other. The passion goes, you end up being friends more than lovers.’
‘You’re quite an expert considering you’ve never been married.’
‘Ouch, I was trying to help.’
‘Sorry, that was uncalled for. I’m having the shittiest of days.’
‘I know, if it helps you look like shit as well.’
‘That good, eh?’
She nodded. ‘So, who’s going first; me or you?’
‘You. I’m intrigued about what you think you’ve done to make me so mad, and after today nothing surprises me.’
She raised an eyebrow at his comment, wondering what had happened to put him in this mood. ‘Right, well. Here goes. I was thinking about where the missing girl could be. What kind of place could someone keep Chantel Price and Annie? I thought Dean&Sons might be a good place to start because they dealt with the funeral of Florence Wright.’
‘And?’
‘I went and paid them a visit. I spoke to James Dean and his niece Alex. I get the impression that those two don’t get along much.’
‘I can’t believe you went there too! I went there yesterday and got caught sneaking around on the CCTV. Got a bollocking from the boss. I’m not allowed back there unless I can get sufficient grounds for a search warrant.’
Beth smiled at him. ‘Well at least that makes me feel a little better. I did walk in through the front door.’
‘Did you find anything out?’
‘Not really, I think it was a waste of time. I spoke to James, who said he didn’t notice anything strange when he was preparing Florence’s body. That’s not the worst of it though. I took a photo of Chantel Price with me and asked him if he recognised her.’
Josh laughed. ‘I’ve done a lot worse.’
‘Good, you have? I feel really bad about it. Anyway, on the way out I figured in for a penny in for a pound and showed the picture to his niece, Alex. She took a lot longer looking at it than he did, and I can’t say for sure, but I think there was a flicker of recognition in her eyes. I gave her my business card and told her to call me if she needed to chat, then I left. I’m sorry, are you mad?’
‘No. I’m more impressed that you did it. That’s interesting that we both came up with the same idea. Let’s hope you’ve stirred something in her memory, and she gets in touch.’
‘I’ve told you mine, now you tell me yours.’ She reached and took hold of his hand. He squeezed her fingers gently.
