Page 48 of The Girl in the Grave
‘Would you like a bacon sandwich and a coffee?’
Steve, who was up his ladder replacing the missing part from the camera, turned to look at her. ‘I’ve already eaten, but I’d love a coffee if that’s okay.’
She stood up, making him his drink in one of the huge mugs she’d bought and didn’t really use. He finished screwing the camera back together and climbed back down. He walked into the open-plan kitchen; Beth pointed at the mug, which he picked up. Inhaling the aroma, he grinned.
‘There’s nothing like a decent cup of coffee to set you up for the day. I don’t mind buying a sausage sarnie from greasy Joe’s burger van, but I draw the line at his shite coffee.’
Beth laughed. ‘Urgh, rather you than me. I’d be scared to eat something from a roadside van.’
‘Needs must, I was too late to feed myself today. Hey, are you going to the pub again tonight? I’ll be there; you said I could buy you a drink another time.’
She felt her cheeks turn pink. He was nice even if he was a little bit forward.
‘It depends how busy work is.’
‘Don’t you go to self-defence on a Wednesday?’
She frowned, wondering how the hell he knew that.
‘Sorry, God, that makes me sound like a right stalker. I’m not, I swear. I know Phil who runs the classes, and I was talking to him after you left the pub the other night. He mentioned that you were a regular, sorry. I wasn’t talking about you. I should probably shut up now.’
His cheeks had turned even pinker than hers, and she couldn’t help but smile at him.
‘I do, I really enjoy it. Sometimes I fit in an extra class, but you’re right: Wednesday’s my usual night. I’ll be going to class – work permitting – and as long as I don’t get called out there’s a good chance I’ll be going to The Stag for a drink after.’
His smile was so big it actually melted her heart a little. ‘Wow, that’s cool. I’ll probably see you there then.’
He finished his drink and Beth wondered how on earth she’d just managed to agree to go for drinks with the security guy. He walked to the sink and rinsed out the mug – which raised him slightly in her good books. Then he set about snapping shut his toolbox and carrying his ladders back out to the van. Beth walked him to the door; out in the drive he turned to wave at her. She lifted her hand and waved back, then closed the door and let out a laugh so loud it filled the hallway. She watched him leave on the camera and shut the gates behind him then set about rinsing her own breakfast dishes.
Once they were stacked in the dishwasher, she opened the sliding doors and stepped outside. The sun was warming up nicely over the lake and she watched as one of the steam boats full of tourists sailed past. It was busy despite it being early; this weather was clearly good for business.
As Beth turned to head back inside, she noticed something fluttering on the patio table. She strolled over to pick it up, wondering who could have left it there.
For a few seconds she couldn’t take in what she was seeing, and then tilting her head she let out a gasp: now she understood what it was. She was looking at a bloodied acrylic fingernail. It had been placed on top of a photograph of a girl who’d been tied up. It was dark, and her expression showed she’d been startled and scared by the bright camera flash that had gone off inches from her face.
Beth bent to examine it more closely: she knew better than to pick up potential forensic evidence. The woman’s wrists were tied together, her fingers all bloody and torn. For the first time in days Beth felt a full-blown panic attack begin as her lungs constricted and she struggled to breathe. The longer she looked at the photo, the harder it was to suck in any air to feed her racing heart.
Who had put this there?
More to the point, how had they even got inside the perimeter of her property?
She ran back inside, slamming the doors shut and locking them. Her hands shaking, she dialled Josh’s number and swore when it went straight to voicemail.
Sixty-Six
Josh watched James Dean walk out of the station with his solicitor on the cameras inside the custody suite. They didn’t have enough to hold him or charge him with, and he’d been released on bail pending further enquiries. James stopped before he got into the passenger side of the solicitor’s car, turned and stuck two fingers up at the camera.
‘Bastard,’ Josh muttered. The custody sergeant just shrugged.
‘You win some, you lose some.’
‘He’s an arse. I wish the search team had turned up something better.’
‘Like what, a body?’ The sergeant let out a snigger. Stan had filled him in on the embalmed body that had been smack bang in the middle of their fingertip search of the funeral home.
‘There were plenty of bodies, just not the one I was looking for.’
Josh walked away before he lost it. He was tired, angry, hungry and wanting to argue with anyone looking for it. No sleep tended to have that effect on him. He’d sent Sam home late last night; she had a family and a life to take care of, while he had endless hours to spend questioning James.
