Page 173 of The Last Love Song
‘Good. You must excuse me, but I have a million things to see to. Hang around for as long as you want. There’s tea and coffee in the urns over there.’
Johnny waved and set off across the stage.
‘What do you want to do?’ asked Freddy. ‘Go and get a bite to eat? There’s a couple of hours until rehearsal time.’
‘My tum tells me grub is in order,’ said Ian. ‘There’s a good Indian down the road. It does a mean vegetable curry.’
‘Fine,’ said Freddy.
‘Jesus, he’s become precious,’ Todd commented to Con as they filed off the stage.
‘Derek Longthorne, telephone call for you.’ The voice came booming over the loudspeaker.
‘This way, Mr Longthorne.’ A PA appeared on the stage beside him.
‘Catch us up at the Bombay Palace, Derek,’ Freddy called.
‘Will do.’
Fifteen minutes later Derek practically skipped into the curry house and sat down next to Todd.
‘We ordered for you. That is, we ordered most things on the menu. You look happy. Win the pools, did you?’
Derek shook his head. ‘No, nothing so exciting, I’m afraid. Just an old friend who wants to come along tomorrow, that’s all.’
‘Sorry, love, I haven’t seen her for two weeks. She’s not a prisoner, you know. She can come or go as she pleases.’
It was no more than Helen expected.
‘Thank you.’
She walked away from the crumbling terraced house and climbed into her Metro. She felt exhausted. She’d go home, take a shower and try to decide whether she had enough evidence to convince the police.
But there was still no motive...
She was turning right into the mews when she saw the police car parked right outside her front door. Heart pounding, she reversed onto the busy road, signalled left into the next street and turned off the engine.
The murder threat on Con’s life...they suspected her. If she went home now, they’d probably take her in for questioning and keep her in until the concert was over and it was too late.
Helen rubbed her forehead in frustration. The police were obviously not an option.
She’d have to go it alone.
‘Oh, Jesus, where to now?’ she cried.
There was something she needed from inside her house if she was to stand any chance of finally proving her innocence.
At midnight, Helen saw the police car turn out of the mews. They’d either given up or were changing shifts. She started the engine, reversed the car along the street and backed out dangerously onto the main road, finally pulling into the mews. Leaving her car near the entrance, she climbed out and ran to the front door. She panted upstairs and into her study, rifling through the top drawer until she found what she was looking for. It was old, but the logo hadn’t changed and it would help. She grabbed the plastic wallet with her recently gathered information and slipped the pass inside. Throwing the wallet into her handbag, she went to her bedroom and took hold of the smart suit and matching shoes she’d purchased earlier in the week. She grabbed her holdall and threw the clothes in, adding some make-up from the top of her dressing table.
Helen raced downstairs, slammed the front door behind her and ran to the car.
She had driven no more than a hundred yards when she looked in her wing mirror and saw the police car turning back into the mews.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she set off in the direction of central London.
Todd’s door buzzer rang at ten past two. Sleepless at the thought of tomorrow, he was up immediately. He ran downstairs to speak through the intercom.
‘Yeah?’
