Scare Me To Death by CJ Carver (free romance novels TXT) 📕

started to back up, already turning to run for the road, when the dog trotted into view, ears pricked, tail alert.

Small, white and fluffy, it came straight to her, obviously expecting to be petted.

‘No,’ she hissed. ‘Go and pee.’

But the dog remained, tail wagging, little button black eyes shining.

‘Go away.’

No such luck. She’d have to ignore it.

‘Just don’t bark, okay?’

Lucy walked around the back of the house, the dog tagging along. Slipping from shrub to shrub, she spied through the windows. An enormous living room. A study with big leather chairs. She didn’t see anyone. Then a door opened. A slab of light lay on cobblestones. A woman sang, ‘Bertie! Dinner!’

The dog tore off.

Lucy moved to another window. This was the kitchen. Huge. Copper pots and pans hung from the ceiling along with bunches of herbs and wine glasses. Amina Amari was there, tossing back what looked like a tumbler of whisky. Who was the woman who’d called the dog? It couldn’t have been Amari, not unless she could teleport.

Lucy’s father, Carl, was also in the kitchen. No drink. He was unsmiling, his expression grim as he spoke. Amari listened for a while but then Carl said something that made the woman’s eyes widen. She looked stunned for a second then she slammed down her glass so hard whisky slopped over the edge. She strode to Lucy’s father, stabbing her finger in his face. She was shouting but Lucy couldn’t hear the words.

Her father stood his ground but his face was set. He was shaking his head and Amira was pointing behind him, yelling fit to burst. It looked as though she was shouting, Get out!

Lucy watched as Amari suddenly stopped yelling, as if she’d been slapped. Although Lucy couldn’t see anyone, it was obvious someone had appeared from the body language of Amari and her father. Was it the woman who’d called the dog? Both Amari and Lucy’s father were staring at the same space. Both of them were motionless, frozen in a state of… what? Fear? Dismay? It was hard to tell but both looked shaken.

Then Amari spun on her heel, grabbed her drink and downed it in two quick swallows. Lucy’s father walked out of the room. His shoulders were stiff with tension.

She’d seen enough. She had to ring Jon Banks. Tell him she’d found Chris Malone. Cautiously she began to backtrack. She was halfway down the drive when she heard an engine start. Quickly she took cover behind a tree trunk. As the car passed, she had a quick peek to see it was the blue Jag. Just one driver. Her father.

She broke into a run, flying for the gap in the hedge, for Teg and his taxi. She wanted to follow her dad, see where he was going. More scratches, more mud on her clothes, and then she was racing down the road. She piled into the back of the cab.

‘Did the blue Jag come this way?’ she gasped.

‘Yup.’

‘After it!’

‘If it comes to a race, you know we’re gonna lose, right?’

‘I just want to see–’

‘Where it goes, okay.’

Although Teg floored his taxi, driving as fast as he dared – or so he said – along the narrow road, they didn’t catch up with the Jag. Lucy had just told Teg to give up and drop her at the railway station, when her phone rang. Unknown caller.

‘Yes?’ she answered.

‘You can stop following me now, okay?’

49

‘Dad?’

‘The one and only.’

‘What makes you think I’m following you?’

She felt Teg’s eyes snap to her in the rear-view mirror and ignored him.

‘Because that’s what I’d do. It’s what a good cop would do. I pegged the taxi straight away, you know.’

‘What’s going on? I mean, I know you told me–’

‘You asked me which force.’

‘Yes.’

‘I think you can probably guess. But it’s Special Branch. My handler is Geoff Hanmer. If you get in touch, he’ll deny I exist. So give him my code name, Black Rainbow.’

A little bubble of hope rose inside her. Perhaps he was a cop, after all. Please God, it was true.

‘Ring him.’

‘Okay.’

‘Do you want his number?’

‘I’ll find it.’

‘You don’t trust me.’

‘How can I?’ she snapped. ‘You fucked off when I was eight years old and now I find you’re consorting with a woman who tried to kill Ricky.’

‘What?’ he sounded shocked.

‘You heard me. We’ve got CCTV of her. He nearly died.’ Which was an exaggeration but she wanted to hit him hard.

‘Christ almighty.’

‘Why should she want to kill him?’

‘I take it you’re talking about Amina?’

‘Yes.’

‘I don’t know.’ He swallowed audibly. ‘But it could have something to do with the fact Ricky’s her accountant.’

She hadn’t seen BreatheZero in Ricky’s client list, and said so.

‘That’s because it’s owned by a holding company.’ Suddenly her father sounded tired. ‘Look, Lucy. Could you just ring Geoff? Because if you don’t, we’re going to be at loggerheads and I don’t want that. I want us both to be working from the same page. Okay?’

‘What were you rowing with Amari about?’

‘Not now, Lucy.’

She gritted her teeth. ‘Amari is wanted by the police. I have to tell my boss that I’ve seen her.’

‘No.’

‘Hey, you can’t just–’

‘It’s not the right time,’ he snapped. ‘I will bring her in myself, okay? Now, go and call Geoff and ring me back once you’ve spoken.’

He hung up. Lucy stared at the phone. She was trembling with a combination of anger, panic and confusion. She desperately wanted to ring the SIO, tell him where he could find Chris Malone, aka Amina Amari, but the kid in her quailed when her father’s voice snapped at her: Please do not fuck it up.

Lucy rang Special Branch. Thanks to it being after seven now, she was presented with a selection of out-of-hours options, forcing her to leave a variety of messages. Dammit, she wanted results now. She put her phone back in her bag as Teg pulled up outside the railway station. She paid him. Gave him a generous tip which made him grin.

‘It was fun,’ he told her, sounding slightly surprised.