The Silent Suspect by Nell Pattison (epub e ink reader .TXT) 📕

another question when he looked at his watch. ‘Give me your car keys, and I’ll get your car back to you in the next few hours,’ he said. ‘I don’t want you trying to drive for a couple of days, though.’

I rolled my eyes, but handed my keys over anyway. He said his goodbyes and walked to the door, then turned and took one of my hands.

‘Paige, you know, yesterday …’ His voice tailed off and I knew straight away he was referring to when I kissed him. ‘I hope I didn’t offend you. It wasn’t the right time or place, that’s all.’

Swallowing hard, I suddenly found I’d lost my voice. It all seemed obvious now: I knew that I wanted it to happen again, and I wanted to be with Singh. Did this mean he felt the same? Before I found the right words, he gave me a soft kiss on the cheek and left. I closed the door behind him, then leant on it for a moment, taking a deep breath to try and slow my hammering heart.

Much as I wanted to lose myself in a daydream about going on a date with Singh and kissing him again, my mind kept coming back to what he’d told me about the other investigation. How had Mariusz got himself involved with a drug dealer who was cuckooing? Did Lukas know about it? There were so many unanswered questions.

A wave of tiredness washed over me as I went back into the living room and curled up on the sofa. I tried to keep my eyes open, to try and make some connections and work out what we were all missing, but before I knew it I was asleep, my cheek still tingling from Singh’s kiss.

Chapter 33

A loud noise penetrated my consciousness and I sat up, bleary-eyed and confused. I rubbed my face, and as the sound came again I realised it was my door buzzer. How long had I been asleep? It was still light outside, and Anna must not be home from work yet. Perhaps it was Singh, leaving my car keys?

‘Hello?’ I said into the intercom. The only thing I heard in return was static. Fear started to bubble, and I said, ‘Hello?’ again. Still no response.

After checking the door was locked I backed away slowly, then went into the living room. I peered out of the window, down to the front door of the building, but my view was obscured by the roof of the small porch. Whoever was pressing my buzzer would be underneath it.

I had just made my mind up not to answer the door, when someone stepped back and looked up at me. It was Max.

A wave of relief flooded through me, shortly followed by another twinge of anxiety. What was he doing here? He smiled and waved, so I couldn’t leave him on the doorstep; he knew I was in, and he knew I’d seen him.

Reluctantly, I pressed the button that would unlock the exterior door, and waited for him to climb the stairs. I hadn’t checked my phone since Singh had brought me home from the hospital, so maybe Max had tried texting or calling before he came round. If he wanted to have a go at me for the way I’d ended things I didn’t think I could cope.

Hi, he signed, hovering outside the door, obviously waiting for me to invite him in. I stood back and held the door open, so he stepped inside awkwardly. Without responding, I went back into the living room and sat down rigidly on the sofa again, so he followed me and sat on the chair opposite. I could tell that he wanted to come and sit next to me on the sofa, but I lifted my legs up and stretched them out, making it clear that he should stay where he was.

How are you? he asked eventually.

Anna called you, I assume, I replied wearily. I should have known she would have done something like that. Even though she’d understood why I’d broken up with Max, and even told me she thought I was doing the right thing, she assumed I’d want him there to lean on when things went wrong. What the last twenty-four hours had shown me, however, was that he wasn’t the one I wanted to comfort me in my hour of need.

She thought you might need some support, Max explained. He still looked awkward, almost perching on the chair as if he thought I’d throw him out at any moment. Your face looks pretty painful.

My hand automatically went to my cheek. Of course, Max hadn’t seen me since Sunday night. Was it worth explaining to him that that injury had been sustained at a different time? I thought not. I didn’t want to activate his ‘knight in shining armour’ mode by telling him I’d been injured by unknown people twice in the space of a few days.

I’m fine, I told him. I knew I was being cold but I couldn’t help it. I was tired and in pain, I was trying to make sense of everything Singh had told me, both about the case and about our kiss. The last thing I needed right now was Max trying to offer a shoulder to cry on when I just wanted to be on my own.

You don’t look it.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and counted to ten. I wanted to shout at him, to tell him to stop patronising me and treating me like I couldn’t cope without him, but I knew those feelings stemmed from how Mike used to treat me. Still, if he wanted to use this as a chance to reconnect with me, or however he might put it, that wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t want to see or talk to anyone; I felt like Anna had let me down by calling Max when I’d asked her not to, and Sasha, well … I didn’t