Page 25 of One of Us Is Guilty

Molly looked up, watching Heidi stride confidently over to Patrick. Heidi was tall, blonde, good-looking. She put the mock-up ads in front of Patrick, leaned over him and turned her head toward Molly.

‘These look fine to me,’ he said.

Heidi smiled at both of them. It was a knowing smile.

Geoff came in and turned on the flatscreen TV mounted on the wall.

‘You’ve got to see this news report. Heidi, wait here. I need to put a hold on those ads. We might want to change the copy, emphasize Coleridge is weak on crime. Wait till you see this.’

He found a local news channel, turned up the volume.

The front door opened.

Heels on the floor.

Vanessa was back.

Patrick ignored whatever Geoff was mouthing off about on the news, lightly touched Molly’s arm. She smiled at him, and he flicked a finger at the bracelet. Molly glanced at it, then rolled her sleeve down over it and put her arms on the desk.

‘How’s things in the war room?’ said Vanessa.

Molly’s head shot up, startled. She shuffled her chair a couple of inches away from Patrick.

‘Darling,’ said Patrick, ‘you’re back. How’s everything at the house?’

‘It looks great. Don’t let me keep you from your plotting. Molly, do you think we could have a quick word?’

Molly got up and followed Vanessa into the kitchen.

Patrick needed something to drink. With Geoff on the warpath, it was going to be a long day. As he entered the hallway, he heard whispering from the kitchen. Slowing his pace, he made sure to make his footsteps quiet as he approached.

Molly had her back to him.

Vanessa was glaring at her, then she flicked her gaze toward him and then straight back to Molly.

Her eyes softened, she leaned back, her shoulders relaxing.

When Vanessa spoke again, it was back to a normal conversational volume, ‘How are you fitting in with the rest of the team? Heidi still giving you a hard time?’

He needed to be more careful. Molly needed to be careful too. Vanessa was not to be underestimated. She had impressed his father when they’d first met.

Be careful, he told himself.

Or this would all end badly.

6

Eddie

The justice game is strange.

I’d gotten used to almost every aspect of it in my time, but one thing I never adjusted to were the variations in pace. You could spend months with very little happening on a case, and then it suddenly explodes and you’re running around trying to put out fires, the pressure insane and everything on the line.

This is the game.

The fact that it is played with people’s lives doesn’t seem to matter to most.

It matters to me.