Page 126 of Criminally Yours

He laughed, but with his spare hand, he pulled on the back of his neck. He squidged his lips to one side and then the other.

“Strike?” Her voice wavered.

“You’re my family, Sunset. And this is my last confession. I promise.” She eyed him warily as he explained, “Your parents reluctantly gave my parents your addresses over the years so they could send you Christmas cards.”

“I looked forward to them every year, as they told me about their travels or activities. Sometimes, they mentioned you, too, although briefly.”

“Did you look forward to hearing about me?” He smirked.

She elbowed him. “Just tell me your secret.”

His face lit up. “You really missed me even though you hated me.”

She scrunched her nose and glared at him until he pecked her on the cheek. “Three years ago, when I found your social media account, I asked for your address. They said I could have it if I didn’t contact you.”

She raised her eyebrows suspiciously, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze. “They didn’t want you to talk to me?”

“Your address was precious, and they didn’t know if you wanted me to contact you. But I arranged something instead.” He winced as he met her stare. “I paid for you to be part of this shop’s monthly book subscription service. I told them the sort of books you loved. I wanted you to have something special. I gave them your new address when you moved, too. I didn’t get involved in any other way.”

She held her palm to her mouth.

Strike stared at the ground. “In hindsight, it was creepy.”

Millie fisted his Henley and pulled it so his face was level with hers. “It wasn’t creepy to me. You didn’t do it for attention or glory. You did it because you cared about me.”

He nodded. “I do. You were the one.”

She pecked him on the lips and whispered, “There’s a lot of blowjobs coming your way.”

He laughed loudly before quickly covering his mouth. “I’m supposed to be protecting you.”

He pulled her in the direction of the bookshop while looking over his shoulder.

“Elsie said you’d run out of books, so I talked the shop into staying open tonight for us. We’ll be safe and private. You have an hour to enjoy the shop and choose as many books as you like. I’m paying for all of them.”

“Real men don’t do shit like this.”

“Pass the phone to me the next time your family has a go at you for your obsession with fictional men. I’ll let them know why women are right to love book boyfriends and that real life men need to try harder and do better.” He’d overheard the callwith her mum. He cleared his throat. “If you want me to. You’re also fiercely strong enough to do it on your own.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he lifted her into the air. She kissed him hard.

“Let’s get inside before we draw more attention to ourselves, because it’s all I can do not to push you against the wall and fuck you right here.”

“Damn,” she whispered against his lips before sliding down him. As her feet touched the ground, she gripped his hand and danced into the shop.

CHAPTER 53

Strike

They sat in their section of the beach at midnight. They’d taken their time getting home after the bookshop, preferring to find quiet parts of the countryside to talk more about what they’d done in the missing years.

“We should go to bed soon,” Strike said. “Although I think we’re safe tonight, it’s not wise to push it, and tomorrow will be an exhausting day with lots of travel.”

“How long will it take to get there?” Millie sat between his thighs, facing the sea. She held her plastic wine glass filled with prosecco in one hand and ran her other back and forth across the sand as Strike played with her hair.

“About five hours. But we might not need to return after. Luke called me. He thinks he has the video. He wants to run one more programme to ensure something I don’t understand, but after that, he’ll play it and see what happens.”

“I’d like to return to say goodbye to my new friends. I’ll miss this place.”