Page 14 of 56 Days
It’s harder not to react when the cab pulls up and Oliver opens a door and motions for her to get in, but then after she does stays there, standing outside the car.
He’s not getting in, she realizes.
He leans down, one hand on the roof, until his face is level with hers.
“I’m gonna walk home,” he says.
“Oh.” Disappointment washes over her in a wave. “Sure. Right.”
“Are you around Thursday evening? We could actually go see the film this time.”
She nods. Smiles briefly. “Yeah.”
“I’ll text you.”
“Okay. Great.”
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
He closes her door for her and moves to the front passenger side, where the window is rolled down. He bends to drop something into the seat—enough money to cover the fare, she’ll figure out in a second—and waves at the driver.
He gives her another wave as the car pulls off.
She doesn’t quite understand what just took place. He wants to see her again, okay, but not any more tonight? Not now?
“Where to, love?” the driver asks over his shoulder.
Any confidence she had in her ability to navigate these waters dissipates. She doesn’t have a clue what she’s doing. She should just give up now.
“Home,” she says absently, before realizing that he’s asking for an address.
Today
Lee noses the vehicle in behind a squad car parked on double yellows outside a curved apartment complex of smooth gray brick, glass, and exposed steel off Harold’s Cross Road. Karl finishes his breakfast—a can of Red Bull—just as she cuts the engine.
She can see a uniform waiting for them outside what looks like the main entrance: a pair of glass doors under a sign that says The Crossings in polished gold lettering. His thumbs are hooked into his ballistics vest and he’s shifting his weight from foot to foot. Lee can’t tell from this distance whether it’s Ant or Dec but she’s not sure she could from up close either. Same with their namesakes. She settles on Presumed Dec for the time being.
There’s no sign of their reinforcements yet, but it’s barely been ten minutes since she hung up on Stephen.
She checks her phone for the message she’d asked him to send: the body is in apartment number one. She hopes there’s only a handful of units on each floor. The closer the scene is to the main entrance, the fewer people will see them arrive, thus the more chance they have of fixing this before things go any more wrong.
She turns to Karl.
“Are you clear on what you’re doing?”
“Cleaning up the massive soft shit this pair just took?”
“This isn’t their fault, Karl. It’s whatever eejit sent them out here, alone. And we don’t knowwhatthey did yet, so try not to go in there all, you know, beingyou.”
“Funnyandattractive?”
“An absolute dickhead.”
Karl clamps a hand on his chest as if he’s just been shot in the heart.
“They’ve only been on the job five minutes,” Lee says. “Cut them some slack, is all I’m saying.”
