Luca raised his hands.‘This isn’t one ofthosevisits, is it?I’ve seen films that start like this.’
‘What, you mean like when women get their head stuck in the dryer?Or I bend over to get my screwdriver and something falls down?’
‘Ah, so you have seen them.’
The woman laughed and said, ‘Only in parody, and unfortunately, the reality is never as good as the fantasy.’
‘Whoever’s fantasizing about that needs their head checked.Do you want a drink?I’ve got a coffee machine that needs using.’
She reached into her toolbox and pulled out a pair of pliers.For what reason, Luca didn’t know, nor dared ask for fear of coming across as a man who didn’t know anything about DIY, which was far from the truth.You didn’t grow up in rural Massachusetts without knowing how to build a shed.
‘You know what, I’d love a coffee if that isn’t too much trouble.’
‘Sure.’
Luca went into the kitchen and left the woman out in the hallway.He found a clean mug – Ella’s favorite one – switched on the coffee machine and loaded the pod.‘You want anything specific?’he shouted.
‘Anything wet and not too sweet is fine.’
Another discrepancy.Luca had never met a tradesman that didn't take at least two sugars in their drink.It was a brave new world out there, he reasoned.A world where tradesmen were women and didn't need a bucket of sugar to get through the morning.But progress was progress, and Luca was nothing if not progressive.
He slotted the pod into the machine and hit the button.While the coffee poured, he leaned against the counter and listened to the woman working in the hallway.Metallic sounds next.Then a screwdriver on a plastic panel.Then a thud of something being set down on the floor.
Luca frowned.
A strange feeling crept over him, but it wasn’t something he could articulate.Ella called it the cop’s gut, and the guys he’d spent the week training with at the DEA called it the sphincter sense, because apparently your asshole sensed danger before your brain did.Luca didn’t know how much faith to put in such science, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t familiar with it.Your body reacted quicker than your brain every time.
Why hadn’t Ella mentioned calling an alarm technician?She had the memory of an elephant, and one of her many uses was as a human diary.Sure, she’d been up to her eyeballs in work in Virginia, but he’d talked to her thirty minutes ago and she’d usually mention something like this, what with the Lindsey Doyle situation and everything.
His phone buzzed on the table beside him.
Ella’s name flashed on the screen.
He reached for it, but the woman appeared in the doorway before his fingers touched the screen.
‘Sorry to interrupt,’ she said.Her smile was apologetic, but her eyes were fixed on the phone.‘Before you grab that, could you show me where the mains are?’
‘The mains?’
‘Yeah, the panel.The electrical board.’
‘I know what the mains are.Why do you need the mains for an alarm system?’
‘I need to kill the power to the unit before I can open it up properly.If I don’t, I’ll fry the board and you’ll be looking at a full replacement.Trust me, your girlfriend won’t thank me for that.’
The phone stopped ringing.
It started again almost immediately.Ella’s name flashed on the screen.
Two calls in a row.Ella never called twice in a row.She called once, and if you didn’t pick up, she sent a text that saidcall me when you can, ornot urgent, orneed milk.She didn’t ring back within seconds like something was on fire, unless something was on fire.
‘Mr.Hawkins?The mains?’
Luca looked at the woman.Looked at the phone.Why would she need to isolate anything?She was working on a panel that was already disconnected.Wasn’t she?
His phone started ringing again.
‘She really wants to talk to you,’ the woman said lightly.
