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/> Annie watched his face reflected in the mirror above his head, and could believe it, too. There was something fiercely ruthless in Sean’s make-up; he was a man who might be capable of anything.
Harriet said excitedly, ‘You’ve never used that story in the series – it would make a great episode.’
He shook his head. ‘I promised her Dad I wouldn’t ever talk about her part in the case. He was really shaken by realising that if he had taken more notice of her she-would never have got into that mess. He made sure she knew he loved her, after that. She’s working with him, now; she’s an accountant, and a damn good one, I gather. And that’s why I got first refusal on the penthouse flat in this new development. They bought the old warehouse and began reconstructing it, and offered me a chance to buy a flat there before work even began.’
‘I can’t think why you accepted,’ Harriet said, staring around at the bleak landscape of the riverside streets.
‘Wait till you see the view from my terrace,’ said Sean, slowing as he made his way along a narrow, winding road between high blank grey brick walls; behind them Harriet caught glimpses of the river, glinting black and ominous under the wharf lights. There was no other traffic around, no people, no sounds, except the rattling of mast wires in a marina some way up river, the chug of a barge passing slowly along the river.
Sean drove up an alley and parked behind one of the high warehouse buildings. Harriet helped Annie out of the car. She was shivering and looking blankly around.
‘Where are we?’
Sean unlocked a high door and ushered them in, switched on lights which showed them a dusty corridor, an old metal lift like something out of a thirties film.
‘Been here for years,’ Sean explained, pulling the iron fretwork doors back.
The lift rose jerkily; Annie was afraid, cold sweat dewed her forehead.
‘I want to go home,’ she whispered, trembling.
Harriet put an arm round her. ‘Don’t be scared, honey. We’ll look after you, me and Sean.’ Her voice sounded more confident than she felt. Sean must be crazy, living in a place like this. It was so cold and grim, like a prison.
Harriet looked sideways at him, suddenly scared.
What if Sean was the crazy bastard who had murdered Derek? What if she and Annie had just walked into a trap?
9
Sean had some sleeping pills in his bathroom cabinet. He gave a couple of them to Annie with a glass of milk and Harriet put her to bed.
Rejoining Sean in the thirty foot sitting-room which overlooked the River Thames, Harriet sat down with a long sigh, looking at him.
‘She’s half asleep already. Those pills must be pretty strong stuff. I hope you know what you’re doing, giving them to her.’
‘That was the dosage for me, and she’s had too many shocks over the past couple of days. I’m worried about what it could all be doing to her head.’
‘She’s fragile, isn’t she?’ Harriet heavily agreed. ‘Both mentally and physically. I thought, just now, she was pretty close to collapse.’
‘Yes. And a lot more is going on in her life than we know about, I think.’ Sean was thinking about this old lover who had reappeared out of the blue. ‘I want to know a lot more about this guy she’s been with – she seemed pretty cagey about him to me, didn’t she to you?’
Harriet gave him a dry glance. ‘Sure you aren’t just jealous?’
Sean flushed darkly. ‘Why should I be? I’ve never had anything going with Annie.’
That doesn’t mean you don’t want to! thought Harriet. But most men hate to admit their feelings, and judging by all the policemen she had met since she started making this series, it was practically a crime in the police force. Their training taught them not to get too involved, not to let themselves care about the people they had to deal with – because if your emotions came into play you wouldn’t be cool-headed enough in dealing with a crime, and you would get torn apart each time.
Aloud she just said, ‘What with the guy who’s been sending her Valentine’s cards for years, and the abortion when she was barely out of school, it’s a wonder she’s not more mixed up than she is. In fact, having a man in her life doesn’t seem to me to be anything to worry about – more like a cure for all her problems. She looked to me as if she was over the moon.’
She considered Sean’s frown with a touch of secret amusement – look at him glowering, and he says he doesn’t care!
‘I just think it’s odd, him turning up out of the blue just now,’ Sean bit out.
‘Well, why don’t you ask her about him?’
‘I’ll do better than that. I’ll check the guy out,’ Sean said with threat in his tone.
He was taking it very personally, thought Harriet. ‘Good idea. We don’t want Annie hanging around with someone we know nothing about, especially after what’s happened to Derek. We don’t need any more bad publicity. Oh, by the way – Billy wanted us to go and see him tonight, at his house. He wants to know exactly what’s going on.’
