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“Just as well. Saved your bloody arse, didn’t it?”
I accepted her hand up, holding myself against the wall until I was steady. “How’d ya know I was here?”
“Your friend,” she said, reaching out for Casey. The dog leaned into her side, accepting the fuss. “She was frantic, like something from one of the Lassie films, barking and running, barking and running. Knew something was up so I followed her, figured she might be yours. Sophie told me about the big, grand rescue mission,” she smiled, crouching down to kiss Casey on the head. “And she told me all about you, Casey, told me what a cute ball of fluff you are.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Don’t mention it, kid, all in a day’s work. Keeps the adrenaline pumping.”
“What you gonna do if that Rixon guy finds out you used his name?”
She smirked. “Don’t you be worrying about that, baby. He owes me.”
He weren’t the fucking only one.
***
Sophie
Three missed calls from Rebecca. I watched my mobile flashing away on my lap under the table, itching to get the hell out of Christine’s crappy briefing and find out what the urgency was.Callum, my brain screamed, it had to be about Callum. My skin was still blooming at the thought of his name. Sunday afternoons with the Savage weren’t supposed to be that good. Time with him was supposed to be about edgy sex, nothing more than the pounding of his vicious flesh against mine. My pussy ached with the echo of him, battered from his invasion, but my mind ached more. Oh, how it fucking ached.
“Anything to add, Sophie?”
I looked blankly into the faces around the table. “Sorry?”
“East Veil, any update on how we’re handling the graffiti epidemic?”
“A one pissing man epidemic,” Eric muttered. “Hope they lock the animal back up, save what’s left of our pissing budget.”
“Still a work in progress,” I said. “I’m on it.”
“And, what avenues are you considering?” Christine was so bastard snooty. I felt my hackles rise. “Surely the police are working with you on this? They do have a history with Callum Jackson, after all, alengthyhistory. What’s their take on the situation?”
My mouth turned clammy, but I pasted on my professional face. “Actually, I’m only going to utilise the law as a last resort. I’m planning on tackling this using education and opportunity, rather than enforcement.” A wave of scathing amusement rippled through the room, and I felt my temperature rising, tongue itching to run riot. I let it fly. “Graffiti, or street art, is an attempt to express oneself creatively. East Veil has no youth program, no effective outlet for artistic expression. It’s a boiling pot of frustration and apathy, and the crime rate is symptomatic of this, as is the lack of community cohesion. The graffiti is merely one face of a much larger problem. I’m planning on tacklingthatproblem, not singling out one individual and treading him down. Others will merely spring up in his place, it’s firefighting, not a solution.”
Eric slammed his notepad on the table. “It’s not pissing art, it’s an eyesore. Locking him up’s the answer. Not this embracing hippy bullshit.”
“It’s not hippy bullshit,” I said. “Look up anything you like on youth crime. The statistics speak for themselves.”
“What you planning on doing, then?” he scoffed. “Taking some felt tip pens down the old youth club and have them all do some bleeding colouring-in for half an hour every bastard Friday? I could tell you how well that’s going to work, don’t need no bloody statistics.”
“That isn’t quite how I’d choose to frame it,” I hissed. “But yes. An outletisneeded.”
“I’ve heard it all now,” Eric snapped. “No wonder this place is going to the dogs.”
“I think we’re done for today,” Christine concluded. “Keep us informed, Miss Harding, everyone here is keen to see the situation resolved. It’s why you were brought in, after all. Your expertise spoke volumes when you were assigned this patch.”
Spoke, past tense.
I shifted in my chair, meeting her eyes with a confidence I wasn’t feeling. “I’ll let you know when I have an update.”
Don’t hold your fucking breath.
***
Rebecca buzzed me again as I was on the way out of the office, and I answered with a sigh.
“Finally!” she exclaimed. “Thought you’d bloody emigrated.”
