AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Dunno,’ she said, opening the coffee they’d just collected from the drive-thru.
She placed the open cup on the dashboard just because she enjoyed the mild panic that crossed her colleague’s features. His furtive glance gave her a stab of satisfaction.
‘I’m uneasy,’ she said.
‘Yeah, me too,’ he replied, stealing another glance at the cup.
She completely understood Rufus Fox asking them, very politely, to come back later because his daughter was distraught. But there were questions that she would have liked to slide into the conversation.
There was no single thing that was bugging her. The news from Penn about the puncture mark found on Eric’s body, with the indication that this was a deeply personal attack, had just added to the list. Okay, so the parents hadn’t been overly keen on the fiancé, but that wasn’t unusual, especially for an only child with overprotective parents, particularly her dad. But it wasn’t like Eric had been lazy. He’d had a good job; he’d had a trade. He wasn’t a heavy drinker, no drugs, and he took care of himself. Many parents would have been delighted. But not Mr and Mrs Fox. So what was it about him they didn’t like?
‘You reckon they thought he was a bit controlling and she wouldn’t listen?’ she asked after taking a sip of her drink.
‘Not sure any guy would have been good enough for her dad. Although if I was dating his daughter, I wouldn’t have put a foot wrong.’
Yeah, Kim got that. Rufus Fox appeared to be a big character in every sense of the word.
‘What’s your view on the tattoo?’ she asked.
‘Damn, I knew that question was coming. I’d like to say that it wouldn’t have bothered me, but I’m not sure,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘Your girlfriend having the name of another man on her body…?’ His words trailed away as though he knew the answer but didn’t want to say the words.
‘But would you have issued an ultimatum?’ Kim pushed. ‘No engagement until it was removed?’
‘No, I don’t think I would have done that,’ he replied, answering that question much quicker.
‘Okay, daddy question now. What if you found out Josh had put his hands on Laura?’ she asked, referring to his daughter and her boyfriend.
The rage that filled his face was instant. ‘I’d grab the little bastard by the—’
‘But you’re a police officer,’ she reminded him.
‘I’m a dad first, and don’t even say stuff like that. They’re coming for dinner tonight and I don’t want that picture in my head.’
‘You like him,’ she pointed out. She suspected he liked Josh as much as he was going to like anyone who was dating his daughter.
He shrugged. ‘He’s okay. Anyway, we may be jumping to conclusions about Eric cos Stacey had a good look and said there were no red flags.’
‘Hmm…’ Kim said, taking out her phone. She logged into the desolate wasteland that was her Facebook account. She had profiles on all the platforms even though she never posted or even accessed them unless she was looking for someone. The fascination of social media was lost on her. It demanded work, interaction, maintenance. She wasn’t the slightest bit interested in what anyone else was doing, and she had no wish to share her own activities.
‘You phubbing me again?’ Bryant asked, sipping his coffee.
‘Am I whatting you?’
‘Phubbing. It’s when you ignore a friend or significant other in favour of your phone. It’s a combination of snubbing and—’
‘Bryant, I swear you gotta stop trying to get down with the kids. How long you been waiting to use that one?’
‘Heard it on the radio this morning.’
She shook her head in despair as she typed Teresa’s name into the search field. The woman she was seeking was in the top five results.
She clicked on the profile, and the first picture she saw was Teresa smiling broadly, holding out her left hand.
Kim scrolled through the comments, which were all congratulatory except for a couple of jokey ones about the size of the stone. Jokey or not, she couldn’t disagree. It wasn’t an extravagant purchase, but Teresa’s smile was no less gleeful because of it.
She continued scrolling through the feed until she came across a statement piece. She loved it when people screengrabbed quotes from the net and just posted them on their page. They were rarely random and more often aimed at someone in particular.
The quote was about everyone being entitled to a second chance.
