Cold Revenge (Willis/Carter #6)(41)

Shit, thought Willis, she had forgotten she’d invited Tucker for a meal and a drink.

‘Sorry, got delayed,’ she said as she walked in. She could see by Tina’s face and the fact that she had been caught in her dressing gown that it was awkward. ‘Shall we go, Scott?’

‘Hi, Eb.’ He got up from the sofa and walked over, and she gave him a quick hug.

‘Teen, we can wait while you get dressed. Do you want to come?’ Willis looked at her hopefully.

‘Thanks, but I’m okay. I need an early night.’

Willis and Tucker walked to the kebab restaurant around the corner. Tucker was wearing his usual off-duty clothes: dark-blue workman’s-type jacket, blue checked shirt, jeans and tan leather Chelsea boots. He was very tall and had a laid-back approach to walking that made him look as if he was leaning back. He looked over at her, smiling.

‘I like your hair,’ he said.

‘It’s no different than usual, I’ve just plaited it, that’s all.’

‘You look well,’ he said with a bashful smile.

‘Why did you come up here?’ asked Willis.

‘I fancied a break. Actually, I’m leaving the force.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. They owed me a lot of holiday, so effectively I’ve already left, although not officially. I’m still a copper for a bit longer, on paper.’

‘Really?’ Willis stopped and looked at him, absorbing this new information.

‘Yes, I’m going into business to produce oak-frame buildings with my mate.’

She walked on, not quite able to take it in, but a part of her was really pleased. ‘That’s great, it’s shocking, but it’s great,’ she said. She squeezed his arm. ‘I’m happy for you.’

‘Thanks. I was never going to make it beyond sergeant and I got tired of all the stress. I lost my drive for it. Trouble is I wasn’t high enough in rank to just concentrate on the things I did like doing, community projects and liaising with the public.’

The more Scott talked the less attractive he was becoming and Willis felt his chances of staying over were slipping. They’d risen when she thought of him having the drive to leave the force and set out as a carpenter, but they’d plummeted when she imagined he’d rather be at village fetes handing out leaflets on the Green Cross Code. She knew she was being mean but she had reached a phase in her life when she wanted a lot more adventure than she was getting and she was starting to think she needed to be much more proactive. She kept choosing men who were so laid-back they were practically horizontal.

‘I’m buying a flat in Torbay.’

Oh God, thought Willis, he’s retiring to the seaside.

‘But I’m really not sure where I’ll be working yet; my mate does a lot of work in France and Spain. When he’s not building houses, he designs sets for films, adverts, music videos, that kind of thing.’

‘Interesting . . . We have a massive case on at the moment, did Carter tell you? I heard you interviewed Douglas’s disciples years ago?’

‘I did, I also interviewed Douglas.’

‘No way! Why didn’t you tell me that before? I’m meeting him tomorrow.’

‘Because it didn’t seem a good topic. I didn’t want to spend all evening talking shop, but that’s what we’ve ended up doing anyway, isn’t it?’

‘No, we haven’t. Tell me about Douglas!’

‘I was working on the Heather Phillips investigation when I first made it as a detective. He was just someone who worked selling farm feed. I turned up to see if they knew about a missing farmhand from one of the farms on Douglas’s rounds. His name had been mentioned a few times, but HOLMES software wasn’t used, no one put in the data, so no one connected it all up nationally, or realised we had a potential serial killer on our hands, who still hasn’t been done for one murder.’

‘What tips can you give me?’

‘Stick it out. Be in there for the long haul, arrange to meet him a few times in quick succession, get under his skin. He starts to show his true colours after a while. I read that he’s taken every opportunity he could to sit exams, study, he is really clever. He’s going to try and manipulate you any way he can. But if anyone can handle him, you can.’

After an hour more of chat, they paid and left. Willis looked at her phone.

‘Shit, I didn’t realise it was so late. Sorry, you can’t stay the night, I have a really early start,’ she said, as they walked back around towards her house.

‘No worries.’

She reached up and gave him a kiss. ‘Okay, take care, Scott. Thanks for the chat. It’s nice to see you.’ She didn’t wait around to see the look that she was sure would be on his face as she walked away.





Chapter 24


Maxwell arrived just ahead of Carter and Willis the next morning at Lamb’s Farm. He got suited up and went up to introduce himself to Dermot who was standing inside the field, coffee in hand, watching the sky.

‘Nice to meet you, the boss is up there.’ Dermot pointed to Sandford standing on the brow of the field. Overhead, the drone of the helicopter was diminishing as it flew back to base having completed its survey. At the bottom of the field, four white-suited forensic officers were conducting a line search from the gate and following the hedge.