Darkness Falls (Kate Marshall, #3)(4)

There was a knock on the glass door, and a short balding man wearing a suit and tie came into the office.

“Has she started the interrogation yet?” he said. “She wanted to bring in a lamp to put on the desk so she could shine it in your face!”

This was Gary, Sarah’s husband and the manager of the bank branch. Tristan got up and gave his brother-in-law a hug.

“Gary! Don’t be so silly,” said Sarah, now smiling with them. “I’m asking the same questions I would of any other mortgage applicant.”

“Look how long your bloody hair is. Wish mine still grew like that!” said Gary, patting his expanding bald spot.

“I much prefer him with short hair,” said Sarah.

“Do you want a coffee, Tris?”

“Please.”

“A black coffee would be lovely, thank you, Gary,” said Sarah. He left the office, and she took out the mortgage application form, scanned it, turned over the paper, and sighed.

“What?” said Tristan.

“I’m just seeing the pitiful amount you’re now earning part time working at the university,” said Sarah, shaking her head.

“I’ve got my contract for the agency, and my new tenant’s agreement,” said Tristan. Sarah looked in the plastic file and pulled out the two documents, flicking through them with a frown on her face.

“How much work has Kate got for you?”

Tristan noted how Sarah said Kate’s name with an inflection, as she always did when referring to women she disapproved of.

“I’ve invested in the agency as a partner,” said Tristan, bristling. “The agency pays us both a retainer, regardless of work. It’s all there in the contract.”

“And has the agency got any work right now?” she asked, looking up at him.

Tristan hesitated. “No.”

Sarah raised her eyebrows and turned back to reading the paperwork. Tristan wanted to defend himself, but he didn’t want to have another argument. In the nine months since he and Kate had started the detective agency, they’d had four cases. Two women had asked them to gather evidence of their husbands’ infidelity. The owner of an office supplier in Exeter had asked them to find out if one of his employees was stealing stock and selling it, which she was, and they’d also done a detailed background check for a local businesswoman on a young man she wanted to hire.

Gary appeared at the door with a little tray filled with plastic coffee cups and leaned on the handle with his elbow. Tristan got up and opened the door.

“The agency income is irregular, and you haven’t filed any tax returns yet,” said Sarah, holding the Kate Marshall Detective Agency contract between thumb and index finger as if it were a pair of dirty underpants. Gary placed cups of steaming coffee on the desk.

“The agency also gets income from the caravan site,” said Tristan.

“So, when detective work is low, Kate’s got you changing beds and emptying chemical toilets?”

“We’ve started a business together, Sarah. It takes time to build it up. Kate’s son, Jake, is coming back from university in a couple of weeks. And he’ll be working for us helping to run the caravan site over the summer.”

Sarah shook her head. She’d always been hostile toward Kate, but since he’d gone part time at the university to work at the fledgling detective agency, Sarah’s dislike had gone up another notch. In her mind, Kate was taking Tristan away from a secure job with good benefits. He wished Sarah would accept Kate as his friend and business partner. Kate was smart and never said anything derogatory about Sarah, but Sarah was happy to let rip and rant about Kate and her many faults. Tristan understood why his sister was protective. Their father had left when they were tiny, and their mother had died when Sarah was eighteen and Tristan fifteen. At a very young age, Sarah had had to become the breadwinner and parent.

“He’s got a tenant now, haven’t you, Tris?” said Gary, trying to lighten the mood. “That’s a nice bit of extra income.”

“Yeah. The tenancy agreement is there,” said Tristan.

“How is it going with the yeti?” asked Gary. Tristan smiled. His new tenant, Glenn, had dark hair covering every visible piece of skin, as well as a thick, bushy beard.

“He’s a good bloke. Very tidy. Stays in his room most of the time. Doesn’t really talk,” said Tristan.

“Not your type, then?”

“No, I like a guy with two eyebrows.”

Gary laughed. Sarah looked up from the paperwork.

“Gary. Now he’s left his full-time job at the university, it’s going to be difficult to approve a remortgage on his flat with what he’s earning . . .”

Gary went round the desk and touched her lightly on the shoulders.

“Let’s have a look. Everything is workable, with a bit of Gary magic,” he said. She got up and let him sit in the chair, and he pulled up the mortgage application on his screen.

“You’re lucky that your brother-in-law is a bank manager,” said Sarah. Tristan’s phone rang in his pocket, and he took it out. Kate’s name flashed up on the screen. “Who’s that? This is important.”

“It’s Kate. I’ll be quick,” said Tristan, getting up and leaving the small office.

As he walked down the corridor, he heard Sarah’s voice saying, “Kate’s all right. She hasn’t got a mortgage on her house . . .”