Tony Hill u Carol Jordan 08 - Cross and Burn

staying with a couple of big old lezzas he hardly knows.’
    Elinor thought for a moment. ‘Sure, I’ll come up with something. And you? What about you? When will you be home?’
    Paula sighed and shook her head. ‘I’m not sure. We caught a murder this morning. We’ve barely got started.’
    ‘Just as well I’m an easy-going soul,’ Elinor said.
    ‘I know. Sometimes I think I behave like the worst of my male colleagues. I’m sorry.’
    ‘The difference is, you know you’re doing it. And I get to stake out the moral high ground.’ Elinor grinned. ‘It’s OK, Paula. We both pay the price of caring about what we do. I’d love you less if you took your job less seriously. What’s the new boss like?’
    ‘Too soon to know. But she’s not Carol Jordan, that’s for sure.’
    ‘That’s not exactly informative.’
    Paula picked up her bag. ‘Later. You have patients, I have my back to cover.’ She stood up, put a hand on Elinor’s shoulder and kissed the top of her head. ‘I’ll send Torin over. See you when I see you.’

15

    T he rain had sloped out of a steel sky all day, relentless and depressing. He’d noticed it only intermittently, there being no window in his eyeline at work. Rain would have been a nuisance when he’d been waiting for the last two. There hadn’t been anywhere unobtrusive to shelter. But this time, there was no problem. On the other side of the street from Tellit Communications HQ was a row of fast-food outlets. Subway, McDonald’s, an indie café that promised the best roast in Bradfield. As if. He’d started off in McDonald’s with a cheeseburger and made it last half an hour. Next, he stretched a chocolate chip cookie and a Diet Coke to forty minutes. Where the hell was the woman? Didn’t she have a home to go to?
    The irony of that last thought forced him to stifle a giggle. The home he was planning for her was very different from the one she’d be going back to tonight. If she played her cards right, if she made him happy, she could have a new life as well as a new home. If not, she could pay someone else’s debt and join the others. His first one and the one before that, the one who should have been his one and only. Of course, he knew he might not need this latest one. But chance had dropped her in his path and he wasn’t a man who failed to answer when opportunity knocked. He had a feeling the one he had now wasn’t going to measure up and it was as well to be prepared for that eventuality.
    He crumpled his napkin into a ball and stood up, about to move on to the café when he spotted her, tripping down the hallway from the bank of lifts. She crossed the foyer with an unexpected spring in her step. Most people dragged themselves wearily out of the office after a long day, but this one had a bounce to her. That was what had caught his eye in the first place, before he even registered she was a perfect fit. She looked like someone who was heading towards something worth waiting for. He made a point of storing that lustrous image away in his memory. That was what she’d have to replicate for him, if she was going to have any chance of survival.
    She paused on the threshold, opening a folding umbrella. He pushed through the customers to the door, eyes fixed on his target, heedless of the complaints of the ones who’d been in his way. They were irrelevant. All that mattered was keeping her in view. By the time he made it on to the street, she was halfway to the corner. He moved a little faster, closing the gap, but careful not to get too close. He pulled his beanie hat further down over his forehead, tucked his chin into his scarf and checked the glasses with their clear lenses were still in place. It was amazing how much difference small things made to a man’s appearance. People noticed the externals, not the essentials. Not that he was planning on doing anything that would get him noticed. But there were closed-circuit cameras everywhere in the city centre. He wasn’t taking any chances.
    She turned left at the end of the street, into the early evening bustle of Bellwether Square. Again, he speeded up, not wanting to lose her in the crowd. She wasn’t tall and he worried that he might lose sight of her. It wouldn’t wreck his plans, not in the long term. But it would be an inconvenience and he hated inconvenience. He needed to find out where she lived and he didn’t want to waste another evening on something so basic.
    She veered off to where the