Beneath the Moon and the Stars (32 page)

‘You arrogant sod. Since I’ve been here I’ve been attacked in the toilet of a pub, thrown in a pond, had dog shit posted through my letterbox on an almost daily basis, had eggs thrown at me, been spat at, had bricks thrown through my window, my dog has been poisoned and so have I. There is nothing for me in Bramble Hill. After today… well that just really brought it home to me that there was absolutely nothing here worth sticking around for. Now I need to get rid of this, so I suggest you stand back.’ She picked up the chainsaw and moved back towards the carving again.

He quickly grabbed her arm. ‘No! Why are you getting rid of it, it’s stunning.’

She smiled, thinly. ‘Because it’s pornographic and not exactly what the National Heritage were thinking of for their nice family friendly nature trail. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you, I’ll just get rid of me.’

‘Wait, hang on, let me just take a photo of it before you do.’

She stood back, her eyes cold, impassive as he quickly fired off a few shots with his camera.

Once he was done, she put her ear defenders back on and within a few minutes the wooden Joy had been eradicated, leaving behind a bed of leaves and flowers instead, other leaves and flowers covered his bare bum and with a quick flick of the chainsaw, the wooden Finn soon had pointy elf ears.

Without another word, Joy packed up her car, extinguished the lights and left, leaving Finn alone in the moonlight staring at the sculpture. In a short few minutes, Joy had been erased figuratively and literally – not leaving behind a trace of her presence – and by Tuesday she would be gone from his life too.

*

Joy sat and stared at the photo of her latest carving on The Dark Shadow website. Now titled ‘The Fairy Prince’, she had managed to capture Finn’s magnificence perfectly. She wondered, idly, what she would have called it if it had been left as it was. ‘Village Porn’ perhaps, ‘The Orgasm’, or more personally, ‘The moment I felt my heart breaking.’

She looked around the room; she had quite a bit of packing to do. She had phoned Joe and given her notice, though as she had paid until the end of the month he wasn’t expecting her out until then. He had been very apologetic about the whole Mrs Kemblewick fiasco that had forced her out and as such had not enforced the two months’ notice she should have given as part of her contract.

She just had to keep her head down over the next few days, try to avoid Finn as much as possible. It was already early afternoon and she hadn’t seen him all day, just another few more days and she could escape for good.

There was a soft knock on the back door and Finn stepped in. She automatically snapped her laptop closed so Finn didn’t see The Dark Shadow website, though clearly, on hindsight, it was too late for that now.

‘Hi.’ He stepped towards her much like he was approaching a wild animal.

She rubbed her head and sighed. ‘What do you want?’

‘I… can’t take back what I said, what I did yesterday. I wish I could, so we could be friends again…’

‘We were never friends Finn. You hated me, you shagged me, then you betrayed me. Definitely not friends.’ She ignored the look of hurt that crossed his face.

His jaw clenched determinedly. ‘You don’t accept apologies easily do you. Forgiveness not one of your strong points is it?’

He stepped closer and she had to ignore his glorious earthy smell, the way his eyes burned into her, the charge of desire that crashed through her at his proximity.

She looked away. ‘Saying sorry isn’t enough. This is never going to work between us, you don’t trust me.’

‘What about you, you didn’t trust me enough to tell me about The Dark Shadow. Trust works both ways.’

‘I would have, eventually. I would have shared that part of my life with you. But I can’t just tell every man I’m involved with what I do – The Dark Shadow’s success depends on my identity being kept a secret. That kind of trust takes time.’

‘For me too, I just need more time.’

‘I thought that too, that you just needed time to heal, time to think… but I was wrong. If you loved me, if you felt for me a tenth of what you felt for Pippa, you wouldn’t have to think. You’d just dive headfirst into it and to hell with the consequences, because being with me would be the only thing that mattered. But let’s face it, there’s no point in risking your heart unless it’s for the stupid, mindless head over heels type of love. You can’t risk it on someone you just quite like to shag.’

She heard him step closer, she could feel the heat from him now.

‘I’ll be gone by Tuesday and then you can go back to your nice uncomplicated life without me.’

‘So that’s it. One little disagreement and you’re running for the hills?’

She glared at him. How did he have the right to be angry? ‘I’d say that making me feel that I’m not good enough for you, not trusting me with your heart and accusing me of being a thief is a bit more than a little disagreement.’

‘You told me you love me.’

‘Yes and what did I get in return?’

He shifted awkwardly. Exactly, she’d got nothing other than his accusations and betrayal, hardly a fair exchange.

She stood up, grabbed Darcy’s lead and whistled for her. Without another word, she let herself out the front door and closed it behind her.

*

The Glasshouse at The Grove Hotel near Watford was one of her most favourite places in the world – the food was amazing and there was so much choice she wanted to eat it all. Tonight there was an all-you-can-eat buffet and she had gone there with that exact intention, to eat it all. Sadly it was not to be. She stared at the strawberry mousse topped with chocolate cream despondently. It looked delicious, but there was no way she could fit it in. After the amazing red pepper bread, the huge king prawns, the smoked salmon, the chicken, beef, pork, turkey Sunday roast, the Chinese ribs, the cheeses, the crème brulee and the passion fruit sorbet, there was simply no room for the strawberry mousse.

She sat and patted her rather full belly, taking a sip of her champagne cocktail in the hope to dispel some of the fullness. It didn’t work.

She eyed Casey who had admitted defeat about ten minutes before, though Alex was still picking at the few slices of cheese that were on his plate.

It had been a lovely way to celebrate her birthday – Casey and Alex got on so well and the three of them hadn’t stopped talking all night. It had been an excellent way to help her forget about Finn too, albeit temporarily.

She sat back in her chair, shifting uncomfortably. ‘I’ve eaten too much.’

Alex sat back, finally admitting defeat too.

She picked up her champagne flute and peered at the strawberries sitting at the bottom, wondering if it would be completely uncouth to stick her tongue in the glass and lick them out. Deciding The Glasshouse was slightly too upper class for that kind of behaviour, she put the glass back down again. ‘And these cocktails are making me very fuzzy, think I need to go home and sleep it all off.’

‘Lightweight,’ Casey said. ‘I was going to suggest making it an all-nighter.’

She moaned, resting her head on the table. ‘No definitely need to sleep.’

‘That’s a shame, I have some very nice rosé champagne and strawberries back at my house, I was going to suggest we go back there to celebrate. Alex, you up for a few more glasses?’

Joy lifted her head. ‘Rosé champagne, you say, I could be tempted by that.’

Casey smiled and out the corner of her eye she caught Alex supressing a smirk. ‘You just said you were going to bed.’

‘Yes but it is my birthday and rosé champagne sounds like a nice way to finish it off.’

Alex coughed, still smirking to himself. What was he up to? She watched him fish in his wallet. ‘I have to be up early tomorrow so I’ll have to decline, you kids enjoy yourselves though.’

Casey rolled his eyes, also supressing a smile. What had she missed? ‘Just me and you then kid.’

‘I’ll get this.’ She fished in her handbag to find her purse.

‘You will not, it’s your birthday, I’ll pay,’ insisted Alex.

‘You two can argue this out between yourselves but I’ve already paid,’ Casey said, standing up he offered her his arm. ‘Shall we?’

She leaned over and kissed Alex goodbye and then took Casey’s arm. ‘I hope you’re not going to get me drunk and take advantage of me.’

Casey looked back at Alex. ‘That wasn’t my intention for tonight, no.’

Leaning her head against his shoulder, she smiled sleepily.

*

‘So what makes you think these robberies are personal and not just coincidence?’ Joy asked as Casey pulled into his driveway.

‘I’m a detective, we don’t work with coincidences.’ He was silent for a moment. ‘Have I told you she leaves behind plasticine animals at every robbery?’

‘No… Oh that’s why Finn hid my maquettes, the plasticine models I make before I do my strikes.’

Casey nodded as he turned off the engine. ‘The first one she left was of my old dog Max. He died about two years ago. He was a border collie. It wasn’t just a border collie model though, it was Max, down to the very distinctive three little black spots above his right eye. I knew then it was someone that knew me. But since then, the animals have had no connection whatsoever and I’ve kind of shrugged it off, I thought maybe I had been too paranoid.

The one before my parents’ house she left a lion, but I didn’t see it. I was still dealing with wedding stuff so I was just told about it. That’s what was so annoying; if I’d seen it I would have known she was going to break into my parents’ house next. It was an exact replica of the lion that sits outside their front door, a copy of one of the lions on the Marco Polo Bridge in Beijing where my dad proposed to my mum.

When she broke into my parents’ house, she left a note – it’s the first time she’s done that.’

Joy swallowed uneasily. ‘A note addressed to you?’

‘No, it just said, “
You think the net is closing in, you have no idea
.”’

He moved to get out the car but she took his hand, suddenly feeling very sober. ‘Are you scared?’

‘No. We’ll catch her, you can be sure of that. She’s making mistakes and despite what she thinks, the net is getting tighter. We know she’s a redhead, that’s something.’ He smiled as he eyed her hair. ‘Redheads, they’re all trouble.’

He got out and as he moved towards the house, he switched his mobile on. She followed him as he went round the side and unlocked the back door. His phone burst into life from his pocket and he answered it as he switched the lights on, illuminating a huge kitchen with bright red units, a white marble effect top and a little black log burner in the chimney place.

He frowned as he listened, then he spoke, his voice serious and authoritative. ‘Casey Fallowfield. Alpha, Foxtrot, Romeo, India, Charlie, Alpha…’

Ooh speaking in code, how exciting. He eyed her watching him and turned away. Oh maybe it was private. She decided that using the bathroom might be a good idea, so she set out from the kitchen to try and find it. She was met with a large house, a wide staircase and a lot of doors to choose from. She caught sight of the sink through one of the doors and was just about to go inside when she heard what sounded like a faint cough coming from upstairs.

Frowning slightly, she took the stairs quietly. At the top there were more doors, but one, open a crack, immediately drew her attention. She was sure that as she reached the top stair a faint light went out, leaving behind only darkness. Someone was here.

She stole across the landing as quietly as she could and stopped just outside the door. What was she doing, was she really going to confront the thief? She could have a weapon or be a black belt in martial arts. Really she should go downstairs, tell Casey and let him handle it – he was CID after all, he was trained to deal with this kind of thing.

There was a cool draught coming from inside the room, the window was clearly open. If Joy didn’t act now, the thief would be gone. This was her only chance to stop her once and for all.

Without thinking she barged into the room, slamming on the light and was immediately thrown face down to the floor. As she struggled she felt something cold and metallic thrust against the base of her skull and she stilled, her heart pounding furiously.

Chapter Eighteen

‘Well, well, well, what do we have here?’ A quiet, cold female voice came from behind her, poking her hard with what felt like a gun. ‘Casey Fallowfield with a girl. Now that is a turn up for the books. I’d always assumed he was gay. Yet you’re here, he has candles in his bedroom ready for a night of romance, champagne chilling in the fridge… he plans to seduce you. Well you being dead might put a dampener on his plans slightly. Still, he took away the man I love, it’s only fair to return the favour. Stand up.’

Joy did, slowly, her blood roaring in her ears. Who the hell was this crazy bitch? The safe in the wall next to her was already open, but inside diamonds glittered in the light. There was a diamond dragon, several diamond rings, a diamond owl brooch, and the diamond starfish Rose had worn to Casey’s wedding. Crazy Bitch was trying to plant them on Casey, make him out to be the diamond thief all along. That’s why she had targeted people he knew, to make the connection to him even stronger. The window was open a crack. Joy had been right, another few seconds and she would have been gone, though on hindsight that probably would have been the safer option. Casey had said the attacks were personal, well Crazy Bitch breaking into his home with a gun didn’t get any more personal than that.

‘Turn around,’ said Crazy Bitch.

Joy did and had her first glance of her attacker. She was tall, at least a foot taller than she was, with long red hair right down to her bum – she was thinner too, pretty with those large brown doe eyes.

Crazy Bitch was clearly assessing her as well, as she held the gun pointed at Joy’s face. Joy couldn’t help feel that Crazy Bitch’s gaze was less than complimentary.

‘This is what’s going to happen.’ Crazy Bitch licked her lips nervously. She was clearly out of her league here; getting caught had not been part of the plan. Joy had cocked it up for her and she looked pissed. ‘You’re going to help me escape by creating a diversion. I want you to go to the safe, take some stuff out. Casey will come running in here, see you stealing from him and whilst he’s dealing with your betrayal, arresting you, doing what he does best, I’ll slip out unnoticed. If you say one word, if you somehow signal that I’m here, if he suspects in the slightest, I’ll shoot you both.’