Deadly Dozen: 12 Mysteries/Thrillers (93 page)

“Oh, dear. Maybe he has a point about contacting him personally. I’m afraid I let my excitement get the better of me there. As for coming back to the team, I’m not sure that was ever on the agenda. Returning once was bad enough for me. Anyway, I’ve told Linda that I’ll be taking on her case. Talking of which, there’s been a significant development.”

“Go on,” Katy said, sounding intrigued.

“Well, I dropped a dog off at their place this evening—just on my way home now, as it happens. Anyway, it turns out that one of Linda’s flatmates has also fallen victim to this Gibson bloke.” Not confident with driving and holding a conversation Lorne pulled into the curb.

“What? You’re kidding?”

“Nope. The police have told Linda that, as there was no DNA evidence, there’s little they can to do about Gibson.”

“What about the other girl? Did she report the incident when it happened?” Katy asked.

“No. She was too ashamed to. Didn’t say a word to anyone, apparently. She’s very timid. Was petrified of the dog at first. By the time I left, she was starting to make friends with him.”

“She has to come in and see us now. You told her that, right?”

“I did. She’ll be reporting the incident in the next few days. Again, without evidence, it’s not going to go anywhere, and your lot might even think it’s a fake account of what happened, once they learn she resides at the same address as Linda.”

“I’ll see what I can do my end. Chase up who went to see Gibson and what their take is on it and get back to you. Other than that, not sure what else we can do.”

“Thanks, Katy. It’s a start at least. I’ve left Blackie with the girls; he’s a German shepherd. I think they’ll feel more secure with him around. The one thing that’s niggling me, though, is the fact that two of the three girls have been raped by this guy, and during Linda’s attack, he threatened to rape the third girl, Linda’s sister, Fiona. Which leads me to suspect he’s somehow keeping tabs on them.”

“That fits. In what way, do you think?”

Lorne thought about that for a few seconds as she watched the traffic whiz past her parked car. “Maybe he’s stalking them. Keeping an eye on their flat. I don’t know how, but I intend to find out.”

Katy gave a brief laugh. “I’m sure you do. I’ll do the necessary at this end and get back to you in a day or two with the information. Talk soon, Lorne.”

“Thanks, Katy. You’re a star.”

Lorne hung up and pulled out into a convenient slot in the traffic. Two miles from home, she stopped at the local chip shop and ordered three portions of cod and chips with a side order of mushy peas for her father. The aroma of food filled the car by the time she arrived home fifteen minutes later.

While the three of them ate their meal out of the paper, Lorne relayed the devastating news that Ami had divulged when she’d dropped Blackie off.

“Jesus, no wonder the girls are so petrified,” Tony said, placing his final chip in his mouth before he balled up the paper his food had been wrapped in and set it to one side.

“That’s just it, love. Ami hadn’t told the other girls before tonight.”

“He’s watching them.” Tony ran his tongue over his lips, licking up the remaining salt from his dinner.

“That was my first thought, too. Although I didn’t tell the girls that.”

Her father nodded. “Very wise. No sense frightening the poor lasses any more than is necessary. Where do we go from here, Lorne?”

“First of all, I need to sort out a new car. The van’s great for this business, but what with the name of the Rescue Centre plastered over the sides, it’s going to be a bit of a give-away if I start following suspects in that.”

Her father tutted and waved a hand in front of him. “Nonsense. What’s mine is yours. Use the Nova until you get on your feet. If I’m running this place, I won’t be able to go out gallivanting in it now, will I?”

“That’s great, Dad, if you’re sure. In that case, I’d like to get started first thing tomorrow.” She popped the final piece of battered cod in her mouth and balled up her own paper, pausing mid-twist when she glanced sideways at the evening paper lying on the kitchen table, an image jumped out at her. “I don’t believe it.”

She handed the paper to Tony. “Well, what do you know. The bastard really does like the limelight, doesn’t he?”

The picture was of Gibson, standing in the middle of a crowd of young city dealers, looking smug beyond words. The headline read: “New kid on the block blows his competitors out of the water.”

Lorne felt her heart rate escalate as her gaze bored into that of the man staring back at her from the photo. “I think I’m going to enjoy bringing this ‘New kid’ down a peg or two.”

CHAPTER TEN

The next day, Lorne shot out of bed with renewed vigour. Tony lifted his head off the pillow and glanced at the clock. Seeing it was only five thirty, he groaned and shoved his head under the pillow. Lorne sprang into action, impersonating a whirlwind on a mission. After gathering her clothes from the wardrobe and her underwear from the chest of drawers, she disappeared into the bathroom to shower.

Once fully clothed, she decided to let her hair dry naturally. Lorne leapt onto the bed beside her snoring husband and prodded him, “Hey, you. Time to get this show on the road.”

Annoyed he hadn’t stirred, Lorne shot her hand under the quilt. Tweaking a nipple, she repeated, “Time to get up, hon.”

“Do I have to? Can’t you do the chores in the morning? I promise I’ll do them every evening,” Tony’s juvenile whining was muffled by the pillow still wrapped firmly around his head.

“Awww, sweetheart. You promised,” she mimicked his whine and added an extra emphasis of her own.

Suddenly, the pillow hit her round the side of her head, and the quilt was thrown back over her. “Take the mickey out of me, would you? An MI6 agent who has killed people for doing less than you just did?”

Lorne laughed and threw the quilt back over him. “That’s former MI6 agent, just in case you need reminding, Mr. PI. Now shift your well-rounded backside.”

“You cheeky... Are you saying I’ve put on weight?” He took the artificial leg that was lying on the floor beside him, strapped it on, and jumped out of bed. Marching over to the full-length mirror, he dragged his hands down his stomach, which he’d pulled in so his ribs protruded slightly.

Lorne went up behind him and peered around his upper arm at his mirror image. “Now speak,” she demanded, knowing that as soon as he let out a breath, his slight pot belly would promptly fall back into place.

He refused and marched into the bathroom.

Lorne placed a finger in her mouth and made a strike in the air. “My first win of the day, I think.” She had a feeling she was going to enjoy working alongside her husband. Whether or not he’d feel the same after a few months—that remained to be seen.

She started the morning chores.

She was in the middle of exercising the dogs when her father joined her. “Hey, Dad. You’re up early, couldn’t you sleep?”

He pecked her on the cheek and ruffled the head of the setter dog that had come up to greet him. “I’ve had enough sleep, love. Just thought I’d lend a hand so that you could get on the road early.”

“Dad, you’re going to be working hard enough around here as it is. I’m sorry to dump all this on you.” She placed an arm around his shoulders and hugged him tightly.

Her father hooked an arm around her waist in return. “I’ve been thinking.”

Lorne frowned as she searched his face for a possible clue as to what he was going to say next. She saw none. “About what, Dad?”

His hand swept out in front of them. “This place. How to make it profitable.”

Lorne unhooked his arm from her waist and turned to face him. “Not sure I’m going to like this, but go on.”

“Why don’t we expand? Make it a boarding kennel, too.”

“What? You do remember I’m in the midst of starting up another business, don’t you? Lord knows when I’ll get the time to put more hours into this place.” She ran an anxious hand over her face.

“That’s the thing; you won’t have to. What are we? Half an hour from the airport? That makes it an ideal location for boarding dogs while people jet off for their holidays. They could even drop the dogs off en route.”

Lorne eyed her father with scepticism. One minute, he was tearing into her for expecting him to run the place while she carried out her PI duties, and the next, he was having some bizarre talk of expanding the business. “Crikey, Dad, this has come out of the blue.”

“I know. I’m trying to think of the future. If you’re expecting Charlie to take over the running of this place in a few years, I think you’ll need to make the proposition more exciting for her. What does she have to look forward to at the moment, except cleaning up dog poop, feeding and exercising the dogs? This way, she’ll have to deal with the general public, run the business—as in, take money for a service. Deal with potential customers over the phone. Personally, I think it will be the making of her.” His enthusiasm and the pride he felt for his granddaughter was apparent by the twinkling in his hazel eyes.

Lorne chuckled. “You’ve really put some thought into this, haven’t you? In such a short space of time. Let me think about it over the next few days, and then we’ll both sit down with Charlie and put the plan to her at the weekend. In the meantime, why don’t you make some calls? Try to find out what licences we’ll need to obtain.”

“Sounds good to me. Are you going to be long here?” her father asked, already setting off for the gate that led out of the compound.

“Another half an hour or so, why?”

“I’m making pancakes for breakfast. Thought I’d give my girl a treat on her first day back at work in the real world.”

At the mention of pancakes, Lorne’s stomach grumbled. “Sounds great, Dad. Lashings of apricot jam for me, please.”

After her father left, she took the setter inside and placed it in a kennel with fresh water and a bowl of food. The dog attacked the food as if it would disappear into thin air at any moment if he didn’t.

That was the trouble with strays. They tended to bolt their food down, remembering what it was like to go without for days on end.

“Hungry boy.” Tony’s voice startled her.

“I hope he finds a home soon. He’s crying out to be loved by a kind family. I must remember to place an ad in the local over the weekend. John said he’d run one every week for free, providing he has the space in the column. It’d be daft not to take him up on his kind offer. Do you want to give me a hand?”

Lorne continued to exercise the dogs one by one, while Tony cleaned the kennels and replenished the water and food bowls.

Twenty minutes later, they walked through the back door of the house to the wonderful smell of freshly made pancakes. Lorne eagerly eyed the pile sitting on top of the range. Tony and she scrubbed their hands then tucked into the pancakes, the pile decreased rapidly one by one.

“Yum! You still make the best pancakes in Kent, Dad.” Lorne wiped the side of her mouth where the apricot jam had oozed out of the pancake.

Her father joined them at the table. “Flattery will get you everywhere, love.”

Tony nodded and swallowed his mouthful. “I can vouch for that, Sam, I’ve never tasted pancakes as good as these.” He turned to Lorne. “What’s up first, this morning?”

“I need to do an ad for the English setter. Dad, if I leave you the number for John, will you phone it through for me?”

“Of course. I’ll be making a few calls today, as we discussed. One more won’t make a difference.”

“What’s this?” Tony asked.

“I’ll tell you in the car. I want to start making discreet enquiries about Gibson. We need to go to the club, but I don’t think there will be anyone there until this afternoon. Maybe we’ll head into the city first thing and see if we can find Gibson. Until I find out some gossip about him, it’ll just be a case of surveillance to begin with, and I’d like to see if I can track down the ex-girlfriend later.” Lorne popped another forkful of pancake into her mouth.

Tony nodded thoughtfully. “Makes sense to keep the guy under observation for a few days. Are you going to ring the girls to see how Blackie has settled in?”

“Thought I’d do that about lunchtime. Eat up, and we’ll set off before the traffic starts to build up.”

The traffic heading into London wasn’t just bad—it was absolutely nightmarish. After paying the congestion charge, Lorne and Tony made their way into the heart of the money sector. At two minutes to seven thirty, she parked her father’s car in a space close to Gibson’s place of work and waited.

Tony looked at his watch. “I doubt he’ll turn up until five minutes to nine.”

He leaned his head against the headrest, and Lorne got the feeling he was about to sneak a quick forty winks. “We’ll see. You could always make yourself useful and try to find us a coffee.”

He reluctantly opened the car door and walked up the high street. Her wait was uneventful. He returned with two disposable coffee cartons and handed her one.

She took a sip and immediately screwed up her face. “Yuck! That’s black and very strong.”

“The guy said he was out of milk.”