TICK TOCK RUN (Romantic Mystery Suspense) (35 page)

“I can, and I will,” she said, her words sizzling through clenched teeth.

She pulled the ring off my finger and zipped the bag shut.

I stepped over to the window and rested my hands on the sill.  I pressed my nose against the cold glass and stared outside.  Laura’s artfully sculpted garden burst with Japanese plants and ornamental emerald grasses.  Colourful flowers like a cluster of gemstones protruded from tall silver pots.  They lined the end of the decking where it gave way to a healthy green lawn. 

“Let’s think about this,” I said, my breath misting the window.  “Try to get texts flowing.  Talk about where you’ll do the exchange.  Negotiate the price or something.”

“Won’t that get Mark mad and cause him to tell Paul?”

“As long as you make him think you’re about to pay up, he’d be silly to blow his chances of getting the cash.  So provoke him.  Hopefully he’ll lose patience, slip up, and give us proof of his identity before you get to the paying stage.”

“Okay.  If you think it’s worth a go.”

I turned my back on the garden to face Laura.  “And you need to make damn sure Mark knows you’re not interested in a romance with him.  Not now, not ever.”

Laura nodded.  “I did drop hints last night.”

“Stuff the hints.  Tell him straight.  If it is Mark, maybe he’ll think twice about exposing the affair if he’s got nothing to gain.”

“Except for money,” she reminded me.

Laura sent a message to the blackmailer’s hot phone to start communication flowing.  She then sneaked out to drain her bank accounts and turn her mother’s jewellery into hard cash.  This left me staring at the garden feeling useless. 

I loved Laura.  To see her so stressed, panicked and upset all the time sliced through my heart.  This whole mess started through grieving over the death of her parents.  A tragic accident that left me riddled with guilt.  One tragedy had led to another.  When would it end?  And was helping her to hide her secret doing more harm than good?

I was about to pluck my mobile from my pocket to phone Lee, when Claire opened the dining room door.  “Chelsea?  Oh!  You’re in here.”  She smiled at me through the glass conservatory doors.  “Megan’s outside.”

“Coming,” I sang out, rubbed my moist eyes and left the conservatory.

After greeting Megan, who entered with a beautifully wrapped wedding gift in hand, I gathered the girls in the kitchen.  Mark entered the house.  Tugging beige gloves off his hands by the fingertips, he headed straight to the lounge to join Paul.  Either he hadn’t seen me through the open kitchen door, or he’d deliberately ignored me.

Bold and smug,
I thought. 
How dare he strut in here when he’s blackmailing Laura. 
He actually seemed to be happy, smiling.
  The arrogant swine!

It took my all just to focus on hiding the situation from our friends, let alone interact with them.  My mind felt like a racetrack with too many cars on the oval. 
Has Lee discovered anything?  How will Laura cope with being ditched at the altar?
 
What will Mark’s next move be?
  Just as my brain was about to explode, I heard a double bleep come from the lounge.  No one stormed out of the room or yelled, so I assumed there was no more bad news.  It was nice not to break out in a sweat for a change. 

Megan put her arm around me.  “You okay, Chelsea?  You don’t seem with it.”

“Totally fine.”  I tried to return her smile, but I doubted it even resembled one.

“You don’t look fine.  And where’s Laura?  Why isn’t she here?”

“She’s gone out,” Claire said, thumbing through CD’s on the bench.  “Hardly spoke two words to me since I arrived.”

“Is she getting cold feet about the wedding?” Megan said.  “I bet that’s what’s wrong.”

I bit my lip.

The excitement of juicy gossip showed in Megan’s beaming smile.  “I knew it!  Paul’s great, but I always thought she’d end up with—”

“No.  Quite the opposite,” I butted in, then stopped mid-sentence realising I needed a plausible answer.  An idea sparked.  Adopting Megan’s explanation was too easy, but perfect.  “Yes, you’re right.  Spot on.  She’s feeling nervous.  Totally losing the plot.”  Hopefully that would explain Laura’s aloof behaviour, which I assumed would only grow worse as the day wore on.

“Don’t you worry.”  Megan winked.  “I’ll take Laura’s mind off it.  Let’s get this party swinging before she gets back.” 

Claire flicked the stereo on in the kitchen and the girls began dancing.  High heels clicked on tiles.  They banged their hips together to the drumbeat and waved their hands in the air; the party mood upon them earlier than I’d expected.  Any other time I’d have joined in, but today, I didn’t have it in me. 

A short while later, Laura strolled into the kitchen.  The girls grabbed her by the elbows and forced her to dance. 

Megan twirled Laura under her arm.  “Are you looking forward to tomorrow?” she asked, despite what I’d just told her. 

The white bag dangled and swayed innocently by Laura’s leg the whole time.  Her dirty secret lay hidden behind a thin layer of leather… for now.  At least I hoped it did.  I prayed to God she hadn’t done something reckless like deliver the cash without telling me. 

My mobile rang and Lee’s name flashed across the screen. 

“Hey!” I said, rushing into the dining room for privacy.  “You don’t know how much I need to hear your voice.”

“Me, too.  Is Laura with you?”

“In the kitchen.  Why?” 

“Will you get her?”

I hesitated.  “Sure.”  I stepped into the hall and beckoned Laura. 

She left the girls to dance alone and joined me in the dining room. 

“What now?” I asked Lee.

“Does she have any idea of when that photo was taken?”

I looked at Laura.  Oh, shit!  She hadn’t even seen the photo and we’d had so little time alone I’d forgotten to ask her about it.  I felt a sting of fury with myself and slapped my forehead.  “Don’t get mad, Laura, but Lee’s on the phone.”

As expected, Laura shot me a steely glare.  “Go to hell.”  She turned her back and strutted to the door.

I gripped her arm and pulled.  “He’s trying to help.”

“Yeah.  Help himself, not me,” she muttered.

“Shut it, Laura,” I yelled, spinning her around.  “I’m sick to the back teeth of your attitude!  Get your head out of your ass and realise when someone’s trying to do a good thing.  Now stand here and answer him, or I swear to God I’ll...”

Laura’s eyes widened.  She looked genuinely scared of me.

“Now, listen,” I said softer.  “That photo.  It showed you and Daryl standing outside his house.  It must have been raining earlier.  You had an umbrella and wore that grey jacket with studs.  Do you have any idea when the photo was taken?”

“Outside Daryl’s house?”  Her gaze rolled up to the ceiling. 

I waited and tapped my foot.  Lee stayed silent on the line. 

“Grey jacket?  Yes.”  She smiled, looking as amazed as I felt.  “I didn’t go to his house very often.  We liked hotels.”

That figures
.  “So,” I prompted her.

“Daryl had been to the dentist.  If Lee can find out when that was, or did he go to the doctor?  It was one of the two.  A couple of months ago, if that.”

I raised the phone to my mouth.  “Did you hear that, Lee?”

“I heard.  Thanks, Chelsea.  That gives me something to go on.  I’ll check his calendar.” 

Laura left the room and slammed the door.

The phone signal began to crackle and break up. 

“Lee?  Can you still hear me?”

“Just about.  There are some surveillance cameras above the shops opposite Daryl’s house.  I just need to find out which day...  Are you still there?”

“Yes.”

“Which day that photo was taken, and hopefully look through the footage.  It might be a dead end, or the recordings might no longer exist.”

“Or it could be a lucky break.”

“Get directions from Laura and meet me at Daryl’s, will you?  You might spot someone who I don’t recognise.  Oh, and Chelsea—”

“Yeah?”

“That stakeout paid off.  I’ve got something outrageous to level the playing—”

The line crackled then went dead.

CHAPTER 27

I
recognised the white front door of Daryl’s house from the photo, and knocked on it. 

Lee pulled the door open.  “Hey, gorgeous.” 

As soon as I laid eyes on him, my stomach fluttered. 

He smiled, took my hand and led me through to the kitchen.  “You look shorter today.”

“I’m wearing flats.”

The house had a stillness to it, smelled a touch stale.  After kissing me, Lee passed me Daryl’s bank statement.  Now hugging me from behind, he swept my hair to one side and rested his chin on my shoulder.  “This is the missing money I can’t account for.”

I scanned down the list of transactions.  A withdrawal of ten thousand pounds last month caught my attention.  “So, Daryl was being blackmailed over having an affair with Laura.”

Lee nodded, his cheek brushing my earlobe.  “If word got out he’d had sex with a patient, I guess he’d have either lost his license to practise, or been suspended and fined.”

“So this withdrawal could be for a fine?”

“Or to pay someone to keep their mouth shut.”

I twirled a lock of hair, and hummed.

Lee let go of me, unhooked the wall calendar from above the microwave and set it down on the table.  We thumbed through the last few months of notes and appointments.

He tapped his finger on the calendar by some scrawny, circled writing.  “Got it.  He had a dental appointment on March 10
^th,
at 2:15pm.  Now let’s get to those shops.”

Across the street and to the right I saw a newsagent, bakery, and a hairdressing salon shaded by a silver canopy.  I realised in this moment, that this was the very salon in the photo I’d seen by chance on Daryl’s mobile.  We stepped to the roadside and, holding hands, stopped to let a stream of cars drive by.  The local newspapers, in a rack on the pavement across the street, flapped around in the wind.  Two teenagers in hoodies rode their bicycles along the path.  I looked up at the brickwork above the shop fronts, searching for CCTV cameras.  I spotted three.  “Up there.”

Lee squeezed my hand then pointed to the side of the shops.  “And I guess whoever took the photo was parked down that little side street.”

We waited for a break in traffic then dashed across. 

“Why didn’t Laura spot their car?” I asked, mounting the kerb.

“Too busy playing tonsil hockey with my brother.  I’ll start at the newsagent, you try the hairdresser.”  He kissed the back of my hand then walked away.

I took a deep breath, then pushed the salon door open.

A bell chimed on entering.  My reflection greeted me from a huge mirror behind the reception desk.  The same mirror in which I’d spotted Laura in the photo on Daryl’s mobile phone.