Martin Edwards - The Frozen Shroud

‘If you won’t talk to the police, will you see a solicitor? I’ll come along too if it helps. Take out an injunction. Stalking is a crime these days, but there are civil remedies too. You could seek compensation.’

‘I’m not interested in money.’

In the pantheon of Terri’s breathtaking statements, this was up there with ‘I don’t know why I was barred, I’d only had a couple of small vodkas’ and ‘He reckons he’s gay, but if you ask me, he’s open to persuasion.’

‘You wanted help,’ Hannah snapped, ‘but every suggestion I make, you throw back in my face. All right, I give up. I’m going to bed.’

‘Already?’ Terri’s face fell. ‘There was something else I thought I might …’

Hannah groaned. ‘What?’

A loud sigh. ‘Doesn’t matter, it’ll keep. I hadn’t really meant to bother you yet anyway. Sorry, Hannah. You’ve been brilliant, as always. What would I do without you?’

‘I don’t need thanks. What I need is to be sure you’re okay.’

‘Hey, I’ll be fine. When I found that photograph on the mat, it spooked me, but I’m over it now. Stefan won’t turn my life into a train wreck, believe me.’

‘Goodnight, then.’

‘G’night, sweetie.’

Hannah blew her a kiss, and hauled her weary body up the stairs. Unlike Neil Diamond, she wasn’t a believer.

Terri was up first the next morning, looking bizarrely immaculate as she popped her head round the door, shrilling ‘Wakey, wakey!’ She insisted on cooking breakfast, and her exuberance was such that, despite her hangover, Hannah’s brain creaked into action. At last she realised what she’d been too knackered to figure out the previous night.

‘You’ve met someone else.’

Terri switched down the volume on the radio. She’d retuned it to some unfamiliar station playing gangsta rap. At least it made a change from ‘Cracklin’ Rosie’ and ‘Love on the Rocks’.

‘What makes you say that?’

‘Someone you think will protect you from Stefan. When really you should go through the proper channels.’

‘Fuck the proper channels!’ Terri pretended to scream. ‘I mean, I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you can’t live your life going through the proper channels.’

‘I only want you to be safe. Not go blundering into one disaster after another.’

‘I can look after myself, thanks very much.’ Terri considered Hannah’s rumpled appearance. ‘Which is more than everyone can say.’

‘So who’s the man?’

‘I’m not uttering a peep. At least not for a day or two.’

‘Come on. You trust me, remember?’

Terri dunked her bacon in the swimmy egg yolk. ‘The diet resumes tomorrow! You know, Hannah, it’s been lovely, just being with you. The two of us, together again, like the old days. And I nearly told you everything last night, but now I’ve sobered up. So don’t spoil things, huh?’

Hannah suppressed the urge to bang her head on the breakfast bar with frustration, but only with an effort of will. ‘Aaaaaaagh! I give up.’

‘Thank you. And don’t feel bad about it,’ Terri mumbled with her mouth full.

Hannah drank some coffee, not caring that it scalded her tongue. ‘He’s married, isn’t he?’

A hunted look came into Terri’s eyes. ‘Leave it, won’t you?’

‘That’s why you’re so enigmatic, because you’ve hooked up with someone who hasn’t unhooked himself yet. Meanwhile, that bastard Stefan wants revenge for being given the elbow. Oh, Terri, will you never learn?’

Terri ripped the top off a pot of yogurt. ‘You don’t have a clue, Hannah. Listen, I’ve no intention of starting the day with a row, especially with a poor wretch who looks half-dead after a single late night, so why don’t you just finish your breakfast, put on some lippy, and comb your hair properly before we go, huh? You’re an incredibly gorgeous lady, and I’m luckier than I deserve to have you for a friend, but you do yourself no favours by not looking your best.’

Hannah swore, and said again, ‘I give up.’

This time she meant it.

They took a cab to Ambleside, where Hannah had left her car. The short journey was controversy-free, as they kept away from the subjects of Stefan, Marc and Greg, and talked about Terri’s new job instead.

‘Oz and his wife Melody live in this fabulous old house on the far side of Ullswater. Think Wuthering Heights, but with all the mod cons you could possibly imagine. I’d never even heard of Ravenbank till they invited me round for a meal one evening. Can’t wait to get back there for tonight’s party.’

Oh God. Surely not even Terri was capable of carrying on with her own boss under his wife’s nose? Hannah feared she knew the answer. Better not speculate. Let Terri tell her about the mystery man at a time of her own choosing.

‘Have a fantastic time.’

‘You bet I will. It’s such a perfect venue for Hallowe’en. Really creepy. They even have their own ghost. A housemaid was battered to death there, about a century ago. Now a woman without a face prowls the lanes at dead of night.’ Terri feigned a shiver. ‘Wonder if she’ll do the rounds this evening?’

Hannah swung into the car park. ‘Enjoy.’

‘Thanks.’ Terri dropped a kiss on her cheek. ‘So what are you doing for Hallowe’en?’

‘Nothing much.’ No way would she mention seeing Greg Wharf. Not after last night. Two could play the game of keeping quiet about encounters with unsuitable men.

Terri, well versed in the art of deception, had disbelief scrawled all over her face. ‘Well, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’

‘So I’ve got plenty of latitude, then?’

Terri grinned. ‘I’m right about Daniel Kind, by the way. Trust me.’

Hannah patted her friend’s hand. ‘If you change your mind about talking to someone about Stefan, let me know.’

‘The proper channels? Well, maybe. I’ll be a good girl, and think it over, okay?’

‘Fine.’ Hannah grinned. ‘And if you can’t be good, be careful.’

‘You bet.’ Terri tottered off in her high heels. ‘See you soon.’

On the way to the kitchen at HQ for another shot of caffeine, Hannah bumped into Greg. When he asked after Terri, she found herself telling him about Stefan, and Morrissey the cat.

‘I feel bad about it, but what can I do? I can’t get involved personally, or I might find myself carpeted by Professional Standards, and that won’t help Terri. If she doesn’t make a formal complaint, we don’t have a leg to stand on if someone tries to talk sense into Stefan.’

‘Sounds to me like your mate’s crying out for a bit of Alternative Policing. Want me to speak to a couple of people I know? They could have a quiet word with him in a dark alley.’

Every now and then, Hannah glimpsed something below Greg’s rather appealing surface. Something dark and dangerous. One of her DCs, Maggie Eyre, reckoned he ought to come with a government health warning.

‘Definitely not.’ Sure that he thought her a wimp, she made a conscious effort not to say they must go through the proper channels. ‘Too risky.’

‘I like cats,’ Greg said unexpectedly. ‘We had one when I was a kid. I wept buckets when she was run over by a Ford Fiesta. The driver raced off without a second glance. I swore to kill the bastard, but of course I never found him. Pity. I was below the age of criminal responsibility — they’d have let me off with a pat on the head, and a few sessions with a social worker.’

‘Maybe that’s why you became a detective.’

He grinned. ‘Wasn’t for the money or the working conditions.’

‘Anyway, we don’t even know for certain that Stefan has harmed the cat. There’s nothing we can do unless Terri changes her tune.’