T.M.E. Walsh - For All Our Sins

Her fingers felt like ice as she clasped the fob and pulled it from her bag. She swiped it over the sensor on the wall beside her and the front door to the building gave an audible click and a green light flashed on the panel.

Grasping the handle, Claire yanked it and went inside.

As usual the lift was out of order, so she took a slow walk up the stairs to the fourth floor. The air on this level was stale. The large windows on this floor, at this time in the afternoon, allowed direct sunlight through the thin single-glazing glass. The heat generated was relentless and Claire popped open another button of her shirt.

There were two flats on this side of the building, and Claire now stood in front of the second one and steeled herself inside.

She pushed her spare key into the lock…

CHAPTER 7

Another viewing with a client had gone well and Adrian had negotiated an unfair price on behalf of another greedy landlord taking full advantage of the housing crisis for another shitty little studio flat.

Another successful day for some.

Adrian sauntered through the office leaving his usual sense of arrogance and pride wafting in invisible lines behind him.

He made himself a coffee before heading back to his office. He unlocked his PC screen, taking a sip of his coffee while he checked his diary for the afternoon. He scrolled down the page in front of him, and then paused, his gut tightening.

He glanced at his watch.

It was after 3:30pm and Amelia Williams would be there in ten minutes according to his diary. Confused, Adrian shouted to his PA through the closed door rather than ring her using the internal phone.

‘Mary!’

He could hear her rushing up from her seat. Mary slid her head around the door, her long brown curly hair falling around her face, which always reminded Adrian of a poodle crossed with a King Charles spaniel. Her big blank brown eyes stared back at him.

‘Yes, Adrian?’

He pointed to the screen. She glanced at it and pulled a face.

‘Why is she booked to come and see me in ten minutes? This appointment wasn’t in my diary this morning.’

Mary flushed. ‘Sorry, Adrian. She called up this afternoon and said she needed to talk to you. I tried to speak with you but you were busy on a conference call.’ She paused and looked upset. ‘She was very forceful. I just booked her in. I meant to tell you but…I guess I forgot. I’m sorry.’

Adrian cursed under his breath. He turned and waved her away and she scurried out of the room.

Before Adrian had a chance to think, his phone rang. It was the main reception calling and Adrian pulled a face as he picked up the receiver.

‘Adrian Brown…OK…I’ll send Mary.’ He hung up and rested his forehead in his hands. He was dreading what might come next.

He asked Mary to prepare some coffee after she had seen Amelia to his office and asked that she not disturb them. Mary soon returned carrying two steaming cups. She watched bright green eyes follow her as she placed a coffee cup in front of Amelia on Adrian’s desk, before passing her a sideways glance of disapproval.

This amused Amelia.

Clearly the buck hadn’t stopped with her and who knew how many women Adrian had cheated.

She glanced up towards Adrian and his eyes met hers, studying her face intensely. Amelia waited until Mary closed the door to his office before smiling at him. She reached for her coffee and took a sip.

‘You may want to keep that one. She makes quite good coffee.’

He shook his head. ‘Why are you here? We’re not supposed to meet like this.’

‘There’re lots of things we shouldn’t be doing but that hasn’t stopped you.’

Adrian’s lips pulled upright into a grin. His eyes wandered from her face towards her shoulders, noting the thin white camisole top that hugged her delicate body. Her hair fell roughly tousled around her face, with tendrils touching the tops of her bare arms.

‘Still, we shouldn’t be meeting here at the office like this. You draw too much attention and unwanted questions. I don’t make it a habit to meet tenants privately in my office.’

‘Just screw them, then?’

‘Only you.’

Adrian watched her eyes, which seemed to him to be a darker shade of green today. It made him uneasy and restless.

‘Why are you here? You saw me a few hours ago. Why not say something then?’

Amelia lowered her cup back onto his desk, her eyes never leaving his. ‘You were rather pre-occupied at the time.’

‘I’m a busy man. Spit it out, I don’t have time for games.’

‘But you play them so well.’ She leaned forward, her hair framing her pretty face in a wild red glow.

Adrian cursed under his breath but still he stared longingly at her.

At length, Amelia got up from her chair and walked around the desk to stand behind his chair.

Her hands pressed down hard on top of his shoulders.

Her fingers curled, clawing him in her grasp.

Adrian felt her nails dig into his flesh.

CHAPTER 8

By the time Claire had driven back to the office, she tried to look as if the last forty minutes hadn’t happened.

She sat in her car in the station car park, pulled her sunglasses off, and tossed them on the dash. She peered into the rear-view mirror. She dabbed around her eyes with her fingertips, removing any smears of make-up before heading into the station.

As she walked into CID, DI David Matthews was on her as soon as she was through the door.

‘Guv,’ he said, too loudly, in her ear, enough for her to glance across the room to where Michael was sitting, watching them closely.

‘Guv, can I have a word?’

She gave a curt nod, and he followed her through to her office, shutting the door behind him. As Claire sat down in her chair, she risked another glance at Michael. She had a perfect line of sight to his desk through the glass partition walls of her office.

He was rifling paperwork on his desk, and then peering at his computer screen, pretending to be busy.

Claire knew he was watching them, watching her .

Every single move.

‘Have a seat, Matthews,’ she said as she booted up her computer. He sat in one of the chairs opposite her desk and just smiled. Claire raised her eyes to meet his. ‘Why are you grinning at me like a Cheshire cat?’

Matthews leaned forward, clasping his hands together and rested them on her desk. ‘The Hargreaves case?’ he said. ‘I got your email. Thought now would be a good time to go through everything.’

Claire glanced towards Michael’s desk again. He wasn’t there. She felt herself relax a little.

She found herself smiling back at Matthews, her ice-blue eyes glowing in amusement. ‘I thought you’d be pleased. You wanted to work the Hargreaves case and now I’m making you SIO, we’ll discuss the details tomorrow, with Diego.’

She paused and considered her next words carefully.

‘And before you ask, Diego didn’t take it too well – about Hargreaves – so do me a favour and don’t rub his bloody nose in it. I’m working the Wainwright murder with him. The last thing I need is him resenting me any more than he does already.’

Matthews was beaming. His dark-brown eyes looked out of Claire’s office, across the incident room to the work station he shared with the other underdogs – mainly the DCs in his eyes. He shouldn’t even be sitting near them. He was meant for better things.

He wanted Claire’s crown and this was his big foothold on the ladder.

He leaned forward, his floppy brown hair falling around his eyes. He brushed it back with his left hand and offered his other to Claire. ‘I can’t thank you enough.’

Claire stared at his hand then reluctantly shook it. ‘Just don’t let me down… Don’t make me regret this.’