Read Online Buckingham Palace Blues by James Craig - Free Book Online Page B

Carlyle, her eyes narrowed. ‘And now you’ve put me off my game,’ she said, without even the hint of a smile.
    The other woman moved round the table for her next shot, gently shooing Matthews out of the way, forcing her to step closer to Carlyle.
    ‘Now that I’m here . . .’ he started.
    ‘You shouldn’t have come,’ Matthews hissed.
    ‘Now that I am here,’ he repeated, ‘I wanted to ask you about something important.’
    Matthews tossed her cue on to a nearby sofa and picked up her pint. ‘I don’t want to talk to you.’
    ‘It’s important,’ he repeated, not wanting to plunge into the details.
    ‘Maybe to you.’
    ‘Seriously.’
    ‘It was always important with you, Carlyle,’ Matthews sneered. ‘Wasn’t it?’
    Carlyle ignored the barb. ‘I just need some up-to-date information on SO14.’
    ‘What?’ Matthews snorted. ‘You still trying to fuck the unit up? I thought you’d given up on that one a long time ago.’ She grinned at her companion. ‘Around about the time you got your fucking head kicked in.’
    The other woman looked up from the table and laughed, before quickly potting a green.
    Carlyle gazed at his shoes in an attempt to hide a rueful grin. His mind went back to the night when a couple of his SO14 colleagues, incensed by his lack of ‘team spirit’, had dragged him out into the Palace stables for a good beating. They had just been working up a head of steam when Matthews had appeared with a couple of royal footmen, and hauled them off. Carlyle had been left with just a few cuts and bruises, and a medium-sized dent to his pride.
    The next day, he had gone to thank her, but she had waved him away. ‘I did it for them,’ she had said, ‘not for you. You’re not worth anyone risking their career for.’
    Matthews drained the last of her pint. ‘Just because I saved your arse that time doesn’t mean I’m your friend.’
    Carlyle held up a hand in supplication. ‘I know.’ He watched the other woman sink the last ball and drop her cue on the table.
    Matthews held out her empty glass and nodded towards the bar. ‘Why don’t you get me another one, Heather? I’ll be out in a minute.’
    Heather? That was it: Heather Ramen. Or Raven? Or Ramsden? Something like that. A ‘performance artist’ back in the day. Carlyle wondered if she still ‘performed’.
    Heather grunted as she took her pint pot and wandered off.
    Matthews waited until she had left the room before turning to Carlyle. ‘You always were a right cunt, causing trouble, winding everyone up.’
    ‘Maybe.’ Carlyle shrugged. ‘But things are getting worse in SO14, aren’t they?’
    Matthews picked up the cue ball and weighed it in her hand like she wanted to smash his skull with it. ‘What would you know about it?’
    ‘It’s come up during an investigation.’
    ‘Bollocks. You’re just shit-stirring.’ Matthews reluctantly tossed the ball back on the table. ‘You should leave SO14 alone. It’s not your problem any more. And it’s not mine either. I’m leaving. Transfer out next month.’ She pointed a stubby index finger at him. ‘So I don’t want any aggro.’
    Carlyle stood his ground. ‘This is a formal investigation, Alexa. I’m well within my rights to come and see you at work. Or at home.’
    She studied him doubtfully.
    ‘If I wanted to cause you and your girlfriend any aggro,’ Carlyle continued, ‘I wouldn’t have trundled all the way out here to make a discreet social call at eleven o’clock in the morning.’
    Matthews bristled. ‘Leave Heather out of this, you tosser. I’ve been out for a long time. Everyone knows I’m a dyke. So what?’
    ‘It wasn’t a threat,’ Carlyle said mildly.
    ‘Yeah, yeah.’ Matthews glanced in the direction of the bar. For a moment, she clearly turned something over in her mind.
    Carlyle waited.
    Heather had decided to take her time. Matthews cursed under her breath.
    Carlyle looked at his shoes.
    ‘Joe Dalton,’ she said