Read Online Cold Shoulder by Lynda La Plante - Free Book Online Page B

what she is? Didn’t you see her face? She’s a whore, she was probably trying to steal from him. Just get in the car!’ They continued to argue, even as they drove out and he stared back at Lorraine, confused and shocked.
    In the ladies’ room Lorraine soaked a handful of toilet tissue, and held it to the back of her head. She had lost a shoe, her dress was bloodstained and she couldn’t stop the flow of blood from the back of her scalp. Her mouth, too, was bloody, and she panicked. Had he hit her in the mouth? But it wasn’t her blood, it was his, from the bite she had given him. She was shaking now, her legs jerky, and she had to sit down on the toilet seat to stop herself fainting.
    With trembling hands she opened the wallet. A driving licence plus a photograph — but not of the man inside the car. There were odd ticket stubs and dry cleaning receipts, and more than three hundred and fifty dollars. She folded the money, and stuck it into her panties. Then she stuffed the wallet into the trashcan.
    She remained at the washbasin for another fifteen minutes, using more tissue soaked in cold water as a pad. When she had recovered enough to make her way slowly outside, she still felt dizzy and faint, so she hailed a passing cab and gave him Rosie’s address.
     
     
    Lorraine hardly had the strength to get out of the cab and the driver was blazing when he found his seat was bloodstained. Jake, who had returned to check on Rosie, was watching the display from the apartment window.
    Thinking her as drunk as Rosie had been, he nevertheless helped Rosie to carry her upstairs. When he spotted the wound on her head he insisted Lorraine go to the hospital. She refused. She didn’t want any hospital or police reports — she was fine. And she had not had a drink.
    The wound was still bleeding freely, so reluctantly Lorraine agreed to go with Jake to his clinic to have it stitched. By the time they arrived she was subdued. She lay on the couch as Jake examined the gash. He doubted her claim that the wound had been caused by her falling on a loose paving stone. It looked to him as if someone had struck her from behind; if the blow had landed an inch further up, her skull could have been shattered. She’d been lucky.
    Lorraine returned home with Rosie and Jake, her head bandaged and with a cropped haircut. Rosie put her in her own bed, and gave her the sedatives and antibiotics Jake had prescribed. Once she was asleep, Jake began to quiz Rosie. ‘What did she tell you that you think is lies, then, Rosie?’
    Rosie shrugged. ‘Oh… just that she used to be a police officer.’
    Jake smiled, his eyes concentrating on unscrewing the hinges of the damaged screen door. Well, that may be fantasy, of course.
I
think she’s a whore and that’s why she didn’t want to go to the police. Someone nearly killed her today, though. But my worry is you — because you are my main concern, Rosie dear, and you were doing so well before she came on the scene.’
    ‘I don’t think she had anything to do with me tying on a load, Jake. That was down to my husband.’
    Jake squinted at the hinge. ‘Maybe, but you’re vulnerable right now, sweetheart, and it won’t take much to make you fall off the wagon. How long has she been dry? Not long. Right?’
    Rosie knew he was right and that he meant well, but she couldn’t keep calling him just for social reasons — even though she had every right to call him when she was in trouble. ‘I get lonely, Jake. I need a friend.’
    Jake held up the new hinges. ‘Who am I to say what you should or shouldn’t do? I’ll have to come back and fix this tomorrow. These aren’t the right screws.’
    Rosie sighed and looked to the bedroom. ‘I think we’ll be okay, for tonight anyway. It’ll take my mind off things looking after her.’
    Jake put on his jacket. ‘Up to you, but keep your eye on her. I don’t trust her.’
    He had made no mention of Lorraine’s reaction when he had seen the thick