Read Online Dark Eyes of London by Philip Cox - Free Book Online

around to the café entrance and looked inside. Two tables were occupied here, neither of them by Amy. He looked around: no sign of her. He checked his watch: it was ten fifty. A bit early.  He bought a coffee and took it out to one of the outside tables.  Sitting down, he looked over the Serpentine. The ducks and swans were not in short supply today; it was only people. He could see some figures walking along the path around the lake.  A father and son were playing with a radio-controlled motor boat.
    He drank some coffee and checked his phone, in case Amy had sent him a text saying she would be late, or cancelled. No sign of her.  He was not superstitious, but he was aware that not so long ago he had arranged to meet Lisa in similar conditions.
    As one of the figures walking around the lake came closer, he recognised Amy. She saw him, and started walking across the grass to get to the terrace.  As she got closer, he stood up to greet her.  She was wearing her dark hair down, and had on a long black overcoat. Her hands were in her coat pockets.
    ‘Hello,’ Tom said. ‘Can I get you something?’
    Amy looked around. ‘Could we go for a walk?’ she asked.
    ‘If you want,’ he replied, downing the last of his coffee.
    He left the terrace and joined Amy on the path. They walked over to Serpentine Road and headed west.
    ‘I wasn’t sure you’d come,’ she said.  ‘In fact, I was gambling on you finding the note.’
    ‘You slipped it in here, he said, ‘when you hugged me, that right?’
    ‘A bit - I don’t know - melodramatic, I suppose, but I wanted to make sure you got it.  And that the others didn’t see.’
    ‘I’m sure they didn’t.  I didn’t.’
    ‘Sorry.’
    ‘No need to say sorry.  What’s this all about? And why give it to me? Not Lisa’s sister? I wasn’t related to Lisa. We were divorced.’
    ‘I know who you are.  I know you’re divorced.  Lisa used to talk about you.’
    ‘Really? After we split up, or before?’
    ‘I think you two had already split when she and I got friendly.  But she did talk about you.’
    ‘Much?’
    ‘Not a lot.  But now and again.’
    ‘Good or bad?  Not that it’s a good time to ask that, the day after her funeral.  Not that it matters now, anyway.’
    ‘She spoke about you positively.’
    Tom nodded. ‘Okay. What about her sister Jane?’
    ‘What about her?
    ‘You obviously want to talk about how Lisa died.  Surely her sister would be the obvious choice?’
    Amy paused a moment.  Paused walking and talking. ‘I just thought you’d be the best person.’
    Tom said, ‘Did you know she was on her way to meet me when she died?’
    Amy stopped again. ‘No, I didn’t.  I wondered what she was doing at Green Park.’
    ‘So did I. She was coming from Canary Wharf to meet me at Waterloo.’
    Amy looked at him, puzzled. ‘So why was she -?’
    ‘At Green Park Piccadilly?  You tell me.’
    ‘I hadn’t realised that. Why were you two meeting?’ she asked.
    Tom shrugged. ‘Lisa phoned me that afternoon.  Said she wanted to talk to me about something. Said it was important. Said it had to be face to face. I had no idea what it was about; even wondered if she wanted to talk about getting back together. We arranged to meet at Waterloo Station, or rather a coffee shop nearby. I waited and waited. She wasn’t answering her phone, so I went home after an hour or so. I tried her phone again just before I went to bed, and the police answered it. Told me what had happened.’
    ‘She said it had to be face to face, did she?’ Amy asked. ‘Just like I did?’
    He ran his hand through his hair. ‘I didn’t want to say that.’
    Amy looked around.
    ‘You okay?’ Tom asked.
    She nodded. ‘Sure.  I’m okay.’
    ‘Do you know what Lisa wanted to talk about?’
    Amy shook her head.  ‘No.  Not exactly.’
    ‘What does that mean? Either you do or you don’t.’
    ‘What I mean is: I know she wanted to talk about something, but I