Read Online Follow the Leader by Mel Sherratt - Free Book Online Page A

into the living room. As she watched Matt taking in the expensive décor and furniture, she couldn’t help but get a warm feeling. Not many of the gang from school had made anything of themselves and, despite earning her money glamour modelling, she had used her assets wisely – even if they had been enhanced to double D cups.
    She stood in front of the fire, leaning on the marble surround to steady herself. Christ, that wine had gone straight to her head; she could almost hear a tune beating inside it. She checked the time: six thirty. If she didn’t offer Matt a drink, she could get rid of him quickly. Then she could get ready to go out that evening. If Kelvin was at the club, then she wasn’t going to wait around for him. She’d call Tom: he would always have time for her. She gave Matt a faint smile: she’d give him twenty minutes, half an hour at the most.
    ‘So . . . ?’ she raised upturned palms.
    Matt pulled out a framed photograph from a plastic supermarket carrier bag. The photo was of three rows of children in school uniform – the back row standing, the middle one sitting on a bench and the children at the front sitting cross-legged on the floor.
    Suzi stared at the photo. ‘Ohmigod,’ she shrieked, ‘is that us?’
    Matt nodded, his eyes crinkling up. ‘Ugly-looking bunch, weren’t we?’
    She studied the rows of faces, boys and girls she’d grown up with but hardly ever saw now. Suddenly, she brought the picture frame closer, eyes widening as she recognised herself.
    ‘That’s me, there, with the pigtails!’ she laughed, pointing at a girl in the back row.
    ‘Yes, that’s you.’
    ‘How old were we – about twelve?’
    ‘Yes.’ He moved closer. ‘Can you tell which one I am?’
    Suzi stared again, sliding her index finger along the row of faces. She could remember Matt from school, although, glancing at him now, nothing about him seemed that familiar. He seemed a little shorter, his eyes were dark, miserable-looking even, and h e w as very lean, almost puny. Mind, after the surgery she’d had, who was she to question appearances? Everyone changed with age and once men lost hair, like Matt had, it was hard to tell one from the other, especially after so many years.
    She pointed to a boy on the photograph. ‘Is that you?’
    He shook his head. Smiling, he pointed to another boy. ‘That’s me.’
    ‘Really?’ Suzi looked again, then let out a gasp. ‘Is that Mickey Taylor?’
    ‘Yeah, terrible news about him, wasn’t it?’
    ‘I couldn’t believe it, still can’t. I mean, what’s the chance that you’ll know someone who was murdered? It gave me quite a shock, I can tell you.’
    ‘Yeah, me too. I hope the police catch the bastard who did it. They don’t seem to have many leads though.’
    Suddenly having found a common ground, Suzi didn’t feel threatened by Matt anymore. Since leaving school and becoming famous, she often had people contact her, mostly through social media as it had become more popular over the years. Maybe he’d liked her Facebook page and was a fan of hers but didn’t want to say.
    ‘Do you fancy a glass of wine?’ she offered, the thought warming her. ‘You’re not in a hurry, are you?’
    ‘That’d be great, ta. I’ll sit myself down, then, shall I?’
    Minutes later, Suzi came back into the room with two glasses of wine, handed one to Matt and then sat down in the armchair opposite him. She curled her feet up to her side.
    ‘Can you remember much about him?’ she asked, taking a sip.
    ‘About who?’
    ‘Mickey Taylor.’
    He shook his head. ‘He wasn’t around much when I was there.’
    Suzi grinned. ‘Yeah, that’s right. He was always getting into trouble for skiving off. I can’t believe he was so successful. I always thought he was a bit of a thicko.’
    ‘You shouldn’t always judge a book by its cover.’
    ‘I suppose not.’ Suzi paused. ‘I used to go out with him, you know.’
    ‘Did you?’
    Suzi nodded. ‘Well, I