Read Online Hostage to Murder by Val McDermid - Free Book Online

according to any rules of decorum.
    Fed up of the dismal attempts at small talk that kept running aground, Lindsay finally said, “You don’t want to be a parent, then, Fraser?”
    Fraser looked startled. “Well, not in the sense of day-to-day involvement, no. Though I like the idea that my genetic material will continue after I’ve gone.”
    Selfish bastard, Lindsay thought. She wondered why he thought his genes were so special they deserved to be preserved, but realised this wasn’t a line of conversation that would endear her to Sophie. “So you’re not going to be popping round to take the wean to the football? Or the Scottish country dancing,” she added as an afterthought, remembering that Peter had revealed that he and Fraser had first met at a gay and lesbian ceilidh. The sort of event she would have slit her throat rather than attend. Lindsay had grown up in the Highlands and knew what ceilidhs were supposed to be like. She thought Peter and Fraser would last about ten minutes tops at any village dance she’d ever attended.
    Fraser smiled uncertainly, unsure if he was really hearing hostility. “I’m happy to let you and Sophie bring up the child without any interference from me,” he said cautiously. “I don’t mind it knowing I’m the other half of its genetic make-up when it’s older, but I’m not planning on being a father in any active way.”
    Lindsay smiled. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Sophie suddenly look apprehensive. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t decide when he’s thirteen that he’d rather live with the other half of his genetic make-up, then,” she said.

    â€œLindsay, do stop trying to frighten Fraser,” Sophie said. Her voice was light, but the look she gave Lindsay would have melted the snows of Kilimanjaro. “Now, would anyone like any more fruit salad?”
    Fraser and Peter exchanged a swift glance “Maybe we should just cut to the chase, Sophie,” Fraser said.
    â€œI’ll show you to the spare room,” Sophie said, ushering them out of the dining room and throwing a warning look over her shoulder at Lindsay. When she returned a few minutes later, she found Lindsay clattering the dirty plates into the dishwasher.
    â€œAre you deliberately trying to fuck this up for me? Or are you just behaving inappropriately because you’re nervous?” Sophie demanded.
    â€œNeither. I was just trying to make sure we all knew what the ground rules were.” Lindsay closed the machine forcefully.
    â€œBut I told you all that last night. You knew I’d already been through all that with Fraser.”
    Lindsay tipped the remains of the fruit salad into a plastic container and headed for the fridge. “I wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth.” She leaned against the worktop, her arms folded across her chest. “I’m sorry, Sophie, but it’s hard for me to take your word for things when I know how desperately you want this. You’d tell me black was white if you thought it would prevent me standing in the way of you chasing this particular dream. So I don’t think it was out of order for me to ask Fraser what I did.”
    Sophie’s grey eyes blazed anger. “I don’t suppose you stopped to think that it made us look like anything but the close and confiding couple?”
    Lindsay shrugged. “Maybe Fraser will just figure that I’m cautious. Which is a sensible thing to be.”
    Sophie ran her hands through her silvered curls. “Jesus. I’m supposed to be in a relaxed and receptive state for insemination and look at me. Wound up like a fucking spring thanks to you.”
    Her partner’s anguish worked on Lindsay as no rational argument could have done. She put her arms round Sophie and murmured, “Oh, Christ, I’m sorry. Come on, let’s get you sorted.”
    Sophie led the way