Read Online Left for Dead: A Maeve Kerrigan Novella (Maeve Kerrigan Novels) by Jane Casey - Free Book Online Page A

He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. ‘Where do you live?’
    ‘Sydenham. What about you?’
    ‘Isleworth. Your place is closer.’
    ‘I have a flatmate.’
    ‘Is she out during the day?’
    ‘Yeah, but—’
    ‘Would she mind you bringing a strange man back with you?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ I said weakly. ‘I’ve never done it.’
    ‘Well, if she’s not there, I don’t think she can mind too much. I promise not to raid the fridge. I’m house-trained and everything.’ He started the car again and drove carefully out on to Oakley Road, where the traffic was already starting to build. ‘So that’s sorted, then.’
    I wondered how we had gone from a first kiss to going back to my place in the space of two minutes. ‘Um. Today?’
    ‘No time like the present.’ He glanced across and grinned at the expression on my face. ‘I meant it, Maeve. We can just talk. And sleep. I could do with a decent kip. My next-door neighbour is having a job done on his loft. It’s like trying to sleep in a foundry.’
    ‘That sounds terrible. But I’m not sure, Gary.’
    He patted my knee. ‘That’s all right. I am.’
    ‘Gary … I’m not saying yes. Yet,’ I added hastily when I saw his expression darken. He took a moment and I thought I’d wrecked the whole thing before it even got started. Then he smiled at me and I felt myself start to melt.
    ‘Just promise me you’ll think about it.’
    ‘I’ll think about it.’
    He turned his face away from me as he watched the traffic, waiting to pull out onto the main road, but I still heard what he said under his breath. ‘I’ll be thinking about it too.’
    * * *
    I got all the way to the end of the shift without any more strange or disturbing experiences to report, and was almost disappointed. I was definitely disappointed when Gary disappeared from the nick without saying goodbye. I felt like a dog that had heard its lead being rattled and then got left behind. It wasn’t that I’d decided to take him home, I thought, wandering forlornly around echoing corridors, not finding him. It was just that I’d thought he would ask again. He’d seemed so keen in the car. Maybe he’d reconsidered during the last couple of hours when we’d caught up on paperwork and shared the details of the Karen and Steve show with everyone who was interested, which was everyone in the nick. Even Inspector Saunders came in to hear about it, laughing in her raspy voice.
    ‘Poor old Steve. I bet he got a right earful.’
    ‘She was not my idea of a submissive, I promise you.’ Gary shuddered. ‘Big lass, and loud with it. No wonder he had to cuff her to the bed.’
    ‘Was she pretty?’ Ray asked.
    ‘Was she fuck. Face down, remember? She was lucky she didn’t have a bag over her head.’
    I couldn’t quite smile. I wasn’t all that impressed by the way Gary was talking. I knew I was working in a laddish environment and anything sex-related was fair game forhumour, but he’d been nice to Steve and Karen. Now he was trashing them – and Karen in particular – because he had an audience.
    It was just possible, I thought later, getting my bag and preparing to leave the nick for the day, that Gary had noticed I was annoyed. It was possible he’d decided to save himself a lecture from me on respecting women. Maybe he was hurt I hadn’t jumped at the chance of being alone with him. Maybe he’d just realised that it was an all round bad idea. I was half inclined to think it was a good thing that he’d changed his mind. It saved me from making any decisions. I had wanted to say yes – a lot – but the idea was terrifying too. I told myself not to be disappointed and it almost worked.
    I hadn’t been able to get parked in the police station car park so I had a walk to get to my car – about five minutes – but it was hard to motivate myself when it was the end of the day and my back ached from sitting in the patrol vehicle for hours. I heaved my patrol bag on to my