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

shoulder and started walking, staring at the pavement. There was still no news on Sally-Ann. There was still no sign of her attacker. I felt unbearably tired and strung out. What I wanted most was to go home. Not to the flat, but to Mum and Dad’s house, where I would be looked after and scolded and fed and loved.
    But I couldn’t let them see me when I was white with fatigue. The one thing I’d promised myself was that they’d never know how hard the job was. I would never complain. It opened the door to their advice –
why don’t you do something else? You’d be a fantastic lawyer. A barrister, even. You’d still be locking up criminals …
And when I said no, my mother’s mouth turning down at the corners, and her voice flat as she inevitably got the last word.
Well, you’re well able to argue. If you ever change your mind about the law you’ll be all set
.
    I was deep in thought about them so when I turned into the residential road where I’d parked it took me a second to recognise the man leaning against the side of my car. Gary hadchanged into a tight T-shirt, tracksuit bottoms and a baseball cap that was pulled well down over his eyes.
    ‘I thought you were never coming,’ he said.
    ‘I thought you’d left without me.’ It sounded so pathetic when I said it out loud but he didn’t tease me about it. He shook his head.
    ‘Never.’
    I unlocked the car and he opened the boot without asking, to put our bags in side by side. I got into the driver’s seat. There was something unreal about this situation. I couldn’t begin to guess how I’d found myself here.
    ‘Okay?’ Gary sat into the passenger seat without waiting for an answer, and pulled his cap down a quarter-inch further before he put on his seatbelt. ‘I’m looking forward to you driving me for a change.’
    I was a good driver and didn’t fluster easily but it was weird, having him on the other side of the car. It was very weird to think about where we were going. It was beyond weird to imagine what would happen when we got there. I didn’t move.
    ‘What’s wrong?’
    ‘Just – are we really doing this?’
    ‘Not if you don’t want to. Do you want me to leave you alone? We can pretend none of this happened if you like. No kissing.’ His voice softened. ‘No confession that I fancy you rotten. I can just go.’
    ‘No.’ I said it without thinking. ‘Don’t go.’
    ‘So.’ He pointed at the road ahead. ‘Drive.’
    It was pretty difficult to make small talk on the way to the flat and I drove in silence, for the most part. I found a parking space without any trouble, for once, not far away.
    ‘We can leave the bags in the boot,’ Gary said, taking off his cap and throwing it into the back seat. He ran a hand over his hair and smiled at me, and I was lost.
    ‘Okay.’
    I got out and locked the car, then started walking towards the flat. Gary took hold of my arm, his grip firm. It pulled me out of my trance, because I couldn’t help thinking it was ironic that he seemed to think I needed to be guided when he didn’t actually know where I lived.
    ‘I feel as if I’m being arrested,’ I said, making a joke of it as I freed myself.
    He laughed, but I knew he wasn’t all that pleased. I thought he probably needed to feel as if he was in charge, since he was on my territory. I let him hold the door open for me when I let us into the building, despising myself just a little for going along with it.
    When I opened the front door of the flat, we were both reflected in the mirror just inside the door. I stopped for a second, unsettled to see the two of us side by side. He really was a lot shorter than me.
    And it was shallow and pathetic of me to mind.
    ‘Do you want a cup of tea? Or some breakfast?’
    ‘No thanks.’ I’d expected him to look around, or at least sit down and talk for a bit, but he was completely focused on me. ‘Which is your room?’
    ‘That one.’
    ‘Show me,’ he said, his eyes locked on mine. Two