AMELIA
I wake up after a rough night. I spent it dreaming of him, and they’re what
I call invasive dreams. They move from your head through to other parts of your body.
When I get out of bed, I’m on edge, like I’ve come off the rails overnight. I don’t like the feeling.
I head through to the bathroom and there’s no evidence he’s used it. I assume he’s still in bed, but when I go downstairs, he’s already in the kitchen making breakfast.
I’m an early riser but he looks like he’s been up for hours or maybe he just didn’t go to bed at all. “When does our time together end?” I ask him.
“Desperate to get rid of me?”
“I just want to know, that’s all.”
“Today is Saturday morning. Let’s be generous to you and say the clock started ticking last night from when you said yes. That gives me until midnight tomorrow night.”
“And if you don’t find your snitch?”
“I will.” He sounds completely sure of himself. I’d quite like to have that level of confidence. “You’re going to walk around town with me, give me an excuse to scope the place out properly.”
“Not right now, I’m not. I’ve got to get to work.”
“Not sure you do.”
He tosses the Cove Gazette over to me. It’s folded in half. I can see the headline in big black print. “First murder in five years.” I unfold the paper.
Below the headline is a photo of a place I recognize. It’s the animal shelter. “What the fuck?” I skimmed. “Cam’s dead?” I slam the newspaper down. “You killed him, didn’t you.”
His brow furrows and his eyes darken. “You think little of me, do you?”
“Well, let’s work out the math, shall we, Sherlock? You turn up five years ago covered in blood with a dog with a bullet wound and then you vanish into the fucking night, as does Cam. Now you’re back and in charge of a casino, apparently. My old boss turns up dead. Do you want to explain that? Just a coincidence, is it?”
He shakes his head. “I doubt it’s a coincidence.”
“So you killed him then. Give me one good reason I shouldn’t call the cops.”
“I’ll give you two reasons. One, we own the cops. Two, did you read the part where it says when the body was found.”
I move my eyes back down to the text. “Midnight last night.”
“That’s right. And where was I at midnight last night?”
“With me.”
“Exactly.”
“But it says here the body’s all rotted. They identified him by his teeth and his wallet. Maybe you killed him back then.”
“Maybe I did. Let’s say I did. Why would I drag his body out now?”
“I don’t know. To frighten me.”
“If I wanted to frighten you, Amelia, there are far simpler ways of doing it. I suspect it was the snitch who got hold of the body, trying to bring some heat down on me, send me into hiding.”
“Why? They likely to find your fingerprints on him?”
“After this length of time, there will be nothing to link the killer to the body. What there will be are forensics officers wandering around getting in the way while I’m supposed to be looking for the snitch. They made a bold first move, but they showed their hand too early.” He pauses and then adds, “They’re running scared. They know I’m onto them.”
I slam my hand onto the newspaper. “Look me in the eye, Leo. Tell me this had nothing to do with you.”
He walks over to me until he’s so close I can smell him. He smells as good as he did last night. “I will never lie to you,” he says. “Do you trust me?”
I bark out a laugh. “It’s always the fucking same. In the movies, it’s always – do you trust me? Trust me. Can you trust me? I give you my word. Like all that means anything. I don’t even know you. Why the fuck should I trust you?”
“I didn’t kill him.” The words sound sincere and I want to believe him. “And you don’t need to go to work because the police will swarm over the shelter, so you are free to show me around this town.”
“I’m going in anyway,” I say.
“It’ll be a crime scene. They won’t let you near the place.”
“You don’t know Gordon’s Cove, do you? Louie will deal with the body and he used to come around for barbecues when I was a kid.”
“So what?”
“So when I tell him the animals need feeding, which they do, he’ll let me inside to do my fucking job. As for you, I will show you around the town when I get back and not a minute before. Meanwhile, you can do something for me.”
“What?”
“You can find out who killed Cam.”
I take a piece of bacon off the pan and want to walk out all cool while eating it, having had the last word. “Ow,” I say, dropping it on the countertop. “Fuck, that’s hot.”
He grabs my fingers and shoves them under the faucet. “That was dumb,” he says. “Rule of thumb. Don’t get hurt trying to look cool.”
I look down at his hand gripping mine and I feel the heat coming from his skin. He’s holding my wrist and I can’t move away until he lets me.
He looks down and doesn’t move until my fingers are numb. Only then does he grab a towel and toss it to me. “Thanks,” I mutter, surprised by how bratty my voice sounds.
I walk out the door without breakfast. I don’t want to risk doing anything else dumb. I get into my car and head to work.
The place is a crime scene, like he said. There’s tape across the place and the Gazette has sent its only photographer to take photos. I climb out and she waves at me. “Hi, Amelia. I’m sorry about Cam.”
I’m not, I think, but then I get mad at myself. What a thing to think. The guy got killed. Just because I spent years trying to keep his octopus hands from sliding all over me doesn’t mean he deserved to die.
“What happened?” I ask Louie, finding him leaning against his car, smoking a cigarette.
“We’re thinking suicide,” he replies. “Noose around the neck. Stack of unpaid bills. Don’t think it’s going to take long to sort out.”
“But the paper said the body’s been dead for years.”
“It was suicide. Plain and simple. Look, Milly. I shouldn’t be talking to you about this by rights. I should question you. Were you here last night?”
“Nope, day off. Rose was looking after the place.”
“Where were you? Just so I can put it in the file.”
I think about lying but decide against it. I’ve got nothing to hide. I have done nothing wrong. “The casino,” I say.
He raises his eyebrows before taking a drag on his cigarette. “Never had you down as a gambler.”
“What can I say? I just felt like it last night.”
“Plenty of cameras there. I guess you’d be on them if I went to look?”
“Of course. Am I a suspect here?”
“Nope. Just two people talking, that’s all.”
He looks at me and says nothing else, but his eyes are narrowing. I can tell what he’s thinking. I decide to get myself a rock-solid alibi on the night my boss’s body shows up.
We both watch Jill taking her photos. The sun blows through the trees over to my left. The noise is comforting. I don’t even know why. “Cam have any enemies?” Louie asks me a minute later.
“He owed a lot of money to many people.”
“Like who?”
“Look, Louie. Can we do this later? I need to go feed the dogs in there.”
“All right, but I’m going to need to talk to you some more. I’ll pop round tonight.”
“I’ll come to the station.”
“Fine. Make it eight. Give me time to eat first.”
I duck under the tape and head into the building. The dogs see me and at once, tails start going. I look around and there’s no sign of Cam’s body. It feels strange as I’m getting to work, like his ghost is here watching me.
I get the dogs walked and then back into their enclosures. Once that’s done, I call Rose, see if she’s willing to come back in.
She’s my favorite volunteer. She works as hard as me and as soon as I get my money from Leo, the first thing I’ll do is get her on the payroll. She needs the money and I need someone so dedicated to the animals.
She’s happy to come in so once she turns up, I run through what happened and she doesn’t look too sad. “Had it coming,” is all she says. “He was a piece of shit, Milly. I remember coming in back when he ran the place, and he tried to touch me up. Don’t you shed one tear for him.”
I haven’t but I don’t tell her that. Instead, I tell her I’ll be back tonight to check on things and then I head for home. Leo is on the phone when I get there, but he hangs up when I walk in. “Ready?” he asks, getting to his feet.
“For what?”
“Lunch.”
“You expect me to cook for you?”
“No, I expect you to come and eat at Clive’s diner with me.”
“The diner? Why?”
“Because I’m hungry and I want to take you to lunch.”
“You’re paying, right?”
“Yes, I’m paying.”
“Then I’m having lobster and diamonds.”
“Might break your teeth.”
“It’ll be worth it.”
We head out the door, and he walks off down the street. “You like living here?” he asks me as we turn the corner toward the center of town.
“I love it,” I tell him. “Hitmen turn up where I’m working. My boss disappears and turns up dead. I get kidnapped and you tell me I’m in your debt. It’s a fun place.”
He doesn’t get the sarcasm. “What are the schools like?”
“Hang on. Is that meant to be funny?”
He turns to look at me, but his expression hasn’t changed. “You happy here?” he asks.
“I guess so.”
“Anyone stand out to you. Anyone ever act strange. Ever show up with shiny new stuff and you don’t know how they paid for it.”
“Only the mayor.”
“I’ve been watching him but I doubt he’s the snitch. He’s had it good from us the last couple of years.”
“Who is us?”
“Excuse me.”
“You mentioned us. Who is us?”
“Our family. The Gianni famiglia.”
“Famiglia as in mom and pop and little rugrats or famiglia as in…?” I leave the end of the sentence hanging in the air. The diner’s right in front of us and he doesn’t answer. He just pushes open the door and steps back so I can go in first.
We take a seat in the corner, and Clive appears a few seconds later. “What can I get you?”
I want to ask him why he sent Molly home last night. Something doesn’t add up about it but I can’t work it out.
Leo is already ordering. He hasn’t even looked at the menu. “We’ll have burgers and shakes.”
“German medieval townsfolk and Parkinsons for two coming right up.” He walks off and Leo leans back in his seat.
“How’d you know that was what I wanted?” I ask him.
He shrugs. “It is, isn’t it?”
“That’s not the point. I can speak for myself. It’s not the 1950s. I don’t need hubby doing my talking for me.”
“So I’m hubby, am I?”
“You’re pissing me off is what you are.”
There’s that flicker of a smile again. It’s gone a moment later.
“So how come you’re taking me to lunch?” I ask him. “Why aren’t you on the hunt?”
“I am.”
“Looks like you’re relaxing to me.”
“I wanted to come here to see what I overhear,” he says. “Want to see if anyone recognizes me. And I want to try out the burgers. I can never get a decent one in the city. They only seem to get them right out in the sticks.”
“Glad us yokels can please you.”
He glances out the window as a car goes by, his hand going to his hip. It’s a little gesture, but I notice it and he sees me noticing. He puts his hand back by his side. “Habit,” he says by way of explanation. “I’ve got a new
way for you to clear your debt. Call it an offer.”
“Go on then, what’s your new offer?”
“I’m going to fuck you.”