‘What for?’
‘For being a good copper, a good colleague, a good bloke, a good friend. Even today, it can be difficult for a woman at my rank in the police. Having you around always made me feel more comfortable. You may not have known it, but you were my shield against the George Regans of the world.’
He chuckled. ‘Good old dependable Stevie, eh? Is that how people really see me?’
‘Most of them. They trust you. They know that they can take a chance on telling you stuff, and that you’ll keep it to yourself; but more than that, you’ll know the right thing to say to them.’ She drained her glass, then reached down for the bottle, the second of the Viña Hermina Riojas that he had brought with him, and that she had brought through from the table, and refilled it. ‘Here,’ she said, ‘let me see to yours.’ He did as she asked, and she topped him up.
‘It’s not just the women, either,’ she told him. ‘Nobody thinks you’re a wuss, if that’s bothering you. They know you’re a hard bastard when you have to be. You’ve got old MCP Regan taped, and young Tarvil looks on you as a sort of role model.’
‘You mean like I look on you?’ he murmured.
‘Are you serious?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘You’re not taking the piss?’
‘Mags, you are exactly the police officer I want to be. I think it’s a fucking shame you have to leave CID, but I can see why you have to.’
‘My ex, do you mean?’
‘No I didn’t, actually, but I can see where that could be a consideration.’
‘Mmm. Me too. Do you know what he’s doing tonight, by the way?’
He grinned. ‘Surprise me.’
‘He’s having dinner at Gullane Golf Club, with the DCC and Sarah, and our American visitor. .’ she paused ‘. . and Paula.’
Stevie whistled. ‘Now that is a surprise.’
Maggie shifted in her seat; as she did so, the top button of her DKNY blouse popped open, and he caught a glimpse of black bra beneath. ‘Yup,’ she murmured, ‘Ms Viareggio’s been accepted into polite society. Across the table from Dr Sarah, no less.’
‘Does that upset you?’
‘Not a bit, not any more at least. Shit, not that it ever did bother me much. Why? Does it upset you?’
Stevie blinked, then looked into his glass. ‘What, Paula, you mean? She and I have been history for a while now. When we were seeing each other, I always knew I was filling in for someone; I just didn’t know who it was, not then. After a while, I’d had enough of it.’
‘Is she a good lay, then?’
He gasped. ‘That’s a hell of a thing to ask me; you don’t expect an answer, do you?’
‘Not if you’re too much of a gentleman, which I suppose you are. Anyway, she’s bound to be better than me.’ He said nothing; he sipped his wine, and looked away. She reached out and touched his chin, to turn him back towards her. ‘Sorry, Stevie, that was a stupid thing to say. I’ve embarrassed you.’
‘No, you haven’t. It’s just. .’ He sighed, deeper than she had ever heard from him. ‘Mags, you’re not the first woman to pour her heart out to me this week. It should be great for my ego, but somehow it isn’t.’
‘I thought you’d love that. You a single bloke, and having it laid on a plate for you; what more could you want?’
‘It wasn’t like that.’
‘Oh no?’
‘Well, maybe it was, but the important thing is that I didn’t eat any.’
‘But it might be on the menu again?’
‘It might, and that’s what’s worrying me.’
She nestled into him; if she was aware that her blouse had opened wider, she ignored it.
‘Why? Are you afraid you’ll be too hungry next time to pass it up?’
‘Something like that. She’s a very attractive woman.’
‘So?’
‘So everything would be wrong about it. But more than that, Mags; it would be bloody dangerous.’
She looked up at him. She blinked, then her eyes widened in surprise. ‘When I asked you earlier about being upset,’ she whispered, ‘at first it wasn’t Mario and Paula you thought I meant, was it?’
‘I’m saying nothing.’
‘You don’t have to.’
‘I feel as if I’m heading for trouble, Mags,’ he said hoarsely.
She emptied her glass and let it roll on to the floor. ‘That is something I cannot allow.’ Her arm came up and round his neck, she drew him down to her and kissed him, holding nothing back. ‘Come here, baby,’ she murmured, ‘where it’s safe. My transfer’s come through, remember.’
‘Hey,’ Stevie whispered. ‘Are you taking pity on me?’
‘No. I’m trying to make you a better offer. Or would you rather I didn’t?’
‘Are you crazy?’ he asked, grinning.
In a single supple movement she was on her feet, pulling him up after her. He followed where she led, upstairs and into her bedroom. He glanced around; there was something austere about it, it bore the mark of her, and her alone. She began to unbutton his shirt, as he flipped open the remaining buttons of her blouse, and reached behind her for the catch of her skirt.
‘I want you to know,’ she told him, when they were naked, ‘that although I’ve had a few drinks, I am very frightened, and I really wasn’t kidding when I said that I’m no good at this.’
He reached down, flipped back the duvet, and slid into bed, pulling her after him. ‘Show me,’ he said, with a soft laugh in his voice.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean,’ he answered, ‘show me what it is you’ve been doing wrong.’
He lay back and she rolled alongside him, reaching down for him: he kissed her softly, on the lips and on each breast. They lay, fondling each other, until, to her surprise, she became moist; even then, though, he allowed her to control every step of what was happening. When, finally, she mustered all her courage and drew him into her, although she trembled, she felt no fear, no revulsion, none of the self-loathing that she had come to associate with sex. As she moved on top of him, and as he moved within her, what she felt most of all was peace, absolution and utter release.
No waves crashed on an imaginary beach, she had no shuddering, screaming orgasm, but as he spent himself, she experienced a brief, delightful climax, the very first of her life.
‘Couldn’t see a hell of a lot wrong with that,’ he murmured into her ear, when it was over.
She lifted her head from his chest and smiled down at him. ‘Thanks,’ she whispered.
He laughed softly, contented. ‘Shouldn’t I be thanking you?’
‘If you like, you can. But my thanks are different. They’re great big thanks, as big as I can make them.’
‘Why’s that?’
She slid down from him, settling in the embrace of his left arm. ‘Because of this,’ she told him. ‘When we waken tomorrow morning. . both of us right here, I hope. . you’ll still be the same person you were before we climbed those stairs. But I won’t. I’ll be different; I’ll feel like a proper woman, in a way I never thought I could.’
‘What’s your story, Maggie love?’ he asked.
She laid a hand on his chest, tweaking its hair with her fingers. ‘Some day, if this turns out to be anything more than a one-night stand, I might tell you. Or maybe I’ll discover that I’ve forgotten it completely, and I won’t.’ She kissed him on the cheek, then nibbled his earlobe, gently. ‘For now, though,’ she whispered, ‘let’s concentrate on finding out if there’s any more where that came from.’
33
Sarah could have done the autopsy at Roodlands, the local hospital at Haddington, as the police had asked, but she preferred to use the new facilities at Little France, and so she asked for the body to be transferred there from the local undertaker’s premises to which it had been taken.
As she drove there she was thankful that Mawhinney had declined Bob’s invitation back to their house for a nightcap. Even on routine assignments she liked to work with a totally clear head.
The late Belgian, whose name had been Bartholemy Lebeau, was waiting for her on the table when she arrived. Joseph, the technician who would assist her, had him ready for examination, his head propped at an angle on a wedge.