Frozen Grave (12 page)

‘I can go on the hunt if it’s useful. I can contact him – it will be easy.’

‘We appreciate it,’ said Carter. ‘Can we think about it, please?’

‘Sure.’

Ellerman drove to Exeter and parked up at the Quay. He put on his gold-rimmed aviators, got out and walked across to look out over the river. The low winter sun was shining in
his eyes as it set. He breathed in deeply. He was always happiest when he was back near water. As man and boy he had been drawn to it. He looked at his phone. There were several missed calls and
unread texts. The bank was chasing the mortgage payment again.

‘Fucking vultures,’ he said out loud.

He felt the cold air whip straight off the water and across the sweat that had come to his brow. The sky clouded over and turned slate grey and the river mirrored it. He shivered. He hurried
back to the car and drove back along the main road into the city. He parked up and opened the boot of his car. Unzipping his bag, he swapped his dirty clothes for fresh and changed his smart shoes
for suede loafers. He walked back along the street, stopped at number 35 and pressed the doorbell as he put his bag down. He smiled at the woman approaching from the other side of the bevelled
glass door.

‘Hello, darling,’ she said as she opened the door and wrapped her arms around his neck before he’d had time to step inside. She had on a tight pencil skirt and a neat white
blouse.

‘Missed me?’ Ellerman kissed her, squeezed her tightly as he stroked the side of her breast through the crisp white blouse. ‘You’ve been to work today. I love it when you
look so officious.’

She pulled him inside.

‘Yes, I have. Come on, let’s go to bed, it’s been two weeks too long.’

He held back, grinning awkwardly. ‘You’ll have to feed me first. I’ve had a busy couple of days – difficult client. I need fuel. Then I’ll ravish you.’

She pulled away, instantly annoyed.

‘Where have you come from?’

‘The wilds of Dartmoor.’ He brought his bag further into the hallway and followed her through to the lounge.

‘Not far then. It’s just up the road.’

‘Of course, it’s a great place. We must go there for a night sometime. I’d forgotten how beautiful it is. The last time I saw it though I was on training exercises in
preparation for Afghanistan. That was a rough experience.’

She smiled, tight-lipped. ‘It must have been. You promised me you’d wear your uniform this time. I’ve never seen you in it.’

‘Sorry, darling. I completely forgot to put it in the car. I’ll wear it next time.’ He held on to her and kissed her neck. He could feel the tension in her. Something
wasn’t right. He was trying to think what it could be. ‘Wish I’d had you in Afghanistan. You’d have kept my morale up as well as something else. Now put the kettle on
chop-chop and make me something to eat.’ He smacked her hard on her bottom as he turned to pick up his bag from the doorway.

She gave a false laugh but didn’t move.

‘No. I really want to go out for dinner this evening. You said we would this week. I’ve been looking forward to it. Seeing someone every two weeks means you have to make a big effort
when you do. Don’t you think?’

‘Of course. Thought we’d light the fire and get cosy.’ He put his bag down in the hallway.

‘You know what, JJ?’ Gillian stood with her hands on her hips. ‘I’m sick of staying in and waiting for you to come and then we do
nothing
. Absolutely nothing.
I’m beginning to think you just use me as a stopover. Eighteen months we’ve been together and we’ve only been away once. It’s not good enough. I can’t even put photos
of you on my Facebook. It’s like I’m your dirty secret.’

Ellerman sighed. ‘I’m sorry, darling. I’d love to announce our relationship to the world on Facebook but I was in the SAS, remember? Do you know how many people would love to
get me? I put some serious terrorists out of business. I—’

Gillian didn’t wait to hear him out; she turned and walked away into the kitchen.

‘Did you bring any wine with you?’

‘No. Sorry. I was in such a rush to get here.’ Ellerman strained to listen to her response. Normally, she would have melted at that kind of a comment – ‘couldn’t
wait to get here and rip your clothes off’ kind of thing. But recently things had changed between them. Ellerman wondered whether their time was coming to an end. Christ knows, he was banking
on her today. He was tired, hungry, a little hungover. He had been expected to really perform at Megan’s. He’d thought he was in for an easy night at Gillian’s. He hadn’t
anticipated this reception. He heard the fridge door open and heard the clink of bottles. ‘I’ll go and get some,’ Ellerman called out as he jangled his keys.

‘Don’t bother . . .’ Gillian reappeared. She had stripped and was wearing a red corset. How Ellerman hated red lingerie. It reminded him of blood.

‘It can wait. I’ve got some.’ Gillian handed him a glass of cold white wine. He sipped it and tried not to grimace.
Eastern European
. He gave what he considered to be
his deep seductive laugh – full of 007 promise, appreciative of what he saw in front of him and the beautiful figure that he was supposed to be delighting in, but in real terms he thought
Gillian had become a little fat. He saw her as a little on the big side now and he wasn’t a great lover of curvy women. He liked all his women to be petite, much smaller than him. He loved to
be able to pick them up in his arms and carry them, but he was pretty sure that Gillian now weighed twelve stone and would take some lifting. She looked at him expectantly but he saw by the glint
in her eyes that she was challenging him.

‘Let’s go upstairs.’ She picked up the bottle. ‘I want to work up an appetite for this meal that you’re going to take me for.’ Ellerman looked at her
expression and thought how she had obviously been building up to this and he hadn’t noticed. Whatever she had suppressed in the last few visits, it had certainly decided to surface now and he
was feeling very deflated.

‘I’ve booked a restaurant in town. It costs a lot but then I’m worth it, aren’t I?’

She led the way up to her attic room.

He went across to look through the skylight at the evening. He could see the orange glow of car headlights going past on the road below; he could see streams of them in the distance on the
motorway. He couldn’t see his car from there – he always parked it further up the road, well away from any chance of it being knocked. But he knew it was waiting for him. He felt the
urge to get back in it now and drive, put on his music, and hit the highway.

Coz, baby, we were born to run . . .

He turned back to the bed and saw that she was waiting, and said to himself: ‘Get it over with . . .’ He started his usual moves but today it wasn’t working for him. He changed
positions. Maybe if he thought of someone else – that would do it for him? But it didn’t. He was having a difficult job staying hard, maintaining his interest. He stopped, sighed,
smiled embarrassedly as he hovered over her.

‘Sorry, darling – been a long day for me. I feel under pressure with you looking so damn sexy in your red corset. And . . .’ He rolled away. ‘My client really took it out
of me.’ He lay on his back, exhausted.

‘You can’t just give up – don’t be so selfish. I thought you were Mr Stud?’

Forty minutes later, Ellerman was given the signal that enough was enough.

Gillian rolled over and looked at her phone on the floor beside the bed. ‘Just in time – we have forty-five minutes to get to the restaurant. And God, I’m hungry. I hear this
place is Michelin-starred – a hundred pounds a head. But then . . .’ She turned and looked defiantly at him as she opened the attic-bedroom door and went out on the landing to have a
shower in the bathroom next door. ‘You owe me – all the meals and the bottles of wine you’ve had here in the last eighteen months and, to be honest, I’m beginning to think
you’re mean with money . . .’ Ellerman turned over in bed and lifted his head in protest but didn’t speak. ‘Yeah . . .’ said Gillian. ‘Prove me wrong.’

Ellerman got dressed whilst he heard the shower running. He gathered up his things and stepped down the stairs from the attic bedroom. He was thinking it through. He’d lost his hard-on
halfway and had to spend half an hour on his knees pleasuring Gillian and now he was going to have to pay two hundred quid for a meal he couldn’t afford. Enough was enough. Ellerman went
downstairs and into the lounge and was just contemplating what would be the best plan of escape when Gillian hurried down the stairs wearing a white towelling robe, as if she knew what he was
thinking.

‘You going somewhere, darling?’ she asked in a child’s petulant voice as she pulled the robe tight around her. Her eyes were set hard. He could see that she was still in the
mood she’d been in before they’d had sex, despite his exhaustive efforts.

‘I’m so sorry, babe. Just had a call. I need to go.’

‘What about the restaurant,
babe
?’

‘I can’t this time,
darling
. I am truly sorry. I have to drive up North straight away. I’ve got a six-hour car drive ahead of me.’ Gillian shook her head in mock
sympathy as she glared at him. He reached for her and rubbed her arms as if she were a needy relative. ‘Oh, bugger it – you’re so much more important to me than you realize.
I’ll stay here but let’s relax, get cosy, get drunk together. I wanted to talk to you about the Spanish house. I wanted to give you an update. You know . . . I am so looking forward to
us moving out there, darling.’

‘Really? All the money I’ve put into it these last eighteen months, I would have thought you could have built a fucking mansion by now.’

‘Yes . . . well . . . I wish.’ He pulled back to look at her. ‘It’s so nearly there, darling. You just need to keep the faith. It’s within our grasp and then
we’ll be flying out there and living a life of luxury – lying in the sun – just you and me.’ He could see by her face that she’d been waiting for the chance to
explode. The time was now. He braced himself. But then he saw a tiny chink of light. Her face was softening, her eyes melting. Was she going to relent? He knew why – she didn’t want to
be on her own. She had missed the boat for having kids and had banked on a career that had not come through for her. Now she was lonely and brittle and too old to compromise.

He smiled as his eyes searched hers and he did his best dejected look.

‘I’m so sorry, darling – you know I wouldn’t let you down for the world but I’m finding it so hard at the moment with cash-flow problems. The architect in Spain
needs paying or he’s threatening to stop working on the site and we don’t want that, do we?’ She shook her head. ‘Look – I can’t lie to you. I’m not mean
– God forbid! But, you’re right, I haven’t had any money recently. It’s all tied up in building boats. I’m so pissed off I can’t take you to a fancy restaurant
like I know I should. You deserve that and so much more and you will have it, I promise.’

She sighed. ‘Okay. But I wonder if you’re ever going to leave your wife.’

‘I promise you when Craig goes to uni in two years’ time, I will start divorce proceedings. Once I know that my son is away from home and old enough to make up his own mind.
It’s not safe to leave my wife with him.’

‘You said – many times.’

‘She has bouts of depression. She hardly leaves the house. She is paranoid.’

‘Why don’t you put her on medication?’

‘I don’t want to have to stay and look after her. I need a life. I need you.’

He tried to kiss her but she turned her face from him.

‘I can’t wait for ever and I’ve seen you back on the dating site.’

He shook his head. ‘You know what the sites are like. I’m not paying a subscription. They get hold of your photo and then suddenly you’re on every site. I’ll get hold of
Love Uniform Dating and I’ll demand that they delete my profile.’

‘I didn’t see it on there, I saw it on Single Parents Looking For Love.’

‘There, that proves my point. Why is my photo on that, for Christ’s sake? It makes me really angry.’

Gillian stared at him coldly.

‘My friend is on it and she sent you a message. You answered.’

‘Can’t have been me. Must have been a scam. You should tell your friend to be careful. All sorts of shady characters on the net. Anyway, darling, what were you doing on there? If you
saw a photo of me then you must have been looking for men.’

‘Yeah, I had a look.’ Gillian stood, shoulders raised, eyes glaring. ‘I even had a drink with a policeman last week but he wasn’t right for me.’

‘I promise to come down more often. I’ll book us a weekend in Spain and we can see how the house is getting on. That’s if it hasn’t been repossessed. Is that what you
want? Will that do?’

‘Don’t sound so enthusiastic! It better not have been repossessed. I’ve put a lot of money into it.’ Ellerman was seething as he watched her face turning the colour of
her lingerie. ‘That’s another thing . . . I want some of it back now. You said it was just a loan. Otherwise I want it in writing that I own part of that house. I’ve put in twenty
thousand. That would probably mean I’m entitled to a share of it, like a timeshare.’

Ellerman was beginning to feel like he was about to explode. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket – telling him he had received a message. He thought about the bank again. If he could
get Gillian to transfer more money over via the Internet then he might just be able to swing it. Gillian handed him an official-looking letter.

He looked at it. ‘What’s this?’

‘I need some guarantee. I asked a girlfriend of mine who works in a solicitors’ office to help me draw up something.’

‘This is not for real?’ He read it through. ‘You want a share of the house – is that really it? Christ, you’ve really been waiting to spring this on me,
haven’t you?’

‘Yes, I have actually. I’ve been waiting and hoping that you would give back the money but you don’t seem to have any intention of doing that voluntarily.’

‘It was a loan between friends, for God’s sake.’

‘Then why do I feel less and less like a friend and more like someone who’s been conned? Added to that – you can’t even get it up. So what do I have left? I should charge
you bed-and-breakfast rates. Sign that or I’m going to the police to see about bringing fraud charges against you.’