The Electrician's Code (7 page)

Chapter Fourteen

L
aughter and Fasolada greeted Theo when he arrived at his home in Palmer’s Green shortly after ten. Better laughter than the anger he expected because of postponing dinner to a late hour. He hadn’t heard that laugh in a long time. Slowly, he made his way to the kitchen. His wife, Agneta, stirred a pot on the stovetop, her shoulders shaking wildly, trying to keep herself under control. His mother cut cheese on the worktop.

“What’s so funny?” Theo asked in Greek.

“Celine has gone and added sugar to the soup instead of salt,” said his mother.

“It all looks the same, white and crystally.” She laughed her defense.

“That’s why the containers are labelled, dear.”

Agneta lifted the sugar bowl. “Shoo-gar.” She attempted the English word. She liked to be called Celine after she lost her memory because she said she didn’t feel like an Agneta; it didn’t fit her personality anymore. But what did she know about her personality? Still, he respected her wishes and hoped someday she could go back to her real name.

“Well, it smells delicious,” said Theo. He removed his jacket and placed it on the back of a kitchen chair. “When will it be ready?”

“When I add a bit more salt,” said his mum. “How was your day at work? Have they given you a new case yet? You deserve more cases now, you know that don’t you? They promote you, which means they think you’re deserving of that promotion. That means better cases. You’re getting better cases, aren’t you?”

“Don’t worry about me, Mum.” He sat down on a chair at the kitchen table and poured himself half a glass of wine, gulping it down in one swallow. The post sat in a pile and he flipped through the various letters.

Agneta placed three plates and three sets of cutlery down in front of her husband. Theo spread the plates around the table.

“What, are only the three of us eating?” he asked.

“The rest have
prior
engagements,” his mother replied, placing bread in one corner of the table.

“Father?”

“Father’s watching the match at the pub, says he’ll be home in a half hour but you know he’ll be back late. Dalia, Frank, and Milos have gone to the circus.” She retrieved the pot of soup off the stove and placed it on a pot warmer.

“The circus? Really? Who goes to the circus anymore?”

“Well, Milos has taken to tigers and lions as of late, and when he saw the advert on the telly, wouldn’t let it go until his mother took him. Tigers and lions, oh, I don’t like them. Noisy, smelly creatures. I don’t know what he imagines them to be like. It’s not like he can touch them or ride them or hug them, they’re not the animals he sees on the cartoons. One roar and that’ll put an end to it.”

“Oh, mother, what harm will it do the boy to see the animals? He’s seen the tigers at the zoo. Let’s eat now.”

Agneta removed her yellow apron with embroidered lemons and laid it across her lap. It was an apron he bought her as a gift when she baked him a lemon cream pie. She probably didn’t remember the occasion, but he was glad she wore it again.

“I hope it tastes all right,” Agneta said.

“I’m sure it tastes as good as it smells.” Theo dished out soup for the three of them. His wife watched him take a few spoonfuls of soup.

“How is it?” Agneta asked, wide eyed.

“It’s not sweet, not at all. I think it’s delicious.” He quickly polished off the bowl to prove it. “Just as good as Mum cooks it. Maybe even better.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” said his mother. “So, tell us about your new case.”

“An older man was found stabbed in his front garden.”

“How old? Was he older than your father? I tell him—your father—that it’s not safe. Just the other day the Charlie’s store was vandalized. Mr. Charlie is eighty-two and hasn’t done anything but help the community. What is this world coming to? So who did it?”

“I don’t know yet, Mother.”

“You’ll catch the killer, my son. You’re so smart.”

“Well, I hope so. Sometimes I feel like I’m running backwards.”

“What does that mean?”

“Not quite sure, but when I find out, I hope I’ll be able to run forwards.”

Chapter Fifteen

L
iam Foxton dropped his keys and the take-away on the worktop and threw the Carlsberg into the fridge. He went over to his phone but there were no messages. There were never any calls. Even though he didn’t expect Sophia to ring him up, he hoped she would. At least to discuss the car situation. Why did he bother paying for home phone service?

“Make yourself at home,” he told the girl who had just laid her handbag on his sofa. “I’ll dish up supper.”

A pang of guilt hit him as he watched her slowly make her way around the living room, examining his belongings. Every time he brought a girl to his flat, he felt this way. God, he missed Kendra. She was the only woman he felt truly at ease with. When he was married to her, he enjoyed coming home. They would prepare a home-cooked meal together, it didn’t matter what kind of day they had. She understood him and didn’t ask stupid questions. Now he lived in a shell of a flat he hardly recognized. The flat contained things he had brought home from the shops but he wasn’t sure it was really him that bought them.

“This is a really nice place you have here. Have you lived here long?”

“Almost three years.” He had moved to the flat shortly after Kendra’s death.

“Where did you get all these posters on your wall? Do you like them?” the girl asked.

Yes, of course he liked them. Why would he collect things he didn’t like? Liam smiled at the girl before replying, “I collected them from various shops around London. Some are the original but others are replicas.”

His mobile buzzed. A text from Sophia.
Don’t come. Will contact you tomorrow about the Merc.

“How many are there?”

He looked up. “Sorry?”

“Oh, I asked how many posters you have.”

He shrugged. “Maybe a hundred or so.”

“Well, I like this one.” She pointed at the
Invasion of the Saucer Men.
“Aha, and this one is funny too.” She pointed to
The Monster That Challenged the World.

“Yeah, they’re great.” He wasn’t really interested in the conversation. He’d had the same one with all his guests. On occasion, he was tempted to take them off his walls. After he dished up the food, he held up her plate.

She pranced to the kitchen in her stockings. “I had to get out of my shoes. After hours in four inch heels, my feet are dead.” She wiggled her toes. “Anyway, the food looks delicious. Where should we eat?”

“On the settee if that’s all right with you.”

It must have been all right for she quickly sat down and happily held the plate of food on her lap. Liam didn’t own a dining room table. He normally ate on the sofa while watching the telly or over his sink. After grabbing two beers from the fridge, he sat down next to her.

“Dig in . . .” He meant to say her name but bloody hell if he could think of it. Sarah? Susan? Something with an S. Or was it a W? Wanda? He shook his head. She had a fine arse; that’s all he remembered about her in the office. He had planned to say no when she asked him for a drink but today she wore that fine red skirt. In the end, she didn’t talk much on their drive home, she just fiddled with the dials on the radio in Sophia’s car and adjusted her lipstick in the mirror.

“Care for a beer?” he asked.

“Sure.”

Liam handed her a beer. “Most girls don’t like beer.”

“No, I like it.” With all her might, she tried to unscrew the top.

“You have to use a bottle opener on that one.”

She pranced into the kitchen again. With a quick flip, the top flew off onto the floor. As his guest bent over to retrieve the green top, Liam leaned over to have a look.
Perfectly fine.
She turned her head to look at him and caught him. He gave her a smile.

“You like what you see?”

So, the woman was not as simple as he made her out to be. She stood and laid the top on the counter with a plunk. “So, why do you like collecting beer bottles?” She pointed to the bottles on the fireplace mantle.

“I suppose it stems from laziness really. I put old ones up there instead of throwing them away and slowly I’ve been adding to the collection. Not sure what I’m going to do with them. The cockroaches have made quite a nest up there.”

She laughed. Yes, of course she would. And he still didn’t know her name.

They ate while watching
Creature of the Black Lagoon.
On one bathroom break, Liam rummaged through the girl’s bag and found out her name was Sarah. He felt so much better. Now he could sleep with her if he felt like it.

“You haven’t touched your beer,” he said when she returned.

“No, I do like it I just prefer to sip rather than take gulps. Why? How many have you had?”

He looked down at the three nearest his plate. So he drank. He was a man, three was nothing.

“Look, Sarah, I shouldn’t have—”

But she cut him off when she leaned over and kissed him on the lips.

“God, I’ve fancied you for so long,” she said.

He meant to push her away and tell her that he wasn’t that sort of bloke, but she bit at his lip . . . and she smelled delicious.

The next morning, Liam’s alarm awoke him at six-thirty. He picked up his mobile phone and ran his thumb over the smooth screen. He was about to text a message to Evans when the woman in the bed next to him stirred.

“Don’t get up yet,” she mumbled and pulled the blankets over her head.

“I have to get to work, Sarah. I’m on an important case right now.” He found his clothes in a pile beside the bed and dragged the whole lot with his feet into the bathroom. And what the hell was he supposed to do with the car? Was he supposed to meet Sophia at her flat? He knew he should just ring her but he felt ashamed.

He turned on the shower and climbed in. The cool water jolted him awake. As the water warmed, he quickly soaped up. A few minutes later, Sarah joined him.

“You don’t mind, do you? I should have enough time if you drop me off at home to change and get to work.”

Yes. That would be a bother. He had to make it to Sophia’s flat before she left and he wouldn’t have time if he took Sarah to her flat. And he really didn’t want Sophia and Sarah to meet. How did it take only hours for life to complicate itself? “Actually, I’m not going into the office this morning. I have something to do first. But I can give you money for a taxi if you like.”

He thought he could see her heart sink in her chest. “Yeah, sure, I understand.”

He kissed her on the forehead. “But don’t you worry, I’ll see you later today.”

“Really? You mean tonight?”

“Well, I meant at the office. But, if you want more beer . . .”

Sarah laughed. She hadn’t even got through a third of the first bottle. The liar.

“You can come round my flat. I’ll cook something you like. What do you like to eat?”

“You can cook?”

“Of course, silly. I make a mean stuffed pepper. How about that? I might be able to wrestle up some beer. They have beer stores near my flat too.”

He leaned over and kissed her. “What time do you have to be at work?”

“Nine,” she replied.

“Hmm,” he replied, kissing her neck, taking in the smell of the soap and shampoo. “I think we have time.”

Liam tied a half-Windsor and looked himself over in the mirror. He needed a haircut, and when he rubbed his hand over his chin, he realized he could do with a wet shave as well. An indulgence he hadn’t had in three weeks. More time than money, for his case load had doubled due to cutbacks. Still, he felt he looked presentable and his ability to bring a fine lady home when he cared to only boosted his self-confidence.

His buzzer rang.

Liam went over to the intercom and pressed the talk button. “Who is it?” Sarah came and stood beside him, putting in her earrings.

“It’s Sophia. Can I come up?”

Shit.

“Yeah, yeah, come up.” He pressed the button to open the door and then focused his attention on Sarah. “Sophia’s here. Please stay in the bedroom. I don’t want us to be the talk of the office quite yet.”

“Sophia? Sophia who? Is she one of the . . .” She snapped her fingers trying to remember. “Computer people.”

“Computer people? She’s an analyst.” How was she ever recruited for government work? Turning her round, he pushed her into his room and grabbed the Merc keys off the chest of drawers. “It’ll just be a minute. Please keep quiet.” He shut the door behind him just as he heard a knock at the door.

“Evans.” With all his might, he tried to keep back a smile but she wore a long pink puffer jacket and a knitted hat. “Is it really that cold outside?” Turning to the side, she walked past him into the entrance of his flat. She looked around.

“Not outside, but I’ve been cloistered in a flat that would freeze the North Pole. I’m not wearing blue lipstick; I’m just suffering from hypothermia. Anyway . . .”

“Ah right, you want your Merc back.”

“No. That would mean I would have to drive it back to that neighborhood. No, I came to give you the keys to your car and the code to my underground car park. Please, return my car sometime today. Your car is sitting in space
C19
.” With another look in the living room, she continued, “I better be going now.”

“Yeah.” He ran his hand across the back of his neck.

A bang came from his bedroom. It wasn’t a loud bang and though Sophia looked toward the wall between her and his bedroom, she didn’t say anything. Why couldn’t Sarah just stay still for a few minutes?

“My neighbor upstairs makes so much noise in the morning,” Liam shot off quickly. “How do you think I rise so early? He’s my morning alarm. Just ignore it.”

She didn’t look impressed. “If I were you, I would’ve ignored the sound instead of making the excuses of a guilty man. Besides, the pair of woman’s heels are a dead giveaway. Unless there’s something I didn’t know about your kinky extracurricular activities.”

“Look—”

Sophia patted him on the cheek. “Liam, do something that surprises me. I expect this of you.” With that, she left.

Shit. He was a bastard.

“Is she gone?” Sarah whispered and poked her head from behind the bedroom door.

“Yeah. You can come out now.”

“How did she know I was here?”

“Because you couldn’t keep quiet in the bedroom.”

“I didn’t make a sound. I swear! The noise came from upstairs.”

“Then she’s smarter than either of us put together.”