White Lies (39 page)

She went around the side of the house to the conservatory. There was a stone to one side of the herb bed, a piece of slate she’d found on Penny Moor. She’d hollowed the earth beneath it and put a key inside.

She felt for the key, her fingers coming across something hard and furry. She lifted it out and held it up to the light filtering into the garden from the rectory next door. A mouse, long dead and desiccated to mummy status. She laid it on the stone and felt again, this time finding the conservatory key.

With that open she was able to put on a light and tilt the large Swiss cheese plant in its stoneware basin. Beneath that was a key to the kitchen door and she was, finally, inside. She closed the door, switched on the light, dropped her bag on one of the kitchen chairs and eased off her coat, wincing momentarily as she twisted her ribs.

She took a deep breath, checked how much water was in the kettle and switched it on. How nice it was to have her house to herself again. She set out a teapot and finger bowl cups, purely for the pleasure of enjoying a cup of chai without anyone suggesting she add milk and sugar.

She sat at the table while the kettle boiled and wondered what had happened to Dafydd. She hoped he was all right. She fetched her laptop and logged into her mobile phone account to checked texts sent and received. Nothing since she lost the phone was listed on the ‘sent’ tab but as she suspected, Dafydd had sent her a text at a quarter to six:
“Nipped out for some tea. Key under the blue flowerpot.”
It was marked as undelivered.

It was times like this she sincerely hoped the phone, or at least the SIM card, had been thrown away. She didn’t want the man who attacked her to know details about her house. She hovered over the Cancel SIM button, aware it was what she should do, even if she didn’t want to. She let it be. She was close to catching the killer. If they didn’t find her phone by then, she’d get a new one. She sent a reply to Dafydd to tell him she was home then deleted the message from the web site, just to be on the safe side.

She made tea when the kettle boiled. Whiled it brewed she popped outside to retrieve the house key from the blue flowerpot, the carriage lamp at the front door flicking on as she passed its sensor.

“Ms. Jones?”

She jumped at the voice, peering into the darkness beyond the circle of electric light. She had a long front garden and the streetlights beyond served only to throw the speaker into silhouette. Her heart skipped a beat and she glanced back at her front door, wondering if she could get inside and close it before he got to her. “Who is it? Who’s there?”

“It’s me, Ms. Jones. DS Peters? I said I’d have a look in unclaimed lost property for a mobile for you and I’ve brought it round.”

“Oh.” She let out a whoosh of air in relief. “I’m sorry. I thought you were...someone else.”

“That’s all right. It’s a common reaction after being mugged.” He came closer so she could confirm his identity. “You should get a security light put up. These little ones are pretty but they don’t do a lot for security other than to discourage kids from playing Thunder and Lightning.”

“Playing what?” Meinwen retrieved the front door key. “Won’t you come in?”

“Er...” He glanced at his watch. “Just for a minute then.” He followed her inside. “Thunder and Lightning? You thunder on the door and then run like lightning? Stupid really, but we used to play it as kids. Don’t tell DI White that, mind.”

“Oh! We called it ‘Rat-a-Tat Ginger’ on account of the color of the council doors.” Meinwen closed the door behind him. “Will you take tea?”

“No ta. It’s after seven already and the missus will be expecting me home.” He fished a padded envelope out of his pocket. “I had a look at the phones and this was the best of the ones we had in. Touch screen, ten megapixel camera with eight times optical zoom and, if you put a SIM card in it, internet access. You can download apps for anything on this. Street maps, earth view, anything you like.”

“I see. Fabulous.” She half smiled at him. “I have no idea how to work it.”

“Look, the model number’s on the back. You can download the user manual and the software online and away you go. The only thing is I didn’t know what network you were on so I just picked you up a pay-as-you-go SIM card to be going on with. You’ll need to get a charger and a computer cable for it, too, but they’ll only be a couple of quid each online.”

“Fabulous, Sergeant. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“All part of the service. Give me a call if you need any help with it. I’ve got the same model myself, that’s how I knew it was a good one.” He pulled his out of his pocket to show her. “Right. Must be off before my dinner goes in the dog.”

Meinwen opened the door for him. “Thank you, Sergeant, honestly. I take back all the bad things I said about you when you weren’t here.”

He paused on the doorstep, frowning. “What sort of bad things?”

“Don’t twist your drawers. I’m having you on.”

“Oh. Right.” He gave her a puzzled smile and headed down the path. “All right?”

“What?” She squinted into the darkness but it was only Dafydd, coming back with a shopping bag in each hand.

“What was the rozzer doing here? You’ve not been hammered again, have you?”

“Na. He came to give a phone to replace the one I lost.”

“Magic. Is it any good?” He turned sideways to get back into the house. “Blimey, though. I forgot you’d lost yours. I sent you a message on it.”

“I thought you might. I looked on the web and saw it. Good job, really, else the mugger would have known where the key was.” She tilted the blue pot to retrieve it.

“Sorry. I didn’t give it a thought.” He went into the kitchen with the bags. “Have you made some tea or do you want some proper?”

“I’ll have my own, thanks. I don’t want to get too used to caffeine. It’s all right once in a while but not all the time, eh?”

“If you say so.” Dafydd carried a tray out with her teapot and cup. “You get the weight off, love.” He put the tray down and plumped the pillows on the overstuffed armchair. “I’ll make the dinner while you have a rest.”

“You’re going to cook?” Meinwen lowered herself into the chair, mindful of her cracked ribs. “I’m impressed. You’d make someone a good wife.”

“Only if I learn to clean up after myself. The kitchen looked like the whole Glamorgan choir dropped in wi’ their sheep last time I cooked.” He went into the kitchen. “I hope you’re hungry for a taste of home.”

“Boil in the bag fish? Mam thought that was the height of luxury.”

“Boil in the bag? I wouldn’t dare.” His voice was punctuated by the clatter of water pouring into the steel sink. “Only the best for you, love. Beef and roasties, only without the beef on account of your aversion to meat.”

“So, a plate of roast potatoes then?” Meinwen shuffled as upright as the chair allowed. “You’ll give me a heart attack.”

“Not just potatoes. I got some lentil rissoles and Portobello mushrooms with Gavenney blue cheese.”

Meinwen finished making the chai. What with the sergeant’s visit and the return of Dafydd it was thick as pudding and cold as toast. She put it down again. “You’re spoiling me.”

“Well, you deserve a bit of pampering. Gallivanting all over the place and you with all your aches and pains. Have you caught your murderer yet?”

“Not yet,” Meinwen arranged her napkin over the front of her blouse. “Though we’re closing in. Solving a crime is like a solving a jigsaw puzzle. First you have to find all the pieces and then you have to fit them all together. I’m pretty sure I’ve found all the edges. I just have to piece together the middle.”

“Just so long as you don’t end up doing the sky. I always thought that was the fiddliest bit.”

“It’s always me that does the sky, Dafydd. Nobody else has the patience.”

The sound of the water stopped. “I’ve got the patience.” He came out of the kitchen and lowered himself to the carpet at her feet. “You just need to put the right lug into the right hole.”

“True...” Meinwen stroked his hair, pressing against the wiry curls.

“Actually, I think putting the right tab in the right slot can be quite rewarding.” He lifted her skirt and slid his hands up her legs. She wriggled when he snagged her knickers, lifting herself enough to allow him to pull them down her legs to her ankles. She lifted her feet in turn to shake them off.

Gently he pushed against her thighs and she shuffled forward to the edge of the chair, the better to spread her legs. His head dipped down to her labia, and the heat of his breath was enough to make her clench her vaginal muscles, sending a flood of endorphins up and a wave of fluid down.

If his warm breath was enough to get her started, the sensation of his tongue rolling over her soft folds was enough to make her heart beat faster and her buttocks clench. He licked upward, flicking under the fold protecting the clitoris and across the hard nub, making her gasp. She lifted her legs and clamped them around his back, drawing him closer as her urgency rose. She hadn’t been bothered about an orgasm in the bath but now the urgency was like a bailiff banging on the door. She kneaded his hair with her hands, pressing his head right into her until his tongue was deep inside, his teeth pressed against her pelvic bone and his nose...his delicious, rubbery nose...massaged her clitoris.

She gave a shriek as she came, pushing his head away as she convulsed and became suddenly over sensitive. She relaxed her leg grip and he leaned back, kneeling upright with the toothy smile she remembered so well from ’Dovey school days. She brought one foot round to feel the erection straining to be free of his trousers.

The house phone rang and he groaned. “Ignore it,
cariad
, please.”

“I can’t. It might be important. Pass me the phone.”

He reached across and picked it up, flicking the wires to make it reach.

She took a deep breath and answered. “Yes?”

“Ms. Jones?” Sergeant Peters sounded stressed. “We’ve just got a call from Richard Godwin. He’s confessed to killing Peter Numan.”

Chapter 38

Jimmy pulled up as close as he could to the house. Ashgate Road was blocked by an ambulance and several police vehicles, lights blazing out of number fifteen as if Jimmy had shares in Southern Electric.

“We’re too late.” Meinwen peered through the windscreen. “I bet they’ve arrested him already.”

“I did my best.” Jimmy unclipped his seat belt. “I picked you up as fast as I could.”

Meinwen struggled out of her seat belt and opened the door. “Come on.”

“Wait.” Dafydd slipped out of the back seat and helped her out. Jimmy waited for them before locking the car. They hurried to the house together, managing to get as far as the kitchen door before they were stopped.

“You have to let us in.” Meinwen fumbled for her missing phone. “This is the owner of the house and I’m a known associate of Detective-inspector White.”

“Sarge?” The uniformed officer called into the house. “There are three people here name-dropping DI White.”

“Are there?” Sergeant Peters appeared in the doorway. “Ms. Jones, of course. And entourage. You’d better come in, Mr. Godwin was asking for you. He’s in the hall.” He paced a hand on Jimmy’s chest. “Sorry, sir, you two will have to wait here.”

“But it’s my house.”

“And it’s my crime scene, and guess which of us has priority?” He stepped to on side to let Meinwen through. “You know where it is?”

“Of course I do.” She crossed the kitchen to the hall where a paramedic was tending to a body. It was lying half on the stairs, shielded from her view by the medic, one foot without a shoe at a crooked angle. As she made her way toward him he murmured something to a police officer and shook his head. She stumbled forward, rounding the side of the paramedic until she could see who it was. Peter’s head lay almost perpendicular to his spine. She looked away, feeling the hot tickle of gorge rising in her throat. She swallowed it down.

“You’ll be fine, sir, though I do advise you to get it checked over at the hospital. We can take you in, if you like.”

Meinwen looked up. Richard was at the top of the stairs being examined by another paramedic and questioned by a uniformed officer. “Richard! Are you all right?”

He squinted down the stairs, rubbing his throat with one hand. “Meinwen. Good of you to come. This was John’s house. It’s where he...you know.”

“Yes, I know.” She waited for the paramedic to come down the stairs before stepping over the body and going up. She gave him a hug. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”