If I were to judge her on appearance alone, I’d say she’s a woman who wants to exude a sense of authority, severeness, unkindness and afuck youattitude. Wait, that’s myactual, informed view.
‘I wish I could say the same,’ I mumble. ‘I suspect it isn’t coincidence that you happen to be at the Crystal Grand in Dubai.’
‘I knew you were smart.’ She smirks and pulls a neighbouring stool close to mine, uninvited, definitely not welcome, but sitting nonetheless. ‘That’s why I knew you’d leave him eventually.’
I take a sip of my cocktail, a delay tactic whilst I muster some composure. ‘What do you want, Trina?’
‘I wanted to let you in on a secret.’ She leans towards me, forearm resting on the bar, fingers wrapped around a half-pint of beer.
‘Yeah, well, I’ve had my fill of secrets. Thanks anyway.’
She leans back and pushes a hand into the pocket of her trousers. ‘There I was thinking Scarlett Heath is a good girl. That she was lured into something she didn’t understand. I guess I was mistaken. You were in on it all along.’
I drain my glass and step down from my stool. I make to walk past her but she clamps a sweaty palm on my wrist. ‘If I’m right, your career as a lawyer will be over.’
Does she know?
Snatching my wrist back, I growl through my teeth. ‘If you’ve got something to accuse me of, do it. Give me your best accusation.’
She smiles. A sadistic grin. Then takes a swig from her beer. ‘Sit.’
‘I’ll stand.’
She wipes her lips with the back of her hand and covers a belch. ‘I think your billionaire boyfriend paid off DI Barnes. And I think one or both of them paid off the CPS.’
I shake my head, trying to make sense of her words. ‘What are you talking about?’
That sardonic grin is back and I want to slap her face. ‘I was right. You didn’t know.’
My heart is pounding in my chest as my brain makes sense of her statement.Gregory paid off DI Barnes?I don’t want to believe it. Idon’tbelieve it. I snatch up the drink Trina bought for me and take a gulp, then lean into her ear. ‘Katrina Martin, you’re full of shit.’ I place my glass to the bar with a thud. ‘Enjoy the rest of your stay in Dubai.’
‘Scarlett.’
I’m walking away but, for some unbeknown reason, I turn to face her.
‘I think you know I’m not talking shit and I think your breathing has quickened and the skin around your neck flushed pink because this is the first you’ve heard of it. Bribes, Scarlett. Bribes of the most corrupt sort. Bribes with government officials. Bribes that would ruin your career and put you all behind bars for averylong time. Unless, of course, you wanted to make a statement. I could get you leniency.’
‘Fuck you.’ The words grate through my teeth and locked jaw.
She throws her head back on a laugh. ‘Yep, fuck me. But you just think about it. The CPS didn’t bat so much as an eyelid over a murder and, moreover, a murder with a gun? Two ballistics reports are ordered for no good justification and what d’ya know, they conflict.’ It’s her turn to drain her drink. ‘You’re a smart girl.’
With that, she leaves and I stagger back towards my stool where I down the last of my second cocktail in one.
I want to think she’s a liar but there were things I brushed over, things I didn’t put my mind to. Like DI Barnes’s connection to Jackson. The way he was nice to me when he turned off the tape during my questioning. How pissed off he got when Trina started badgering me, digging deeper for answers. He shouted at her. He ordered her out of the room.
Sunday night, after Gregory and I had returned from that godawful foxhunt, DI Barnes turned up unannounced at the Shard to tell Gregory and Jackson about the ballistics report.How? Why?I’d thought he was just forewarning Jackson, being a good friend. But I remember now that he was angry. He said they’d been lying to him, Jackson and Gregory, that they’d hidden things from him.
I raise a hand until I have Paddy’s attention, then I gesture to my empty glass.
‘Three in one night,’ Paddy says, sliding the third martini in front of me.
Without even thinking, I drain it. ‘Make it four.’
‘Whoa, steady on. Is everything okay? Do you want to talk about it?’
Whatever look I give him makes him hold up two flat palms. ‘To be sure. Number four’s coming up.’
I can’t believe I was so blind. So intentionally blind to what was happening. Gregory said he went to the police for me, so I could move on. He made me promise that if the Crown Prosecution Service made a decision not to charge him, I would accept that shooting Kevin Pearson was the right thing to do. That I would accept the decision meantIshouldn’t be charged, thatIdid the right thing. If Katrina Martin’s theory is true, it was all a lie.
