An hour ago, I’d have openedit without a second thought, but without Gus and Luke at my back, my bravado faded like it had never been there at all. I crept to the door, nerves strained tight enough to snap, until I saw the fluorescent yellow of a policewoman’s jacket.
Relief crashed through me, and I opened the door with a bone-sagging sigh. “Come in. Thank you for coming.”
The policewoman stepped into the shop,her gaze darting around as she clearly took stock of her surroundings and matched them with what she already knew. “You’ve had a break-in?”
“Not exactly. My delivery van was, uh, vandalised.”
“But you’ve had a break-in recently?”
“Yes.”
The policewoman made a note and directed me outside to my van. Luke and Gus were still there, glowering at the mess, but I couldn’t look at themutilated flowers without gagging, so I stood to one side and let Gus do the talking.
Zoning out in a crisis was a skill I’d perfected over the years. I heard all the words, absorbed them, but their impact was lost as I catalogued the cracks in the tarmac, and the consequences of the latest twist in my fucked up life seemed to belong to someone else. It all did, because this couldn’t be happening.I’d signed the papers, damn it. What more did Laurent want from me?
And that was going on the assumption that this bullshit was down to him. What if it was someone else—some loon I didn’t even know? What if—
Warm hands slid over my hips from behind, and a solid body pressed against me, moulding to my spine like we’d been made to fit together.
“Relax,” Luke whispered, his lips brushingmy ear. “You’re safe.”
I’d always been safe with his arms around me, but what happened when he was gone again? When he went back to his life and I went back to mine? And what about him? His tyres had been slashed too, and as much as my brain wanted to argue the case of coincidence, logic said it was connected to whatever nonsense I’d brought home from France.
I leaned into him, lettinghis comforting bulk seep into me.I’m sorry.
He kissed my hair.It’s okay.
The policewoman snapped photographs of my van and opened the back door to see inside. Every bouquet and buttonhole was wrecked, ripped apart beyond recognition, and beyond that, the vases I’d stashed for the table centrepieces were smashed to bits.Brilliant.As if the creeping fear amping up in my veins wasn’tenough.
Luke shook me slightly. Belatedly, I realised the policewoman was talking to me. “Sorry, what?”
She smiled gently. “It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?”
I had no idea what she meant, but I nodded, and she took my arm and led me away from Luke and back into the shop.
“There’s every chance this is random vandalism, but put together with the incidents your brother mentioned,I think we have to consider the possibility of harassment. What can you tell me about your ex-husband?”
“What do you want to know?”
“Let’s start with where he lives.”
“In France...last I heard he’d started a new life in Nice.”
“Where did he live before?”
“Paris.”
“With you?”
“Yes.”
The policewoman made some notes. “How did your relationship end? Are you separated?Divorced?”
“I signed divorce papers about a month ago, and we separated when he left me for my friend.”
“It wasn’t amicable then?”
I shrugged. “It wasn’t anything. One day he was there, the next he was gone having cleared out our bank accounts.”
