Errol finished up in the shower and switched off the light. “Shall I wake you in the morning for a quickie before I leave?”
“If I’m not too sore to move, sure,” I said.
He reached over and gave me a kiss, and then the light went out.
Obviously, I didn’t sleep. Long after Errol’s breathing turned to a regular chorus of soft snores, I stared at the ceiling, wondering what life would bring in the morning.
The night began to give way to light, and Errol stirred. His eyes opened, and I grinned. He was instantly on me, and a perfectly credible blowjob later, he was in the shower while I lay dozing.
He sauntered out and started to dress. “You’re welcome to stay until a more sociable hour,” he said. “I’m aware leaving first thing in the morning is a bit unbecoming, but I’ve got to be in Compney Parva for 7 a.m. and I need coffee by the bucketload.”
“No worries, I promise to stay an appropriate amount of time and not be here when you get back.”
He grinned and gave me a quick kiss. “This was fun.” He left, and I slumped back down. My eyes had just closed when my heart gave a thump.
Kenny.
He’d been on his own for ten hours. He’d have torn the house to shreds. I hadn’t taken him out for his night-time pre-bed wee in the garden. Oh, no, he must have been so confused.
I was up and dressed and closing the door to Errol’s room in thirty seconds.
There was cash in my wallet. The taxi firm by the station was slow, but I knew it was officially twenty-four hours. Hopefully, there would be someone who could get me to Lilbury before lunchtime. Maybe I could call Nigella if they took ages?
It wasn’t even 6 a.m., yet already there was blazing sunshine, and the heat was building. It was going to be another scorcher. “How is this England?” I asked, looking up at the unspoilt shade of Morning Blue sky.
Sittingston was deserted. I walked for several minutes before I saw another person. A teenager tottering down the street in the opposite direction to me, swigging from a bottle of cider, his own vomit on his shirt. We nodded as we passed.
Having lived in the area for a few months now, I knew the shortcut across to the station parade where the taxi office was located. You had to hang a right at an intersection and then cut through the car park at the backof the High Street, which went through to a green space, and then up the hill to the station.
I turned right after a small café, meandered past a travel agency, and entered the car park. It was a large, unkempt space of empty concrete with shabby back doors to shops and the entrances of flats above. There were derelict-looking garages on the other side. Weeds grew out of the cracks in the slabs of concrete.
It was bereft of life. Except for one car parked exactly in the middle. It was a late model SUV in black. A more generic car you couldn’t think of. The engine was running. But it wasn’t moving. And why was it parked in the middle? Parking along the edge would be more practical.
My gut instinct was to cling to the edge of the space and walk as close as I could to the walls of the shops.
But a voice was telling me that there was something wrong. Something very wrong. I had to check.
I made my way forward. Every step akin to walking through molasses. If I turned back now, it wouldn’t happen again. If I walked in the opposite direction I’d be okay.
Reaching the driver’s side of the car, I could see the window was wound down. Adrenaline coursing, sweat poured from me and my guts churned. Light-headed from an empty stomach, beer, and no sleep. It was all catching up on me.
I looked in the car window.
His body was slumped sideways, leaning over the gearstick. Hair flopped over his face, a line of blood from the bullet hole in the side of his head. All his black hair steeped in red.
Riz was very, very dead.
Chapter 11
It didn’t take long for the police to arrive.
While I waited, I did the logical thing and spewed my guts up in the weeds. I managed to do it as far from the car as I could run in three seconds. That was all the time my body gave me as a warning that it was not happy with the situation.
When the cops arrived, I was sitting with my arms clasped around my knees. I didn’t look up. I didn’t want to.
A vehicle crawled into the car park and made the long, slow procession over to me. The doors on both sides slammed, and a shadow blocked out the already hot sun.
“Arden,” a voice said gently, and PC Adebayo Oduwole took my hands apart to help me stand. “What on earth happened to you?” His face was a picture of concern. We weren’t friends or anything. But he was currently dating Sonia in an on/off capacity and had been eager to keep himself in my good books.
