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fourteen

Gabriella made pasta.

She needed the comfort of a familiar meal. The meatballs were simmering in tomato sauce, and the spaghetti had just gone into the boiling water when James arrived.

He breathed in deeply as she let him in, then swung her around, pressed her up against the door, and kissed her.

“This is a nice hello,” she murmured against his neck.

“I missed you,” he told her, arms bracketing her head. “And I didn’t like hearing you were right there when a gun went off for the second time in less than a day.”

“That was a shock.” The hiss of water boiling over had her ducking around him to the stove to turn down the heat.

She looked back at him, still leaning against the door, watching her with a strange expression on his face. “Can you stay for dinner?”

He nodded, moving to the sink to grab a cloth. “I have to go back to the Yard, but everyone’s taking a break for a few hours.” He mopped up the water while she gave the meatballs a stir.

He didn’t look like a man with stitches in his back, she thought. If she hadn’t seen his back, she wouldn’t even know.

“I read your statement, but is there any impression you got from the thieves that you’ve remembered since?” James asked, wringing out the cloth. “Size and shape, that kind of thing?”

“The one with the gun was taller than me, but not taller than you. The other one was stockier than his friend, but not overweight. Bulky. They ran away holding a big bag each and it didn’t look like they were under any strain doing it.”

“Other people saw them running away, but you wouldn’t believe the difference in descriptions,” James said, taking the parmesan and the grater from her with a grin. It was always his job when she cooked pasta.

He sat down and began grating and she noticed he didn’t lean back in his chair, as he usually did. So his back was still hurting.

“The only thing the witnesses could agree on is that there were two of them,” he said. “And that they got into a van which took off straight away. And most people think it was white, although we got one who insists it was yellow.”

“So it’s at least a team of three,” Gabriella said. “I wonder, if it was the same group, where the other two were yesterday afternoon at the jewelers.”

James put the parmesan down. “Good question,” he said. “Very good question. Because the same caliber gun was used, and I’m sure tomorrow I’ll get a report that says the bullet they found in the van’s tire is from the same gun.”

“I did see a car pull away from further down the street when I went to the phone box to call DC Hartridge yesterday,” Gabriella said as she spooned the sauce over the spaghetti and set a bowl in front of James. “It wasn’t a van, though, and it wasn’t white.”

James gaze sharpened on her face. “What was it?”

“I’d say an Austin Cambridge,” she said. “Navy blue. In good condition.”

She wouldn’t have been able to speak to car makes and models before she started work as a traffic warden. Now it was just something she knew.

“How far down the street was it parked?” James asked, and then stared down at his bowl like he’d been given a cordon bleu masterpiece.

“Quite far down,” Gabriella said, sitting opposite him and taking the bowl of grated parmesan from him. “It pulled out into the street and then turned left down the next side street.”

“Could be nothing, could be they were going to grab the thief at a prearranged spot.” James reached out and took her hand. “Thank you for making me dinner.”

She curled her fingers around his. “My pleasure.” She twirled some spaghetti with the fork in her other hand, and paused. “Did you get in trouble for me being at the jeweler’s with you?”

He sighed and let go of her hand so she could eat. “No. But there was an uncomfortable conversation, which neither the English, nor the Welsh, do well.” He gave a sudden chuckle. “You should have seen Layman’s face when PS Yates mentioned you were a witness again today.”

“I had a feeling he’d find out. So I hustled Liz and I out of there as fast as I could.” She shared a conspiratorial smile with him. “It was quite a coincidence.”

“One I hope isn’t repeated,” James said.

Gabriella shrugged. “My job is to walk the streets. I don’t actively go out and look for trouble.”

James grimaced. “I know. But this crew is ramping up. If we’re right, they’ve killed two people, and shot a gun during an additional two robberies. It started on Monday and it’s Thursday evening now. It’s almost a spree at this point and all in this area.”