Chapter 1

“All units go go go! Repeat, all units go!” yelled DI Frank Harper over the walkie-
talkie. The armed response team rammed through the doorway on the estate, and
surged through the house. “Police! Nobody move! Get down!” They entered each
room simultaneously, just as a young brunette woman whipped out a revolver with
her right hand and pointed it at a grim faced middle aged man. “Don’t move!” she
ordered him.
He swore at her, and flung out an arm, catching her on her right forearm with the
dagger that had materialised in his left hand. The woman swung her left hand to stab
him with a hidden stun gun and he collapsed to the floor.
“Secure,” reported one of the SO19 guys.
DI Harper arrived in the room, as the brunette was being led out, clutching her
forearm and scowling. He took in the scene with a single glance. “Damn.”
“Cranky had a knife,” the woman explained, accepting an offered clean towel.
“I’ll take her from here,” the cop told the SO19 guys. He led her outside to the
waiting paramedics. They sat the woman on the ambulance steps and turned their
attention to the knife wound.
“Dammit, Lin,” began Frank.
“Yeah yeah,” she said, hissing as her wound was swiftly cleaned with antiseptic. “I
know. I’m getting too old for this.”
Jocelyn Sharpe was one of the best officers in Hartlith. During her ten years in the
service, she had put away countless criminals due to her under cover work and
general excellence, as her boss put it. At 29, she was getting tired of being attacked at
work. She sighed. Some people dreaded the obnoxious customer demanding the
impossible over the counter. Lin dreaded the paper work after being shot.
A call came over the walkie-talkie. “Harper, just thought you might like to know, the
raid came up trumps. Nearly a kilo of coke stashed away in all the right places.”
Lin gestured for the walkie-talkie, and Frank handed it over with a suppressed grin.
“Well of course he came up trumps, Murphy, I was working this case!” she remarked,
raising chuckles from all the officers on the frequency.
Frank took it back, and asked about Cranky Meyers.
“Yeah, he’s fine. Cuffed, coming round and on his way out with an escort,” came the
reply. Lin glanced over as the large man was frogmarched out of the house, and
helped into the waiting squad car.
Frank Harper gave a small sigh of relief as the car drove away, followed by a couple
SO19 vans. Another three squad cars remained by the ambulance. He watched with a
critical eye as the paramedics dressed Lin’s wound and gave her some painkillers and
instructions not to get shot at again for another week.
He helped Lin to her feet, and led her to his car. “Jeez, woman, you’ve given me more
grey hairs in the last seven years than my wife in our entire marriage.”
Lin grinned as she strapped in. “Heh. Does Maggie know that?”
”She suggested it.”
Lin gave a barking laugh.

Once back at the station, Frank didn’t even have to tell her to go home. After so long
of being injured at work, Lin simply strolled into the office, grabbed her stuff and
strolled out again, waving to the receptionists. She got back into the car, and Frank
drove her home in silence.

1
After waving at the door to her friend, Lin turned inside, and kicked off her trainers.
She dumped her shoulder bag on the side as she slid into the kitchen and punched the
blinking button on her answer phone.
She filled and flicked on the kettle as the messages played. The first was from her
brother Ads. Hey, Lin, it’s me. It’s dinner at Mum’s tonight, remember? Course you
didn’t. See ya there.
The second was from her friend Carla. Hi honey, let’s meet up for hot choc and
doughnuts or something. I’m dying to tell you about my new man! I’m off till
Wednesday evening. Call me.
Lin deleted the messages and scribbled a memo to call Carla, and stuck it on the
fridge. She had forgotten about dinner, but that didn’t surprise her. Ads knew she’d
forget, and was constantly reminding her of stuff she had to do. Taking a swig of tea,
she made for the lounge, and flicked on the CD player. Loud rock music blared out
and she sighed and snuggled down in between the cushions.
All these hard days at work had meant that she had slid into bad habits. She would
order herself a pizza each time she got injured because she couldn’t cook well with
only one working arm, and it was a little treat. It made getting shot at seem
worthwhile.
She pondered on her life. It was a danger which she seemed to have been
encountering more often. She was tired of getting shot at and the paperwork…the
paperwork was horrendous.
Lin had become a cop all those years ago, after being stalked. The feeling of being so
helpless and lost had haunted her and so she had tried to ignore the middle aged man,
and joined the police force. He had been one of her first big arrests. That feeling of
immense satisfaction made her smile even now.
Finishing her tea, she got up, dumped the mug in the sink, and made her way up to the
shower. Stripping off, she stepped into the bathroom and pulled a well used plastic
cylinder, which covered whatever dressings she was told to keep away from water.

Half an hour later, she was showered, dressed, dosed up with pain killers and gritting
her teeth as she set down to tackle her paperwork. She tediously completed the report
on how the raid had gone down, how she had been injured, and went over what she
had done, wondering how she could have prevented her injury.
She glanced at the clock: six thirty. Darn. Lin grabbed her leather jacket, bag, keys,
and pulled on her trainers. She shut off the house lights, set the alarm, and locked the
door. And then she remembered she wasn’t supposed to be driving. Darn.
She dialled her mother on her mobile. “Hey mum, is Ads there yet?”
”Not yet.”
“Great. If he arrives before me, tell him to call me?” She hung up and dialled her
brother’s number. “Ads, I need a ride.”
There was a smile in his voice. “I’m on my way.”

Lin’s mother still lived in the same little house in the town that Ads and Lin had been
raised in. The youngest sister, Becky, remained in the house with their mother after
Christopher, their father, had passed away. Becky was a single mother and had two
daughters who helped fill up the space.
Helen was waiting for them as they drove up. She had her arms folded across her
chest and a frown on her face. Mentally preparing herself for the confrontation, Lin
got out of the car, and went to the door as Ads parked.
“Hi Mum,” she smiled, “you alright?”

2
“What is that bandage doing on your arm?”
”Stopping me bleeding all over your lovely carpet,” Lin smiled sweetly, planting a
kiss on her cheek and slipping past her into the house.
“Hmph.”
Ads came in, and closed the door. Becky was in the kitchen retrieving a dish from the
oven, and the kids were in the lounge with the TV blaring. “What happened this
time?” asked Becky, glancing at Lin’s arm.
“Knife,” she said dismissively. “I’ll be back at work tomorrow.”
Becky put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. “Girl, you need to get a life.”
Lin shrugged, “meh, I’m not fussy.”
”Come out clubbing with me and Mel on Saturday, you never know who you’ll
meet.”
”Which seems to be the reason I’ve never really appreciated the spiking of drinks,
exchanging of saliva, and dealing of drugs,” she said lightly.
“You are such a cop.”
”Tell me about it.”

They sat down to chicken drumsticks, vegetables and at Ads’ request, bread sauce.
Lin wrinkled her nose; some of her brother’s eating habits offended her, but then
again, it was probably mutual. Becky’s girls Millie and Rachel were squabbling over
who would have the last bit of orange juice from the carton. At 6 and 8, the girls were
okay from a distance, but still managed to wind Lin up with their bickering. Possibly
because it reminded her of how she and Becky had behaved when they were that
young.
“So Becks,” began Lin, loudly. “How was work?” Becky had just started a new job in
a travel agency. The only appeal which Lin could see was flicking through all the
pretty pictures in her lunch break.
“It’s really good,” beamed her sister. Becky was bottle blonde, five foot four, and had
enviable curves. She had been Miss Popular in secondary school, college and
university, before dropping out when she got pregnant and moving back home.
“I sold an old couple a cruise around the med and a Caribbean holiday to a really fit
guy, and got his number all by lunchtime!”
“Sounds like you had a good day, then,” her older sister commented as she wrestled
with her dinner, trying not to wince at the twinges in her arm as she did so.
”Yeah, unlike you.”
”It was a good day,” Lin protested, “I got Cranky Meyers taken down!”
”Uh yeah, but after getting slashed on the arm?”
She shrugged, “occupational hazard.”
Helen scowled. “You have been getting shot at and hurt on that job for too long, my
girl.” With that, she reached over and wrapped the end of Lin’s drumstick in kitchen
roll, silently giving her permission to eat with her fingers. The cop grimaced in
protest.
”I know Mum, I know. But Frank keeps looking out for me, I’m fine.”
”Well I remain unhappy at your choice of career. What’s wrong with being a travel
agent? You get four weeks paid holiday, and it’s just down town.”
“Mum…”
”Or a shop assistant like Adam, that’s fun, right Adam?”
Ads squirmed. “Well sure it is, Mum, but Lin would find it a little boring. There
aren’t many gangsters that purchase children’s toys.”
Lin gave up with the chicken bone and cleared away her plate. “As soon as I fancy a

3
career as a shop assistant or a travel agent, I’ll give you guys a call,” she assured her
family. “But I’m fine as I am at the moment, thanks.” She paused by the kitchen,
“what’s for pudding?”
” Jelly and Ice cream.”
”I’ll pass.”

4
Chapter 2
When she got up in the morning, Lin changed her dressing again, and was glad to see
that the butterflies were holding, and the wound looked clean. She brushed her hair
into a ponytail without too much trouble, rang Frank for a lift, and was waiting on the
step outside when he pulled up ten minutes later.
“How’s the arm?” he asked as they pulled away.
“Not too bad,” she assured him. “It still aches a bit, though.”
“And how’s your mother about it?”
”The usual,” she shrugged.
“That bad?” he winced.
“I’m telling you, she’s psychic. That’s the only way she could have known I got hurt.
She made jelly and ice cream on purpose.”
Frank smothered a grin.
They arrived at the station by nine, and Lin began the day handing in her paper work,
and grabbing a coffee on her way into the office. She was handed a file on a suspect,
picked up DC Tom Reich, her partner for the day, and let him drive her over to 4
Royal Gardens, to make the arrest. By lunch time, their suspect was behind bars, the
DCs had returned to the house and found the laptop they were looking for, and were
finishing up with their interview of the suspect.
By mid afternoon, the evidence was in, interview was over, and the case was ready to
be turned over to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Lin leant back in her chair with a satisfied grin on her face. It was nice to finish a case
after getting hurt. It reminded her that she was actually rather good at this job, despite
or perhaps because of her frequent visits from the paramedics.

She drove home slower than normal that evening, picking up her car which she had
left at the station the day before, prior to the raid. She brought a collection of files
inside with her as she parked. With a deep breath, she opened the report on the sofa,
and sipped at her cup of tea.
There were undercover pictures of Cranky Meyers dealing drugs, alongside her own
scribbles of who he had been meeting, and where. There was one holding the report
from the raid with extra information on all those connected to it, and another holding
the details of a young man who seemed to be involved with a joyriding incident.
Closing the file, Lin got to her feet and went into the kitchen, leaving the music
blaring. She awkwardly refilled the kettle and flicked it on to boil, as she snatched up
the phone and dialled Carla’s number.
She picked up at the fourth ring. “Hello?”
”Hey Carla, it’s Lin.”
”Darling, how are you?”
”I’m okay.”
”That’s not what I heard. I heard you got attacked again.”
Lin shrugged. “The guy took me by surprise and kinda sliced my forearm. The
butterflies held and it’s fine now.”
“I bet your mother had a fit.”
“Well, I think she’s taking it all quite well. But she gave me the ‘get a new job’
speech again.” Carla laughed. “So who’s this new man you want to tell me about?”
“He is a hunk,” Carla said proudly. “He’s a very sexy lawyer who I happened to bump
into. I got his number, and we’re going out on Saturday evening.”
”Cute,” Lin chuckled.

5
 “So when are we getting together?”
”Saturday morning?”
”Sure. Mid morning alright?”
”Great. At Gigi’s?”
”Of course, sweetie. Where else?!”
“I’ll meet you there at eleven.”
”Ciao, darling.” Carla hung up, and Lin put down the phone. She fished around in the
cupboard for her supply of pot noodles. Once dinner was ready, she curled into the
lounge sofa, where she channel hopped, finally finding a Simpsons re-run.
She left her fork and glass by the sink to wash up tomorrow, watched the news, and
then headed up to bed after locking and bolting the front and back door, and making
sure all the downstairs windows were closed.
She smiled to herself. She was such a cop.

The next few days saw Lin tying up loose ends with the Cranky Meyers case. She
talked to old girlfriends, customers, and was able to get enough evidence to convict
the man by itself, so there was sufficient groundwork to add to the case, should any
forensic evidence be pronounced circumstantial. If there was one thing that her fellow
cops knew about her way of working, it was that she was thorough. She also managed
to bag the joyrider and set him a court date before he was released on bail later that
afternoon.
Saturday morning came, and Lin rolled out of bed at 8 and was ready for the day half
an hour later. She hoovered the house, washed the dishes and dived into her car at
10:45. She parked at the side of the road, strolled into the café, and sat at her favourite
table in the corner, with her back to the wall. She ordered the drinks and doughnuts,
picking out a bright pink one with sprinkles for Carla. She waited patiently, and was
debating the justification for a second doughnut as her friend arrived.
Carla was five foot four in flats, closer to five nine in heels, and looked like a model.
She had gorgeous natural blonde hair cut in layers around her shoulders. Her makeup
was subtle but Lin knew from experience that her friend spent forever getting ready
and was therefore always late.
“Hey sweetie,” beamed Carla, taking a seat opposite her friend. “Aw you star,” she
added, when she saw the hot chocolate and pink doughnut waiting for her. “So
how’ve you been?”
”Alright,” Lin replied, honestly.
“No shootings?”
”Nope.”
”No black eyes, incidents with stun guns, or hot prisoners?”
”Nada,” she beamed.
“Wow. I guess you really took your mother seriously the other day.”
”Let’s just say that I have to admit that it was a nice change, and yet I didn’t go out of
my way to not get shot.”
”Wow! I’m so impressed! Look’s like things are looking up for you, honey.”
“Here’s hoping.”

They left the café their separate ways, and Lin drove to the leisure centre. She worked
out in the gym for an hour, before showering and dropping her bag off at home. She
hung out a load of washing and drove over to her mother’s house.
“What a nice surprise,” smiled Helen as her daughter let herself in the side door.
“You’re not in trouble are you?” she added suspiciously.

6
“Mum!”
“Just checking.”
They sat down for a cup of coffee, and Lin wondered whether she ought to eat the
slice of coffee cake her mother cut for her.
“Has work been quiet?” Helen asked, nibbling her own slice of cake. Not wanting to
feel left out, Lin took a bite of her own.
”Quiet enough. I solved a couple of cases without getting hurt.”
”Oh good,” beamed Helen.
”And Frank’s been making sure I stay out of harms way. I think he’s been deliberately
making sure that I get all the easy cases.” She shot a sideways glance at her mother.
“You haven’t said anything, have you?”
”Me?”
“I thought so. What did you threaten him with? Don’t tell me. I expect that just
scolding him was enough to get the point across. Am I right?”
”A mother’s got to protect her children.”

After a relaxing Sunday, Lin was back to work as normal. She drove to the office and
signed in at reception. “Have a good weekend, Marla?” she asked the receptionist.
“Fine thanks, Lin. And yourself?”
She shrugged, “I didn’t get shot.” Her frequent injuries were a long running joke at
the station. “Is Frank in, yet?”
”Got in about five minutes ago.”
”Thanks.”
Lin climbed the stairs, picked up a cup of coffee, and knocked on Frank’s office door.
“Come,” came the reply.
“Good morning,” Lin smiled as she sailed into the office and shut the door. “I believe
we need to have a chat.”
”Is that coffee for me?” He asked, eyeing the cup in her hand, hopefully.
“Nope.”
”Shame.”
”I hear that you spoke to my mother recently.”
”Ah. Yes. Well.”
”As much as I appreciate you both looking out for me, and that you want to protect
yourself by obeying my mother, I don’t want special treatment. I want something
good. If I’m staying on the force, I want to feel like I’m doing something worthwhile
with my time, not simply in the background all cushy and safe.”
Frank sighed. “I hate it when you say that.”
”So?”
”So what?”
“So what are you going to give me to work with?”
He locked eyes with her for a moment, and then looked away. “Alright. I’ve got a
stack of arrests I need to be made. They’re not easy, need plenty of evidence to make
them worthwhile, and they’re dangerous.”
”You may as well have put my name on them,” she beamed.
“I already did.”
Smiling, Lin retreated from the office to her desk. She opened the files and read
through them with her coffee in hand. She put them in order of practicality, and re-
read the first one. A rapist needing to be brought in, and his house needing searching
for evidence of trophies and forensics. She placed a call to the forensic department,

7
and gave them the address. Then she collected Parry Foster (today’s partner), her bag
and jacket, and went to the car.
Today was going to be good, she could tell.

8
Chapter 3
Henry Rose lived at 43 Cortabella Lane, on the edge of the town. He was a balding,
middle aged man with a growing beer belly and bald spot. Lin had memorised the
mug shot, and was not worried about getting the wrong person. It had happened to her
once before. She had cuffed another resident of the house, who later proved to be a
valuable informer, whilst the real criminal got away. The DCs sat in Lin’s car outside
the house, and watched. Rose’s car was there, and the TV was on. “How do you want
to play this?” Parry asked her.
“You take the front, and I’ll take the back in case he runs.”
Parry nodded, and Lin drove the car down the street. She parked on the same side of
the road as the house and slipped her handcuffs and stun gun into her pockets. Parry
got out too, and she locked the car. She slipped the car keys into her jacket pocket,
and snuck down the side of the house, whilst Parry knocked loudly on the door.
Keeping against the brick wall, Lin listened and waited, cuffs at the ready. She was
outside, by the back door, where Rose would probably run to, if he ran at all.
She heard Parry at the door, the front door slamming, and smiled grimly. There were
quick footsteps through the hall, into the kitchen, and then a crash as he tumbled
through the back doorway, and into Lin’s cuffs.
“DC Sharpe, Harlith Police Station,” she announced, telling the man his rights; the
words slipping off her tongue with the habit of many years experience. Ten minutes
later, the forensics team arrived, and Lin and Parry drove a cuffed Henry Rose to the
station. They booked him into a cell, drove back to the crime scene, snapped on
rubber gloves, and began going through his belongings. By 11, they had recovered a
mobile phone, a box of ‘trophies’ hidden in the shed, and had called in the victims to
identify their belongings. By lunch time, they had interviewed Rose, and had booked
a court date.
Grinning from ear to ear, Lin glanced at her next file, re-read it, collected Parry once
more, and left for the next job.

When Lin arrived home after a long but satisfying day chasing suspects, she played
her messages on the answer phone and found one from an old friend.
“Hey, Wonders. What’s up? It’s your best pal, Mack. What ya doin’ tomorrow night?
I got a six pack and pizza with your name on it, and a video marathon if you’re up for
it. Call me.”
Lin smiled, and returned the call. Mack was like a big brother to Lin. They had been
friends since nursery school, and almost fifteen years ago, they had spray painted a
mutual friend’s car and filled it with balloons, only to find that it was someone else’s
car, as the friend drove past in a new BMW. Since then, they had offered each other
beer and pizza and a cop free evening whenever they thought of it.
Mack was tall, gangly and had the innocent face of a child. It was this face which
meant he could get away with almost anything. He had joined the army for a year,
then worked in intelligence, and finally settled as being a uniform cop in the adjoining
town to Hartlith.
He picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”
”Guess who?”
”Wonder Woman!”
Lin grinned. “Hey Mack.”
”How you doing? Caught any good ones recently?”
”A couple,” she returned with a chuckle.

9
“So are you coming over tomorrow night or what?”
”I dunno if I can. I’ll try, but I’m not promising anything.”
”How’s your arm?”
”How did you hear about that?”
”Was that a serious question?” he scoffed.
“Not really. It’s fine. Pretty much back to normal.”
“Cool. Look, phone me if you can’t make it. Otherwise, I’ll expect you at seven.”
”Stay safe.”
”You too, Wonders.”

It was early the next morning, and Lin was charging down the street, chasing Terrance
Churley. Churley was skinny but muscular, and had a powerful right hook which Lin
could testify to. Her jaw stung, and she was angry. Parry was pounding along behind
her, and Tom and Diane should be about to intercept him from around the corner.
Terrance had seen her or was expecting her to be waiting at the back door, and had
simply ploughed right into her where she waited out the back, and smacked her jaw
on his way.
Up ahead, Terrance danced around the corner, and she heard shouts as she rounded
the corner, and saw the greasy haired teenager face down on the pavement, with Tom
holding him down, and Diane slapping on the cuffs. Lin grimaced and cautiously felt
her jaw. It wasn’t broken but she was going to have a colourful bruise.
Tom cautioned him, and dragged him to his feet. The teenager had a graze on his chin
and a scowl on his features. “Just you wait,” he spat at her.
Lin gave him a finger wave, and watched in satisfaction as Tom walked him to the
car. She had heard that threat so many times, that she had got used to ignoring it.
Back at the office, Lin borrowed some make up from the female changing room, and
plastered concealer on the bruise. Maybe no one would notice.
She went back to her desk, leaving Tom and Parry to do the interviews. She had
paperwork to do, and was planning on meeting Mack tonight. When the other DCs
had finished the interviews and the evidence was in, Parry came to find her.
“We got him,” he smiled. “Terrence was quite happy to talk once he realised we’d
heard from his girlfriend and had his mobile phone.”
“Excellent,” smiled Lin, “I love squealers. They make my job so much easier”
She drove over to Mack’s flat after work, not bothering to stop by her house. She
parked her car and buzzed up to Mack.
“Who dis?”
”It’s Wonder Woman.”
”Come on up.”
She jogged up two flights of stairs, and found Mack’s door pushed unlocked. She
closed the door behind her. “How’ve you been?” asked Lin, dumping her jacket over
the arm of the sofa.
“Good,” smiled Mack from the kitchen. He held out a beer. “And you?”
”Yeah. It was alright.”
”That bruise on your jaw says otherwise.”
Lin sighed, “can you really see it that badly?”
”Well you can’t really miss it. Oh, the pizza should be here in ten minutes.”
”Did you know I was coming, then?”
”I hoped. But if you weren’t, I’ll eat pizza by myself. Not a problem.” He beamed at
her.

10
“So what’s this movie marathon I heard about?”
”You can choose: Blackadder or Honey I shrunk the kids.”
”Are you serious?”
”Deadly.”
“Blackadder; you look like Baldrick.” He threw a cushion at her.

It was almost half ten when Lin arrived back home. She dumped the contents of her
car in the kitchen. She kicked off her shoes, and as she was hanging her jacket and
handbag back up, she spotted a letter on the doormat that she had missed as she came
in. Not thinking anything of it, Lin picked it up and opened it on her way back into the
kitchen. She opened it and was surprised to see a computer typed note.
Bad move, Jocelyn.
Lin stared at the note for a full minute, before placing it on the kitchen counter and
pulling out a sandwich bag from the drawer. She slid it inside, fetched her gun from
her bag, and did a quick sweep of the house. Nothing seemed disturbed, and there was
no sign of anyone save her being there. Once satisfied that there was no one in her
house, she went to under the bed, and pulled out a file from inside a cardboard box.
She brought it downstairs, grabbed a pen and a fresh sheet of paper, and scribbled
down the contents of the letter, and anything she noticed about it. The fact it was
computer typed, a normal font, centred on the page and there had been no sign of
forced entry at home, and where she had found it. Then she slid it into the file and
sighed. Too many times she had found threats, notes, and other mementos in her
house after work. She had a routine now.
She would try not to disturb any prints; put it in a sandwich bag for forensic analysis;
write notes about it and put them in her file and then phone Frank.
He picked up on the seventh ring, and there was laughter in his voice. “Harper.”
”It’s Lin. Guess what I just found.”
“Tell me.”
”Another threatening letter. First for a while. I’ve done the usual, I’m bringing it to
the forensics first thing tomorrow.”
”Alright. How are you feeling?”
”I’m too used to this, Frank,” she sighed. “That’s not good.”
”Phone me if you need anything.”
”Always. Stay safe.”
”You too.”
She put down the phone and went to bed. It was not a great end to the day.

11
Chapter 4
Lin rolled out of bed early the next morning. She’d slept badly, as she often did after
the odd threatening letter, and had been thinking it over. She showered, blasted her
hair with the dryer, dressed in t-shirt and jeans, and was at the station by 8.30.
“You’re early,” remarked Marla, at reception, as Lin signed in.
“Duty calls,” came the reply. She jogged up the stairs, her threat file in her arms. She
swiped a coffee and a biscuit from the canteen, and waited at her desk until Frank
arrived a little later.
“Come on in,” he said, waving towards his office.
Lin bit her lip; he looked awful. He was tired, sounded drained, and his hair seemed
whiter than ever.
He closed the door, and she sat down at the desk. “Show me.”
Lin pulled out the sandwich bag and laid it on the desk in front of her friend. He
looked at it for a moment in silence before speaking.
“So. He or she knows your name. They know where you live.”
”Yes.”
”Have you got any ideas on this one?”
She wrinkled her nose, “not really. It’s vague, not much text.”
Frank nodded, his face creased into a frown. “So what do you want to do about this?”
”I’ll run this down to the forensics, see if they can pick up any clues, but I doubt
there’ll be any prints. Then I want to keep working as normal, and if there’s another
note, I’ll reconsider the options.”
Wearily, Frank sighed and nodded again. “You are too calm in these situations.
You’ve been here too many times for my liking.”
”I’m coping.”
”I know.” He stood up, “well, I’m sure there’s a few drug dealers waiting for you. Try
not to get shot, your mother would skin me alive.”

By the end of the week, Lin had dragged a number of the accused into the station,
cuffed and grumpy. She had ended up chasing two men down the street on separate
occasions, and having to pepper spray a particularly unhappy man, before stunning his
backside and having to call for assistance to lift him into her car. On Thursday night,
she dropped in to see Mack at his apartment.
She buzzed on the door, and he answered with a burp. “Who dat der?”
”Dun du du daaa! It’s Wonder Woman to the rescue.”
“Cool! Come on up, lady, and bring your lasso.”
Lin grinned and jogged up the stairs. Mack’s door was open and waiting for her. She
let herself in, and dumped her shoulder bag on the sofa. Mack appeared from the
kitchen, carrying a beer. “No lasso?” he pouted.
“Not today, kiddo.”
“Aw, shame. So…” his face shifted to cop mode. “There anything you want to tell
me?”
”Not whilst you’re still tipsy,” she answered with a half smile.
“Hey, I’m fine. Not affected by the various spirits I happened to have at all.” He
protested as he collapsed face first onto the sofa. Lin pursed her lips and waited for a
moment or two, but he didn’t move. Damn. She put down her beer on the side table,
and rolled him onto his back and onto the floor.
“Mack, you sad fool,” she sighed. She prised the now empty bottle out of his hand,
and as an after thought, pulled him into the recovery position, making sure he didn’t
swallow his tongue.

12
She fetched a miraculously clean tea towel from the drawer, and soaked it under the
tap. Then she returned to the lounge, and propped her friend up against the sofa with
some cushions and pulled off his beer soaked t-shirt and washed his face and chest,
tutting.
If it was anyone else, she might have had different feelings about washing an ex-army
guy’s bare chest. But it was Mack, and there were no feelings of desire. She had been
best friends with Mack since primary school. She had wanted to be Wonder Woman,
and he ran around at play time, like Superman. At college, she went to a fancy dressed
party as Wonder Woman, and at Uni, she ran a campaign to be a social secretary and
her slogan was, yup, Wonder Woman. It was after so many ambitions and actions that
Mack had decided to name her after the Amazonian warrior.
Mack opened his eyes, wearily. “Wa??”
”Yup,” Lin sighed.
“Uuh.”
“Come on.” She pulled him too his feet and dragged him towards the bedroom.
“’S a pity you didn’t bring your lasso, we could have had fun.”
”Mack, you are too drunk to do anything right now, except try to sleep it off.” She let
him fall onto the bed. “I’ll stick around for a bit longer, but I’m gonna go home
tonight.”
“What about that thing you were gonna tell me about?”
“When you’re sober,” she promised, patting his knee. “I’ll phone tomorrow in the
afternoon.”
He smiled. “Okay. Fly safely.” He turned over and went to sleep.
Lin chuckled, and closed the bedroom door. She set about clearing up. Whilst she
gathered empty beer bottles and tipped any remaining contents away, she knew
exactly why Mack was drunk tonight. It was the anniversary of his brother’s death.
Every year, Mack would skive off work, stay at home, and grieve. Then he would get
ridiculously drunk by himself, and attempt to drown out his sadness. Kieran had been
in the army, too. He had been killed in a freak accident, but Mack still felt that it was
his fault. He had left the army soon after.
Lin gathered up dirty laundry and put on a load of washing. Kieran had been a couple
of years younger than Mack and Lin often found herself filling in the gap of younger
sibling. She had known Kieran well, but not nearly as closely as she had known his
older brother. She sighed and ran the hot tap, preparing to wash up. Someday, Mack
would realise that the accident was not his fault. Then he’d forgive himself, and move
on. Until that day, he would still need the occasional stint of care and attention.
When the washing up was done, Lin left it to dry on the side, and filled up a bin liner
with empty pizza boxes, old newspapers, general rubbish and junk. She checked his
fridge for food, and managed to find enough fruit to blend to make a strawberry
smoothie. Then she poured it in a glass, set it in the fridge. Scribbling a note and
sticking it to the door, Lin shrugged on her jacket and shoulder bag, and grabbed the
bag of rubbish on her way out.
She arrived home late, and tumbled into bed, not really thinking much further than
how comfy her bed was going to be.

Lin woke late on Friday morning, and blinked at the sunlight shining through her
curtains. Reluctantly she got up and showered and dressed. After inhaling a cereal bar
and cup of tea, she scooped up her files and headed to the office.
There was a note on her desk from Frank. “My office. Bring coffee.” Slightly
suspicious, Lin followed the instructions, and knocked on her boss’ door.

13
“Come.”
Lin poked her head around the door. “You wrote?”
He smiled. “Have a seat.”
She closed the door behind her. “So what have I done now?”
”Nothing yet,” he assured her. “I’ve got a special job for you.”
She raised an eyebrow, not sure what to make of the announcement. “Special how?”
”I’m going to try an experiment. You know Lou Clifton?” Lin nodded. “Lou is
desperate for some help. He’s having some problems with Harry Knight.”
“The old guy?”
”Yeah. Tom and Parry picked him up for arms smuggling at the weekend. Lou was
supposed to be making sure Knight was safely trussed up in the cells until his
upcoming trial, but he lost him. He disappeared late last night.”
“How come?”
”Well, Lou doesn’t really know. He’s getting on a bit, and I’m pretty sure that after
this, at least, he’s going to retire early.”
“So you want me to hunt down?”
”Yes. You’re the best we’ve got, and I owe Lou a favour.”
“And you’re trying to keep me out of trouble?”
”Something like that,” he conceded.
“What are the hours?”
”As many or as little as you need. Lou just needs Knight to be dragged back to court,
and if there’s anyone good at dragging people around, it’s you.”
”Only for this case though, right?”
”Yes.”
”So, where do I start?”
Frank grinned, and slammed a file down on the desk. “This is Knight’s file. Follow
your instincts, hunt this guy down, and make me happy.”
”No problemo, boss.”

Lin sat at her desk, and opened the file. She read the list of family and addresses, and
then his listed residence. She grinned, picked up her shoulder bag, and dived into her
car. Lin drove through Hartlith and into the adjoining town of Rushmard. She called
Mack on her way.
“Hey Wonders, what’s up?”
”You know a guy called Harry Knight?”
”Sure. Old guy, caught for arms smuggling, right?”
”Yeah. I’m looking for him to help out Frank’s mate. Call me if you hear anything or
get any ideas, okay?”
”No problemo.” She hung up and drove to Court Road, which was listed as Knight’s
address. The houses along Court Road were neat semi detached middle class homes.
Lin looked for number forty five, and parked her car. Making sure she had her
essentials in her shoulder bag, she strolled up to the front door and knocked boldly.
There was no answer, and there was no car on the drive. Knocking once more, Lin
scouted down the side of the house up the garden path. She peeped into the kitchen
through white net curtains, and saw no signs of life. Changing tack, she knocked next
door.
A small elderly woman in her eighties peered out. “Yes?”
”Good morning,” said Lin, flashing her I.D. “DC Sharpe, Hartlith Police. I’m looking
for Harry Knight. Have you seen him recently?”

14
”Oh, well, I don’t think so, dear, but with my eye sight, it’s hard to tell,” she tapped
her thick glasses.
“Can you remember noticing any one pulling up in the driveway or approaching the
house recently?”
”There might have been someone last night, dear, now you mention it. I was trying to
find my cat Oscar,” she waved towards the tabby winding it’s way around the old
woman’s legs. “I looked outside for him, but he was hiding inside. Anyway, I thought
I saw someone in the dark, but I couldn’t really tell.”
”Do you know roughly what time it was?”
”About eleven, I think dearie. I can’t be sure though.”
”Thank you for your time,” said Lin, flashing a smile. She tugged her card out of her
jacket pocket and handed it over. “If you think of anything else, call me on this
number.”
She went to Harry Knight’s other next door neighbour, and asked the same question.
The young woman was unable to help, as she had just this morning got back from her
mother’s. Lin went opposite, and got a result.
“Yeah,” said Mr Ross, scratching his stubbly chin. “I did see him, last night. Gotta be
around eleven, quarter past? At least I think it was him. Must’ve been, cos he had a
key, but it was dark so I couldn’t see him.”
”Did he arrive in a car or on foot?”
”Car. Big black one.”
“Did you see a registration number?”
”No, ‘fraid not. I wasn’t really looking.”
“Thank you for your time,” Lin said, pulling out another one of her cards “Please call
me if you remember anything else.”
She left the street, and phoned Frank. “I’ve seen the house, there’s no one there, and
spoken to some of Knight’s neighbours. What time did Lou realise he’d lost Harry?”
”I think he said it was about midnight, he was on the late shift.”
“A couple of neighbours said they saw a black car and a man with a key go into
Knight’s house sometime between eleven and half past.”
“Have you visited relatives or work place yet?”
”Not yet. I’m also going to see if I can find his girlfriend. One of his neighbours
mentioned a blonde lady coming and going quite frequently. Seems she had a key.”
“Good plan. You got a name yet?”
”Not yet. But If Harry’s mum is anything like mine, I’ll have a name by lunchtime.”

15
Chapter 5
The parents’ address was listed at Hove Road, the posh end of town as one of the
large detached houses with a driveway and a small neatly landscaped garden complete
with pond and gnomes. Lin parked on the road, and approached the front door. She
rang the bell, and a few moments later, there was a clatter of heels, and a tall elderly
woman opened the door.
“Mrs Knight?” Lin asked, taking the professional approach immediately.
“Yes?”
”DC Sharpe, Hartlith Police. I’m looking for your son Harry.”
”Oh.” She sniffed disapprovingly, “Isn’t he in prison?” Her tone of voice forced Lin
to reassess this woman’s disapproval of her son. She seemed almost uninterested in
him.
“When was the last time you saw your son, Mrs Knight?”
”Not since before he was arrested. He and his girlfriend,” her lip curled in disdain,
“decided not to have dinner with us, again.” She stuck her nose in the air.
“Do you know what his girlfriend was called?”
”Elizabeth…Pearly. Yes, that’s it.”
“Do you know how long they had been together?”
”A few months, I think,” she shrugged. “Harry doesn’t involve me in his life very
much.”
“What do you know about Elizabeth?”
“She’s a secretary,” she sniffed, “in Trenchwood. She works for a business man called
Raymond Briggs.”
”Do you have a photograph of her and your son?”
Cynthia nodded. “I’ll fetch it. One moment, please.” She disappeared, and returned
with a framed photo of both of them, Harry with his arm around the woman.
“Could I borrow this photo, Mrs Knight? It could be very useful in my inquiries.”
“Of course,” she said, slipping it out of the frame.
“Thank you very much for your help, Mrs Knight.”
She phoned Parry who looked up Brigg’s address for her, and drove off to
Trenchwood to see what else she could find out about Miss Pearly.

The office building was tall and uninteresting, with the words ‘Briggs and Co’
emblazoned over the entrance doors. Lin strolled into the foyer, and found a slim
receptionist with bright pink nail varnish and a matching blouse. She gave Lin a big
smile. “Hello, how can I help you?”
”DC Sharpe, Hartlith Police. Is Elizabeth Pearly here?”
”No, I’m standing in for her. She’s…uh, taken leave.”
”Any idea when she’ll be back?”
“Should be in a couple of weeks,” replied the receptionist.
“When did she go?”
“She completely took everyone by surprise, just announced that she had a family
emergency, and had to leave immediately. She’s always been quite reliably, you
know? So she took us all by surprise. I suppose she left this morning.”
”Did she say anything else about this family emergency?”
”No.”
“Do you have an employment file on Elizabeth Pearly?”
“Yeah, hang on.” She rifled in the filing cabinet. “There you are.”
”Thanks,” said Lin, accepting it. She opened it, and scanned down the page, finding a

16
car description and registration number. She smiled. It could be their missing black
car.
“Is it okay if I get some photocopies of this?”
”Sure, use this card.”
They left the building ten minutes later, a file of photocopies under Lin’s arm. She
grinned like a fool. After getting back in her car, Lin scanned the page and found and
address. “43 Farnshaw Lane, here I come.”
She arrived outside the neat terraced house a few minutes later. There was no car in
the driveway, and the curtains were drawn. Lin straightened her shoulders and went
door to door. The few neighbours not at work confirmed that Elizabeth had left the
night before, taking a large suitcase with her.
The cop returned to the house and looked it over. She tried the front door, moved
around the side of the house and tried the back entrance. Taking another look around,
Lin saw that one of the back windows was open a crack. She studied it for a second
before trying to pry it open. She pulled out what looked like a mini crowbar from her
shoulder bag and a few moments later, the window creaked open. Snapping on plastic
gloves, Lin maneuvered herself through the window and onto the kitchen work
surface. She pulled her bag through behind her, not wanting to be without her stun
gun and pepper spray.
Trying to feel professional rather than criminal, she did a room by room sweep,
starting with the ground floor. When she had finished the cursory search, she had
mentally noted the food still left in the fridge, a half empty wardrobe, a distinct lack
of toiletries in the bathroom, and a few phone numbers on the notice board. She
scribbled them down.
Making sure there were no footprints on the kitchen counter, Lin unlocked the back
door with the key she found in the nearby kitchen drawer. There were a few other
keys on the same ring; one for the front, one for the back and an extra one which
didn’t seem to belong to the house. She let herself out, locked it up again and
pocketed it for safekeeping. Who knows when she’d need to get back in?
She drove back to the station, picked up the phone, and rang her friend Ricia at the
DVLC.
“Hi Rish, it’s Lin.”
”Hey there, what’s up?”
“I need you to run a vehicle check for me.”
“Sure. What’s the plate?”
”GV17 M2P. It’s a Ford Mondeo.”
“That baby’s registered to a Miss Elizabeth Pearly. You want an address?”
“Nah, it’s okay. You got anything else on her?”
”Not much, she pays her bills on time, no traffic offences.”
”Thanks anyway.”
She placed a call with the bank, requesting a fax of Pearly’s financial records and
looked at the time. She could probably grab some lunch and head over to see Lou
Clifton. She wanted to know exactly what he remembered.

Lou answered the door, an hour later and looked out suspiciously. “Yes?”
”Louis Clifton? I’m DC Sharpe, I’m looking for Harry Knight.”
”Oh! Come on in.” She declined tea and biscuits, and remained standing in the
hallway.
“So, Lou. What can you remember about Harry’s disappearance?”
”Well, it was about midnight, and I had a look in on all the people in the cells. Just

17
afterwards, I was going to make myself a cup of coffee, and I heard a horn beep. A
lady in a car was waving at me, and calling to me. I went out to the double doors to
see what she wanted. She seemed confused, asking me lots of questions about tea
rooms in the area, and did I know where she could find a cafe. I couldn’t get much
sense out of her, and then she started crying. I didn’t really know what to do. In the
end I suggested she come in for a cup of coffee, but she refused to leave her car. I
went to get her coffee from inside, but then she was gone.”
”Do you remember what kind of car she was driving?”
”It was a black one, but I didn’t notice more than that.”
”What did the woman look like?” asked Lin, getting excited.
“She was blonde, probably in her thirties, I can’t remember much else.”
Lin pulled out a photograph of Elizabeth. “Was it this woman?”
”Yes,” exclaimed Lou, “it was. Where did you get that?”
”That’s confidential, I’m afraid,” she said, brushing off the comment. “Now, can you
remember anything else about the incident; before or afterwards?”
”Nothing really comes to mind.”
“Thanks anyway, Lou,” smilied Lin.
“Will you find him?”
”I certainly intend to,” she promised.
Once back in the car, Lin did a little victory wiggle in her seat. “Oh this is brilliant!
Elizabeth sprung her boyfriend out of jail, after swinging by his house to get some
stuff. Then she disappeared the next morning, probably with Knight in tow,” she
announced to the car.
She slid a Metallica CD into the player, cranked up the volume and drove over to
Harry’s. It was time to check out Mr. Knight’s house and see if he had any interesting
secrets lying about.
She drove over, and just for the sake of it, she tried the front door with the key. It
didn’t work, but she tried the back, and hit the jackpot. Snapping on gloves, Lin began
a search. There were few clothes in the wardrobe, no wallet or loose change on the
bedside table. There was no shaving kit, and Harry Knight had been brought in with a
five o’clock shadow. All crockery was neatly put away, and there were no notes or
phone messages.
“He’s not planning on coming back,” declared Lin.
Whilst in the bedroom, she checked all the usual places for hiding fun things,
including under the bed. There was a shoe box with untidily jumbled layers of
newspaper. Cautiously, Lin delved into it, and found an empty box of ammunition. It
was for a .38.
Head spinning slightly, Lin finished up the search and left. She drove by the station to
collect her belongings before phoning her mother.
“Is there enough dinner for me?”
”There’s always enough dinner for you,” came the reply.
“Excellent.”

18
Chapter 6
Lin trundled home to dump her belongings and sort out her head before driving over
to her mother’s house for dinner. She let herself in through the side door and surprised
Helen who was extracting casserole from the oven.
“Did you miss me?” Lin asked, striking a pose.
Helen smiled, “of course, dear. How’s work going?”
”Okay,” she conceded, rubbing her forehead. “This case I’m on at the moment is
slightly confusing, but I think I’m on to something.”
”That’s good. Take the vegetables through, will you love? And call the others.”
Becky was smiling as she came to the table, and twirled her fork between mouthfuls.
Lin knew exactly what that meant.
“Who is he then?”
”Huh?”
“Who is this new bloke that you’re thinking about?”
Becky giggled. “You remember that hot customer?”
”Not really.”
“His name’s Hugo. We went out for coffee recently. He wants to take me to the
theatre. Imagine that!”
”So when is this gloriously fancy date, then?” asked Lin, shovelling a dumpling in her
mouth.
“On Thursday. He’s picking me up at half past five. I have no idea what to wear.”
Lin rolled her eyes. “And where are you going after the performance?”
”We’ll probably go out for a coffee or something. He’s such a gentleman,” she sighed
happily. Lin rolled her eyes.

The cop arrived back home with a bag of left over casserole and half a spice cake.
Dumping the food in the fridge, she punched the flashing light on her answer
machine. The first message was from Mack. “Lin? Pick up if you’re home. C’mon,
pick up…ok. I heard, through the grapevine, that you had a letter from some ruddy
stalker, but I guess you forgot to mention it.” He didn’t sound happy, Lin winced. “So
when you get back from your mother’s house, maybe you could give me a call and
explain. Huh?”
The next message was breathing. Perplexed, Lin played the message again. It didn’t
seem too creepy, she reassured herself. Probably someone dialled her number without
realising it. Scowling, she deleted both messages, and returned Mack’s phone call.
“Wonders?” he picked up after two rings.
“What can I do for you, good sir?”
She could imagine her friend scowling at the phone. “Didn’t you get my message?”
”Of course I did; I was lightening the mood.”
”Don’t bother trying, sweetheart.” His voice softened, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I forgot,” she said, honestly. “I’ve had a load on my mind recently. Frank knows,”
she added, “so it’s not like I didn’t tell anyone.”
”Yeah, like your first bloody stalker.”
”Mack, that was years ago,” she sighed.
“But you still didn’t tell me. Generally when some creep starts sending you poison ivy
covered flowers, you would tell people rather than decide to have a cold whilst you
recover.”
“Mack…”
“The first I knew about it there were flowers on your doorstep when I dropped you
home. I reached for them…”

19
”Yeah, I know. It’s still embarrassing.”
”…And you throw me to the ground in a pretty good rugby tackle.”
“Look, will you drop it? I told you why I didn’t want you to know.”
”Yeah yeah. Well, now that’s out of the way, how are you?”
She chuckled. “I’m still looking for Harry Knight and his girlfriend.”
”How long have they been missing?”
”Harry disappeared late last night, and his girlfriend was distracting Lou whilst he got
away. I think they might have headed off together.”
”I’ll keep an eye out for you.”
”Thanks. I’d better go.”
”Fly safe, Wonders.” She hung up and sighed. Glancing at the clock, it was nine
o’clock. Enough time for a bath.
As she ran the water, wearing a towelling dressing gown, Lin froze. She was almost
certain that she had heard something. Lin wasn’t generally spooked by unexpected
noises. She had got used to the sounds her house made, and wasn’t generally scared of
living alone. However, this noise set her on edge. She reached for the taps, to stop the
flow of water. But if there was someone there, she didn’t want to alert them to the fact
that she knew they were there. She turned them down, but tightened her bathrobe and
slipped out of the bathroom. Her gun was downstairs in her shoulder bag on the table
in the hall, but she had been charging her stun gun in her bedroom. She crept along
the corridor, avoiding the creaky floorboards, peered inside, and after checking there
was no one inside, grabbed the charged stun gun, and did a silent search of the tiny
guest bedroom. She moved to the stairs, and breathing as quietly as she could, tip toed
down the stairs, her back to the wall.
Seeing no one in the hall, she silently exchanged her stun gun for her revolver, took a
deep breath and peered around the door frame into the kitchen. She could hear a
vague rustling, and stepped into the room, gun at the ready.
The back door was open slightly, and there was no one in the kitchen.
The knot in her stomach didn’t shrink. She stepped further into the room and heard a
soft footstep behind her. Pain exploded in the back of her head and everything went
black.

Accidents with her stun gun, fights with big scary men and generally her bad luck
meant that Lin got knocked out a lot. The sense of awareness about her surroundings
grew, and pain washed over her in waves. She opened her eyes and realised that it was
dark. She was lying face-down on the cold kitchen floor, and her head was throbbing
terribly. There was no sound of intruders, and there was a cold draft coming from the
open back door. Struggling to her feet, Lin closed the door and picked up the phone.
Mack picked up after seven rings, and answered with a sigh. “Hello?”
”I need you, now,” Lin choked, a hand on the lump on her head. “Someone broke in
and knocked me out.”
Mack’s voice changed immediately. “Lock all the doors and windows. I’ll be there in
ten.” The car journey between Lin and Mack’s houses generally took fifteen minutes.
This evening, Mack managed to make it in eight. Lin didn’t want to think about how
fast he’d have to have been going.
After checking the peep hole, she let him in, and offered a reassuring smile.
“What happened?” he demanded, an arm around her.
Lin relayed the events of her evening to her friend, who sat her down on the sofa,
passed her a sweet cup of tea and listened, a frown on his concerned features. “D’you
think this is your stalker?” he asked when she’d finished.

20
“I dunno,” she shrugged. “I didn’t get a look at them. I just heard a noise, went down
and he knocked me out from behind, I suppose he got in through the back.”
”You’re not safe, here,” he said. Lin braced herself. “Move in with me.”
”Mack, we’ve had this conversation before. I’m not moving in with you. I have a
house here-“
“Yeah, which this guy knows about and can get in.”
”I’m not going to disrupt my work or my life for some creep.”
”You calling me a creep?” he asked, not quite serious.
Lin sighed. “Unless I have to, I am not moving.” She folded her arms to make sure he
knew she meant business.
“OK. So moving in with me isn’t going to happen. But with you continuing to stay
here without anyone else, or whatever…you need protection.”
She saw exactly where he was going. “No. Nuh uh, not a chance.”
“C’mon, Lin. Give it a shot.”
“I’m not having a bodyguard.”
“You leave me no choice,” he sighed. “Get a bodyguard or I’ll tell you mother about
your stalker and the break in.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t,” she hissed.
“Hey. I’m just looking after you.”
She scowled. “Well I don’t have the money for any ruddy bodyguard.”
”Don’t worry about that. I’ve got a friend who might be able to help.”
“Is he scary?”
”Sort of. Not really. He’s a big softy. He’ll like you.”
She was still scowling. “Fine. I’ll meet him.” She got up. “I’m going to bed.”
”Not yet. Let me take you to the hospital, just to check that you don’t have
concussion.”
Lin rolled her eyes and adopted a pained expression. “Do you have to?”
“Wonders, you know the drill.” He waited until she put some pyjamas on under her
dressing gown before bundling her in the car, and driving her to the local hospital.
They had a relatively short wait to see the triage nurse, who reassured them that Lin
did not have concussion, merely that she would have a headache for the next day or
so. Trying not to feel resentful to her concerned friend, Lin graciously allowed Mack
to sleep on the sofa as she went up to bed. “I’ll have to leave early, I’m afraid,” her
said as he threw a few cushions onto the floor. “Sleep well.”
”Hmph.”

Lin’s head pounded as she woke up, and she opened her eyes reluctantly to see a glass
of water and 2 paracetamol tablets on her bedside table with a post it note bearing a
smiley face was stuck to the glass. Lin smiled.
Once she was up, she had a cup of tea, had some toast for breakfast, and saw another
post it note on the fridge.
Get some decent food, woman! I’ll phone my mate and get back to you soon. Mack x
She smiled and got ready for work.
When she got to her desk at the station, Mack had already told Frank, who had his
arms folded. “You want to tell me how you got that lump at the back of your head?”
Lin sighed. “I’m gonna kill Mack.”
”You’d better be accepting this bodyguard, thing.”
”I don’t have a choice,” she growled. “Mack would tell my mum.”
Frank let out a bark of laughter. “Oh, he’s good.”

21
She scowled. “I’ve got work to do. Go and annoy some other poor soul.”
He laughed, but left.

22
Chapter 7
Placing Harry Knight and Elizabeth Pearly to one side for the present, Lin devoted the
day to the missing persons cases; two women had disappeared recently. Eleanor
Woods had been missing for almost three weeks, and Janet Bridge had been
missing for two months.
Lin flicked through the files, finding only basic information on the women; full names
and addresses, work addresses, a list of relatives, and photographs taken from friends
or relatives, and descriptions of their clothing when they went missing. There was
also a short report, detailing the lack of progress from a plea for information. Lin
picked up the phone, and dialled the hospitals. It was always a good idea to check and
see if there were any likely dead bodies that had been found that might be something
to do with the case one was working on. The Princess Heart hospital and Hartlith
General Hospital didn’t have any unidentified bodies that fitted Janet, Eleanor,
Elizabeth or Harry’s descriptions.
She went over everything she knew about the ladies from the files, and went to look at
where the women had lived. Since there had already been searches in the house by
various other police officers, Lin wasn’t sure what more she would be able to find that
a horde of forensics people had missed, but sometimes it just helped to have a fresh
pair of eyes to shed some light on things.
Eleanor Woods owned a small one bedroom flat on the outskirts of Rushmard. Lin
had managed to get the key off Frank, and she let herself and Parry in, leaving her car
parked across the road. Gloves were snapped on, and Parry went to the kitchen and
began rifling through drawers, and Lin wandered into the bedroom. There were
photos on the book shelves, showing a smiling Eleanor and three other women. They
were dressed in pink, with feather boas and wands. One of the women was wearing a
cheap veil, with hen night!!! written on her t-shirt. Lin looked over the other photos.
There was a snapshot of Eleanor, one of the women from the hen night photo and 2
young men. One of them Lin recognised as Ross Brown, one of Adam’s friends.
There was little else of much value in the bedroom. After scouting through the
drawers Lin had found a number of old books, a small cluster of letters from what
seemed to be an old boyfriend called Nathon, and an address book. Nathon and Ross
weren’t listed. This confused Lin slightly, as the letters didn’t look old, and there were
no dates on them. Eleanor had been reported missing by her boyfriend Corey, who
had been expecting her but never turned up. It seemed possible that Eleanor had been
2 timing Corey with Nathon.
Parry had found very little either, so they drove back to the station. Uniform had
already questioned the neighbours, and Lin had the file open on the page of notes as
she plugged in her brother’s mobile number. He didn’t pick up so Lin left a message,
asking for him to phone her ASAP. She scanned the page of notes taken from the
neighbours, and rummaged around to find the tape of the interview with Eleanor’s
most recent boyfriend, Corey.
One of the first things that struck Lin about Corey’s voice was how honest he
sounded. He answered every question quickly, almost unwittingly giving heaps of
background information as he did so. Lin steepled her fingers and leant back in her
chair, headphones in her ears. Corey admitted to loving Eleanor but that she had not
loved him back. Apparently, they had been going out for six months before she went
missing.
Lin knew from the file that the route between the houses had been scoured for
evidence but nothing was found.

23
She shut off the tape as her phone rang. “Hello?”
”Lin, I got your message, what’s up?” It was Adam.
“Are you still mates with Ross Brown?”
”Yeah, we go to the pub occasionally.”
”Do you have his address or phone number?”
”Why? What’s going on?”
”I need to speak to him about the disappearance of a young woman. So what’s his
number?” Adam read it out and she scribbled it all down. ”Does he work?”
”Yeah, he’s an accountant at Freidland.”
”Thanks. I’ll see you later.”
”Don’t get shot.”
”And you be wary of those rabid children.” She hung up and picked up her jacket.
Friedland here we come, she grinned.

She parked in the customer car park at the back of the office building just after half
eleven. After quickly checking she had her I.D., stun gun, pepper spray, mobile and
car keys, she strode up the reception desk. A wide mouthed blonde woman with crows
feet and heavy make up bared two rows of perfect sparkling teeth. “Good morning,
madam, how may I help you?”
”DC Sharpe, Hartlith police.” She badged the toothy woman. “I’d like to speak to Mr
Ross Brown.”
”Of course, do take a seat.” She waved to the fake leather seats which lined the walls.
Lin preferred to wait to see what would happen. The blonde receptionist picked up the
phone and dialled an inside number. A moment later she announced to Lin that Mr
Brown was waiting for her, and directed her to the lift.
She was met, on the fifth floor, by the curly haired man in his late thirties that she
recognised as her brother’s friend and drinking buddy. “Hi,” said Lin, shaking his
outstretched hand. “DC Sharpe, Harlith police. I’m Adam Sharpe’s sister.”
“Hi there,” he replied, “how can I help you?”
”Can we step into your office?”
“Of course.” He offered her a seat across from his swivel chair the other side of the
desk, and closed the door. “What can I do for you?”
“Do you know a woman named Eleanor Woods?”
”Yes, we met at a party a couple of years ago. We’ve met up a few times for drinks.”
”I take it you’ve heard about her recent disappearance?”
”Yes, it was a terrible shock.”
”How well did you know each other?”
”Like I said, we went out for drinks occasionally.”
”What did you talk about when you went out?”
”Oh, work, family, lovers, stress, the usual.”
“Did Eleanor ever mention someone named Corey?”
”No.”
”When was the last time you saw her?”
”About a month ago? A week or so before she disappeared I think.”
“Did she ever mention anyone called Nathon?”
”Yeah, quite a few times. She mentioned that he swept her off her feet and was
romantic and stuff, but not all that much else.”
”Corey was Eleanor’s present boyfriend. He was expecting her but she never arrived.
He was the one who initially called the police.”
“How long had they been together?” asked Ross, genuinely surprised.

24
“About six months.”
”That’s a shock.”
She laid her card on the desk. “Call me if you think of anything else,” she said. As she
got back into the lift, she licked her lips. Time for lunch.

Janet Bridge’s house had yielded interesting facts, too. She had kept a diary, and in it
she had talked about a blossoming relationship with a man named Aaron.
By five thirty, Lin had gone over the files, and had found a tentative link between the
missing women. After another interview with Ross Brown, Lin had a full name for
‘Nathon’ whom had written love letters to Eleanor. His name was Nathon Forger. She
had checked him out and found little. After reading through Janet’s diary, she found a
similar relationship going on in the other woman’s life. Lin had spoken to a couple of
Janet’s friends, and had come up with a name: Aaron Fington.
In both cases, friends and relatives of the women had said that they had been dating
for a couple of weeks before they had disappeared.
Lin yawned and looked at the clock. It was quarter past six. If she hurried, she could
make dinner at her mother’s.

Lin parked her car on the drive with 2 minutes to spare. She hiked her bag high over
her shoulder and rummaged around for her keys before letting herself in the kitchen,
and found her sister applying yet another layer of lipstick onto already dangerously
coloured lips.
“Hey, guess what!” cried Lin, slamming her palms onto the table, attempting to make
Becky jump and shove the lipstick up her nose.
“What?” Becky replied, continuing her lip-smothering.
“I’m here for dinner. So who’s this guy you’re going out with, then?”
”You remember my holiday guy?”
“The one you had coffee and then a date with recently?”
”Yeah, well we’re going out again.”
”Where are you going?”
”Sander’s.” The mention of the swanky restaurant caused Lin to raise an eyebrow.
“That explains the get-up,” she commented, nodding towards her sister’s outfit. It
consisted of a v-neck deep red top with gold detail, and a skin tight black skirt with
spangle strewn high heels.
“I thought I’d make an effort.”
”Poor guy,” Lin murmured.
Becky paused long enough to deliver an evil eye glare. “He’s picking me up soon.”
She put her lipstick in her black handbag and reviewed her reflection in her hand
mirror.
“Your mobile charged and got credit? Have you got your whistle thing?”
Becky did a dramatic eye roll which was rather disconcerting with her heavily
outlined eyes. “Yes. You’re as bad as mum. And you are such a cop.”
Their mother arrived in the kitchen. “Hello dear,” she smiled at Lin, kissing her
cheeks in greeting. “This is a nice surprise.”
”Yeah. Leftovers are nice, but your fresh meals are even better.”
There was the sound of a car pulling up outside. “That’ll be him,” squealed Becky,
and barrelled towards the door. The man who stood outside gave a charming smile,
but his intense gaze made Lin uncomfortable. He was about six foot, had short
combed back black hair, and was somewhere in his late thirties. He wore a well
tailored dove grey suit with black shirt and tie.

25
“Evening, Rebecca,” smiled Hugo, warmly to his date. “Shall we?” he asked, offering
an arm.
“Of course,” she smiled and stepped across the threshold and took it. She glanced at
Lin. “See you later,” she added with a smile.
They got into the large silver Mercedes waiting at the bottom of the drive, and
zoomed off.
As they were finishing dinner, Lin’s mobile chirped and she got up to answer it.
“Yes?”
”Hey Wonders, I spoke to that mate of mine, and he’s coming round mine tonight.
He’s completely trustworthy, and he’ll watch your back like a friggin’ guardian angel.
So can you make it?”
She glanced at her watch, “I’ll be right over, and I’ll even bring dessert.”

26
Chapter 8
Lin left the house a short while later. She bundled into her car, and drove across town
to Mack’s flat. Her friend buzzed her in, and she let herself in through the open door.
She found herself face to face with a broad shouldered man about 6 feet tall with scar
along his left cheek bone and shaggy dark hair tied back behind his head. He wore
jeans, CAT boots, a black t-shirt and she guessed it was his black leather jacket over
the arm of the sofa.
She pursed her lips. “Either you’re Mack’s friend, or I’m gonna have to shoot you.”
A smile tilted his Spanish lips, and he stepped aside. “Bruce Santiago,” he said softly,
his voice deep and soothing with a very faint sexy Spanish lilt.
“Mack’s friend?”
He nodded.
“DC Jocelyn Sharp,” she said, holding out her hand. He shook it politely, his grip
firm. “Mack about?” Lin asked, once she released him.
“In the kitchen.”
They went found Mack by the oven, making pancakes. “Hey, Wonders, I see you met
Jag.”
”Jag?” she repeated, raising an eyebrow.
“In the army we got animal nicknames. I was Panther, he was Jaguar. Jag for short.”
”Panther, huh? What happened to goofy Gofer?”
He took a swipe at her with the spatula, and succeeded in smearing pancake mix on
her arm. She licked it off.
She turned to Bruce. “What do you want me to call you?”
”Can you cope with Jag?”
“Sure. Can you cope with Lin?”
”I’m not making any promises.” There was that amused smile again.
Lin plucked 3 plates from the cupboard, and Mack dished out the pancakes. He
proceeded in drowning it with chocolate sauce, squirty cream, chopped bananas and
chocolate chips. Lin cringed, and doused hers in lemon juice and sugar.
Jag went without, preferring a coffee.
Sinking into the lounge, Lin polished off her first course of dinner, preferring her
mother’s left overs as her second course, and licked her lips.
“Mack tells me you need protection,” Jag began, leaning back in his chair.
“In theory, yes. I recently got a threatening letter through my letterbox. The other
night I got broken in to and knocked out, and I kind of think they’re connected.”
“She’s not keen on it,” Mack added, through a mouthful of chocolate and cream.
“She wants to grab this creep by the gonads and sort him out all by herself.”
Lin shot him an evil glare. “I just want this to be over, before it ends up going too far
and with me or people I care about getting hurt. I don’t have the money or inclination
for the proper bodyguard regime thing, so we were wondering if you could help me
out.”
Jag tilted his head to the side, “Mack tells me you’ve been stalked before.”
Another evil glare flew in Mack’s direction. “Yeah, before I joined the force. I
ignored him until I could make the arrest myself.”
Mack finished his pancakes and burped. “So will you help her out?”
”What kind of help are you after?”
”Just watch her back, keep her out of trouble, avoid letting her get shot, that kind of
thing.”
Jag cut his eyes to Lin. “Sure. It would be a shame if you got killed, I’m starting to
like you, Slim.”

27
She raised an eyebrow, “you mean you didn’t like me the second I walked in? Slim
Lin is not happy.”
Jag smiled again.
It was gone eleven by the time Lin returned to her car. She dumped her shoulder bag
on the passenger seat and drove away, waving up towards Mack’s window and then to
her newly appointed bodyguard, who would tail her home. She smiled in the dark as
she drove. She liked Jag. He was, as Mack had promised, a little scary. It was
probably something to do with his scar, and height, and build, and dark eyes which
seemed to see right through her status as a tough cop. And yet, there was definitely an
element in him which instilled trust. Maybe it was because he was so big and familiar
with guns, she mused. Or perhaps it was a smile which seemed to break the big tough
guy image.
Lin arrived home fifteen minutes later, parked outside the house, and waited for Jag to
also park, get out of the car, and take her offered keys. He did a quick walk through,
with his gun drawn before pronouncing it safe. Lin waited until he had gone before
she locked up, kicked off her shoes, and headed for bed.

She woke at eight the next morning, feeling groggy. She groaned as she looked at her
digital alarm clock beside the bed. She heaved herself into the shower, allowing the
fast stream of water to wake her up. When she had finished she hopped out, cleaned
her teeth, dried off and dressed in last night’s jeans and a white t-shirt. She pulled her
wet hair back in a ponytail, and munched breakfast, swiftly.
Jag should be arriving any moment with a goody bag.
She dumped her bowl and mug into the sink, when there was a knock on her door.
After checking through the peep hole, Lin unbolted the door, and let Jaguar in. He
was in combat trousers and t-shirt this morning, his shaggy hair tied back and under
his lightweight black jacket, Lin could see a gun in its holster.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Come in,” she nodded, stepping aside.
He crossed into the hallway, and brought out a mobile phone and a small black device
from his pocket.
“Make all your calls with this,” he said, pressing it into her open palm. “It’s got my
number on it already, and has a virtually undetectable tracking device in it. Call me
any time you need me, day or night.”
“If I’m in danger, right?”
His lips tilted into a half smile. “That too.”
Covering her blush, Lin pointed at the other device. “Aha. The dreaded bleeper.”
”That’s the one. Press it if anything feels out of place, or you feel in danger. Don’t
think about it, just press the button.” He reached across and clipped it onto the
waistband of her jeans.
Lin was surprised at the contact, and glanced at him.
“I’ll try to keep out of your hair, but don’t try to loose me or anything stupid like
that,” he advised, hands in his pockets. “What’s your plan for today?”
”I’m in serious need of another opinion on that one.”
”What are you working on?”
”3 cases really. Harry Knight, recently got done for gun smuggling, vanished from
prison. I’m pretty sure his girlfriend Elizabeth Pearly was the distraction whilst he got
bust out of the clink. They’ve both disappeared and I’m not sure where they’ve gone
or even if they’re still alive.

28
“The other cases are a couple of women, Eleanor Woods and Janet Bridges are both
missing. I think there’s a link. They both had similar sounding secretive romantic
relationships with a couple of guys. I need thorough background searches on them all.
The 2 boyfriends haven’t got criminal records so I can’t get many facts about them.”
”Have you been to the houses?”
”Yup, all four of them. I want to do another walk through of the routes that Eleanor
and Janet went on their way back from work. Your professional opinion would be
appreciated.”
”I’ll meet you outside,” he said. “I’m driving.”
Sitting in his Jeep, Jag found himself reassessing this woman. He’s got her police files
off his thorough search engine, and had also done an in depth search. He made a point
of doing so before he worked any case. Jag would do background research, meet the
character, and do a mental profile, hopefully matching up to the paper work.
She didn’t make an effort with her appearance. That was one of the first things he
noticed. Having worked in situations that most of the women he had come across
looked as though they had trowels to apply their make up each morning, it was a nice
change. The few seconds he had spent in her house had yielded secrets about her. The
house was comfortable. It was designed to be a haven from the stresses of her job. It
was tidy, organised and smelt good. She smelt good, Jag amended. Last night had
proved that she had a fun sense of humour; he smiled to himself. This case should be
fun. He picked up his mobile and phoned another member of his security team. The
guy flashed his lights from the corner, and Jag hung up. He had put a team on Lin’s
tail. It was a standard procedure, and would serve to protect her when he wasn’t
around, and would also test how much she trusted him. She might or might not
mention that she seemed to have a tail all the time.
Lin locked up the house, and slid into the Range Rover, beside her body guard.
“Where to now?” Jag asked as she strapped in.
“Let’s start with Eleanor. She worked at the Tea Leaf café in Rushmard. She lived on
her own in a flat across town.” He started the engine.
“So…how are you?” Lin slid him a sideways glance.
He chuckled. “What kind of a question is that?”
”Well it’s slightly more polite than demanding you tell me your life story.”
Jag tilted his lips into a slight smile.
“So, how long were you in the army for, once Mack quit?”
”A couple of years.”
“What did you do after that?”
”Worked security for the government.”
“Ooh, like James Bond, right?”
“If I told you, I’d have to shoot you.”

29
Chapter 9
The Tea Leaf Café was a small shop off the high street in Rushmard, which sold tea,
cakes and coffee. Jag parked the car across the street, and they strode inside, and got a
table. The waitress came over and Lin badged the young woman. “DC Sharpe,
Hartlith Police. Did you know Eleanor Woods?”
“Sure,” said the doe eyed girl. “Ellie was a sweetie.”
”Did you know her well?”
She shrugged, “We worked the same shift, she seemed nice.”
”Did she ever mention a boyfriend?”
”Not really. About a month before she went missing there was a real good looker in
here. He flirted with Ellie, took her number, and I think they went on a date.”
”Didn’t you find that unusual?”
”Well, it happens, sometimes, you know? But I guess it was a bit weird. Ellie seemed
so quiet; a bit of a loner. But that guy was a charmer.”
”When was the last time you saw her?”
”Probably it was the day she disappeared. She left work at the normal time, put on her
coat and walked home.”
”Did she always walk?”
”Yeah, except sometimes her prince charming would pick her up. That’s what she
called him.”
”Thanks for you help,” said Lin getting up. “We’ll get back in touch if we have any
more questions.”
“Well?” Lin asked, once they were back in the car, “what’re you thinking?”
”So Eleanor was picked up by the guy at work. He was charming. What books did
you find at her place?”
”Romantic rubbish, mostly.”
“So he charmed her, romanced her and then she disappeared.”
”yeah, only she’d been going out with Corey for five months before Aaron appeared.
So he’s her bit of excitement. But what happens? Why would she just disappear?”
Jag shrugged. “Let’s see if there are any similarities with Janet.”
They drove to Janet’s work place, a large insurance company, where she had been a
secretary. After asking an older woman with dyed orange hair and pencilled
eyebrows, they found out that Janet stopped off at the Greyhound pub every evening
on her way home from work. They thanked her and found the pub.
Janet’s story, it turned out, was scarily similar to Eleanor. She was also a bit of a
loner, who lived by herself, and possessed a number of romantic novels. Her
boyfriend, Nathon, whom she had met at the bar, it turned out, was also very sweet to
her. Her daily journal bore many ‘secret’ encounters, telling how romantic and
charming he was. Personally, it gave Lin the creeps.
When they were back in the car, Jag started driving, and Lin glanced in the wing
mirror a number of times. She could spot the tail, but didn’t know what to do about it.
Surely Jag knew about it too, she reasoned as he requested files on the two women,
Harry Knight, Cynthia Pearly and Aaron and Nathon.
“Have you got elves or something?”
”Run that by me again,” he suggested, adjusting his shades.
“It’s like you phone some distant secret place, and a minute later you’ve got a load of
info.”
He chuckled, “one of the perks of being in security, Slim.”
”So where are we off to now?”
He handed her his mobile. “Phone the hospitals, see if there are any dead people lying

30
about that you might know.”
Suppressing a shudder, Lin dialled the numbers. She hung up five minutes later.
“The Princess Heart, 2 unidentified bodies. Could be someone useful.”
”We’re on our way.”
Jag drove them to the Princess Heart. They made their way to the morgue, and found
a pathologist waiting for them. “These are our two Johns,” he said, peeling away the
sheets. The first was a young man with blonde hair. “The first guy drowned, older one
was shot with a .38” added the pathologist. The second was in his late forties, had
thinning hair, and…Lin whipped out a picture. It was Harry Knight.
“Oh boy,” said Lin. “I think I can identify this bloke for you. Harry Knight. We’ll
need to get his mother in to do it officially, but I reckon that’s him. Do you know
what clothes he was wearing?”
The young man pulled out a description from a chart. “Jeans, t-shirt and checked
flannel shirt.”
“When was this guy found?”
“Early this morning by a dog walker. We reckon he’s been dead a good day or so.”
”Whereabouts?”
”In the Trenchwood river, washed up on the shore.”
”Thanks.”
They got back into the car, and Lin blew strands of hair away from her forehead.
“Well that was very useful.”
Jag smiled, and glanced at the clock, “where to now, madam?”
”Home,” she decided. “I need to empty my brain.”
With a smile still playing on his lips, her bodyguard started the engine and they left
the car park.
Once at home, Jag parked the car, and did a gun-drawn sweep of the house. After
declaring it stalker free, he let Lin past, and she emptied a pad of paper and a pen out
of her bag before scribbling notes. “Tell me if this sounds about right to you,” she said
to Jag. “Elizabeth Pearly went into work, declared she was taking a holiday and left.
That night she was seen entering Harry Knight’s house at around 11.15 the other
night. She left with clothes and a .38 from under Knight’s bed. Around midnight, Lou
Clifton was distracted by her as someone helped Harry out of the cells, and all 3 drove
off. Probably he was shot a couple of days ago, and dumped in the river, and got
washed up this morning.”
”That’s a fair summary,” Jag agreed.
“Right, but there’s a few things missing. For instance, who helped Harry out of those
cells? Why was he shot with the .38 that Elizabeth got from his house? Where’s
Elizabeth now?”
“All good questions, Slim.” Jag shrugged. The phone rang, and Lin picked up, her
gaze still fixed on her guardian angel. “Hello?”
”Hey darling, are you coming for dinner?”
“Yeah. Set an extra place, I’m bringing a friend.”

Jag parked the car on the driveway, and Lin suppressed a grin at the sight of Ads’
historic Mini Metro. He was going to have a fit when he saw the shiny black Range
Rover parked on the drive.
Approaching the front door, Lin straightened her shoulders, and let herself in. “Mum,
we’re here,” she called as Jag closed the front door behind them. Helen appeared from
the kitchen, a dish of lasagne in hand.

31
She almost dropped it at the sight of Lin’s unofficial bodyguard. She placed it on the
dining room table, and came back to shake hands with Jag.
“Hello, dear,” she said, “What’s your name?”
”Jag.”
”Well, come through and sit down, dear. Girls!” she called into the lounge, “dinner is
ready! Adam, Becky, you too.”
Jag and Lin seated themselves at the table, whilst Helen bustled around with drinks
and warm bread and vegetables. Adam and Becky froze in the doorway as they saw
Lin’s guest, and Lin bit her lip to keep from laughing.
Her brother and sister took their seats, and the girls ignored Jag’s presence,
squabbling over who sat next to their uncle Adam. Finally Helen sat down, and
everyone served themselves.
“So Jag,” began Becky, fluttering her eyelashes. “How do you know Lin?”
”We’re mutual friends of Mack,” Jag answered, spooning out green beans.
“What are you doing here?” asked Ads, his eyes narrow.
“I was invited,” Jag replied calmly, trying hard not to smile. Here was a defensive
younger brother who didn’t seem to like other guys treading on his turf. Jag wondered
what he thought of Mack.
Lin understood her brother’s concern. Jag did not have soft and cuddly mannerisms
like Mack, and there was nothing submissive about him. His scar made him look
dangerous, let alone his deep eyes and steady gaze. The fact that he was armed did
nothing to remove the image.
“So,” said Helen, taking a sip of her drink, “are you in the police force, Jag?”
”No. I’m in security.”
”Jag used to be in the army with Mack,” explained Lin, “then he branched out.”
Becky munched daintily on her bread, Rachel and Millie kicked each other under the
table, Ads made faces at the girls whilst his mother wasn’t looking, and Jag ate his
meal quietly, ignoring the fuss.
“Are the carrots firm enough?” asked Helen.
Yes, replied everyone, the food was lovely. When stuck for something to say, talk
about food.
“So how is work going, Lin, darling?” Helen asked, piling lasagne onto her fork.
“It’s fine, thanks,” came the reply. “I’m tracking down a a jailbreak at the moment.”
Helen simply rolled her eyes and adopted a pained expression.

32
Chapter 10
When all the plates were clean, Becky stacked up the plates and Lin helped her
mother move the dishes into the kitchen. Only once Becky had gone back into the
dining room, did Helen speak to her eldest daughter. “That man is not your friend, is
he? He’s a body guard,” she hissed accusingly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lin protested.
“Don’t lie to me. He’s protecting you. You’re in trouble. What have you done this
time?”
”I didn’t do anything!”
“I don’t believe you.”
”Mum, Jag is just keeping an eye on me. Mack and Frank thought it was a good idea.”
”Has Frank met this Jag, then?”
”No…he wasn’t in the office today.”
Helen sighed, and removed pudding of banoffee pie and cream from the fridge. “Why
did you have to be a police woman? What’s wrong with a travel agent or a shopping
assistant?” Lin rolled her eyes and picked up the bowls and spoons.
“How is Carlos, Becky?” Helen asked her daughter, as she served dessert.
“We broke up,” came the reply.
“Hang on,” interrupted Lin, “I thought you were going out with Hugo?”
“Well…”
”Were you 2 timing Carlos with Hugo?” Lin was genuinely surprised.
“Not really,” Becky protested. “I only went out for coffee with Hugo and stuff. Not
really a date.”
“Uh huh. And what about the theatre?”
”Well, we went as friends,” she decided.
Lin raised an eyebrow and gave a disapproving look.
“What happened with Carlos?” Helen asked.
She shrugged, “he didn’t like my job. Said it wasn’t creative enough.”
“He’s an artist,” Lin explained to Jag.
“That’s a shame, dear,” said Helen, “he was nice.”
“He was a scum bag,” Lin muttered.
Helen shot Lin a warning look.
“He was!” the cop protested. “If a bloke tries to change your job because he doesn’t
like it, he’s not worth the hassle. Get a dog instead.”
Becky helped herself to more banoffi pie. “I thought you didn’t like dogs?”
”They’re okay. I just don’t want to have to clear up after them.”
“So who’s been after you about your job?” Becky asked.
“You mean apart from Mum?”
Helen rolled her eyes.
“yeah.”
Lin shrugged, “not recently.”
”No blokes recently or no nagging recently?”
She shrugged again, feeling herself begin to blush. Jag watched, amused.
“Is there a new man I should know about?” asked Helen, curiously.
“No,” she said sharply.
Helen smiled sympathetically. “It’s alright, dear, one day you’ll find a prince
charming. Isn’t that right, Jag? You’ll find her one, won’t you?”
”Mum!” Lin was positively glowing.

33
At nine o’clock, the banoffee pie had been eaten, tea and coffee had been served, and
it was time for Jag and Lin to leave. “Thanks for dinner, Mrs. Sharpe,” said Jag,
shaking hands again.
“Yeah, cheers Mum,” added Lin as they headed for the door.
“That’s alright, dears, come back soon.”
Jag checked the car over once, and they got in. He glanced at her, before starting the
engine. “Well that was fun.”
She glared at him, trying to suss out his reaction. “Really?”
“Yeah, I don’t get much entertainment at dinner time. It’s fun every now and then.”
She scowled, and he grinned.
Jag parked, checked the house for uninvited scary visitors, and Lin stepped inside.
“So what’s the plan, Batman?”
”You stay here, I go home. I pick you up at half eight tomorrow morning, and we go
to work. Any change in plan, you phone me.”
She saluted. “No problemo.”
He looked amused. “Sleep well.”
Then he was gone.

Lin woke from a nightmare with a start, and glanced over at her clock. The
fluorescent numbers told her it was a little after three in the morning. She turned over,
and snuggled down, but she found that she couldn’t sleep. She was restless and
feeling apprehensive. Throwing back the covers, she padded downstairs for a drink,
and sipped the glass of water whilst looking out at the street. It was dark, and silent.
Cars were motionless beside the houses, and….there was a black Mercedes opposite
Lin’s house that she didn’t recognise. She frowned. It hadn’t been there when Jag had
dropped her off. A black Mercedes, she repeated to herself. Why was that jogging
something in her memory? Holy cow! Elizabeth Pearly’s car was a black Mercedes!
Lin squinted through the crack in the curtains, but couldn’t see a license plate from
the positioning of it. She was almost certain there was someone inside, but the car
wasn’t under a streetlight, so it was hard to tell.
She retrieved her mobile phone from her shoulder bag in the hall, and punched in
Jag’s number. It rang three times, and then Jag picked up.
“What is it, Slim?” His voice was soft, and Lin could imagine him sitting up in bed,
rubbing his eyes.
”There’s a black Mercedes outside my house,” she whispered. “I can’t see the number
plate, but I think it might belong to our missing Pearly.”
”Go back to bed, Slim. It’s nothing to worry about, and I can guarantee that it’s not
Pearly’s merc.”
“How come?”
”It’s a couple of my guys making sure you don’t run off during the night.”
There was a pause. “Oh.”
”I’ll pick you up in five hours.” He hung up. A smile crept over Lin’s face. She waved
at the car, but found no response. Still beaming, she went back to bed.

As he had promised, Jag knocked on her door at eight thirty later that morning. Lin
was waiting for him. She had showered, blow dried her hair, and was wearing old
jeans and a t-shirt from Carla, which advertised coffee beans in a large slogan across
her chest. She was wearing her new Converse trainers, and had a khaki army jacket
and her bag slung over her shoulder.
“Where to now?” He asked as she got in the car beside him.

34
“I want to have a nosey at Elizabeth’s financial records. And Harry’s. See if I can get
any clues from there.”
”To the office it is. Oh, and I’ve got a present for you.”
Lin looked surprised.
“Don’t get too excited, it’s not that great,” he looked amused. He reached to the back
seat and passed her a few files.
“What’s this?”
”In depth searches of all those people that you were after. Enjoy.”

Once at the station, Jag parked the car and waited in the car. “Aren’t you coming in?”
she asked, slightly surprised.
“Nah,” he shook his head, “that’s your boss’ domain. He can look after you in there,
but you’re mine as soon as you leave the building.”
Trying not to think about the implications of what he had said, Lin walked into
reception, signed in, and went up to her desk. She phoned Elizabeth’s bank, and they
faxed her Pearly’s financial records. After scanning through them, Lin slid them into
the files and went back to the car.
“Well?” Jag asked.
“I need your ideas and experience,” she sighed. “Let’s go back to my place.”
Jag unlocked the door, and pressed the alarm code. Wordlessly, he began his gun-
drawn sweep of the house. Lin closed the door and kicked off her shoes. “Stay where
you are,” came Jag’s voice from the lounge. Two minutes later, he returned to the
hall, grim faced. “You’ve had visitors,” he rumbled.
Lin followed him into the lounge. On her TV was a post it note:
Can you swim?
Harry couldn’t.
Lin ground her teeth. She started to go red. Then she threw a lamp across the room. It
shattered on impact with the wall. Jag pulled out his mobile phone. “Who is meant to
be doing security this morning?... No more excuses….you’re going to answer to me”
he barked down the phone. Then he hung up. “Feel better?” he asked.
“No. Now I have to clear it up.”
”Leave it. We’re going to do a walk through together. Tell me if anything seems out
of place.”
Reluctantly, Lin followed Jag through the house. She hesitated in the kitchen, by the
sink. She couldn’t remember washing up the Eeyore mug. Biting the inside of her
cheek, Lin told Jag. His eyes darkened, but they carried on upstairs. In her bedroom,
Lin froze, feeling something out of place. Someone had been here. Instincts were
screaming at her. Jag opened the wardrobe with a pen knife. She shook her head,
everything was in order. Then he opened her underwear drawer, and she froze. There
was a parcel wrapped in red tissue paper.
“That’s not mine,” she whispered. Snapping on rubber gloves from his back pocket,
Jag removed the parcel, and unwrapped it. It was a gun. A .38.
There was a pause. “Holy….cow. What the heck is that doing there?”
”Bad news, Slim, I think you’re about to be sucked in to a big murder investigation.
Get a bag of clothes, we’re leaving in three minutes.”

35
Chapter 11
Lin called Mack once they were in the car. “Hey, Wonders. What’s up?”
”We have a situation,” she said, grimly.
He slid into cop mode. “What’s wrong?”
She quickly explained about the note and the package, and finding Harry and the gun.
“Oh boy.”
”Yeah. I need a place to stay; Jag’s driving me to yours.”
”Let yourself in, I’ll be home at half five.”
“Thanks, Mack.”
They arrived at Mack’s flat a short while later, and let themselves in. Lin flung her
jacket down, and stormed to the kettle to make a cup of tea. “It’s not turning out to be
a good day,” she declared through gritted teeth.
“Forget about that for a second. What did you find out at the station today?”
”Elizabeth bought a plane ticket yesterday.”
“Where was she heading?”
”Barbados.”
“Was it definitely her or was it her credit card that she used?”
”Credit card.”
“Then it probably wasn’t her.”
”How so?”
”Elizabeth seemed to genuinely like Knight. Why would she go to all that trouble to
get him out of prison, get him spare clothes and a razor if she was planning to shoot
him, dump his body in the river and drop by your house to plant the gun and leave
you a creepy note? It doesn’t fit. Especially the note.”
”No,” Lin agreed, “it doesn’t. Whenever I’ve had scary letters they’ve always been
from a guy. Women don’t seem to enjoy creepy stalker notes as much as guys.”
”So Elizabeth’s involvement doesn’t fit with Harry’s murder. We’re missing
someone.”
Lin nodded, “a guy. The same one who shot Harry, used Elizabeth’s credit card and
planted the note and gun in my house.”
Jag nodded approvingly.
“So what do we do now?”
”First things first, you need to phone Harper. Otherwise you’ll seem suspicious. Use
your mobile, and don’t tell him where you are, although he may have already
guessed.”
She sighed, but made the call. “Harper,” her boss said as he picked up.
“It’s Lin. I thought you might want to know, I’ve just had another creepy note.” She
told him all about it, and finding the gun in her underwear drawer. “I’m not at home
now, I needed somewhere to work on this stupid case. I thought you ought to know.”
Frank sighed. “Where are you?”
Lin made static noises, “what? What did you say?....Can’t hear you…okay gotta go,
bye.” She hung up and looked at Jag.
“Nice,” he said.
She stuck her tongue out at him, and settled on the floor, tea in one hand, files spread
out in front of her. “I’m going to compare the missing ladies, could you go through
the Pearly and Knight files?” She handed them over. “Then we’ll stop for lunch.”
“Sure,” he tried not to smile. He was right, this job was fun.

36
By the time Mack arrived home that evening, all the files had been read through, and
Lin had doodled her ideas onto a pad of paper. She was stuck. Both Eleanor Woods
and Janet Bridges had been living alone, Eleanor had been bored with her long term
boyfriend, and both women had had a month or so long relationship with 2 romantic
men. The patterns of the love letters to Eleanor and the embarrassing accounts in
Janet’s diary suggested that the men were very similar. They both bough flowers and
chocolates, enjoyed spontaneous meetings and coffee, took their respective girlfriends
on long romantic walks, had candle lit dinners and took them out to expensive
restaurants.
Neither Aaron or Nathon had come up on Jag’s computer searches. That was odd.
Surely with such a useful search engine it should be able to find anyone. Lin was also
wondering if the men could be the same person, as their pattern seemed to be so
similar.
Mack put the Chinese takeaway on the coffee table, and Lin realised how hungry she
was. “How’s it going?” Mack asked.
Lin shrugged, “I think I’m in need of refuelling,” she said, eyeing the cartons of food.
Mack grinned. “Help yourself. Are you staying, Jag?” he asked his friend.
“Nah, I need to get back. Thanks anyway.” He looked to Lin. “I’ve got security at
your house and following you, so please don’t run off or anything stupid like that.”
“Would I do a thing like that?” she gasped.
He looked amused. “I’ll pick you up in the morning.”
Lin watched at the window until she saw him get into his car, and drive away. She
turned to Mack. “I’m going to bed. Wake me if it’s urgent.”
She dumped a pillow and blanket on the armchair, and cleaned her teeth in the little
bathroom. Then she headed for the bedroom. She changed into a baggy t-shirt and
little shorts, and climbed into Mack’s bed.
She’d work out her problems tomorrow.

Lin woke to the sound of the shower the next morning. She rolled out of the
unfamiliar bed, and shuffled into the kitchen. She made herself a cup of tea and a
bowl of cereal. She sat down in front of children’s Saturday morning TV, and
munched her Frosted Flakes with a vengeance. Mack began to sing in the shower as
the door opened. Jag was dressed in black today; security mode. Black jeans, t-shirt,
leather jacket. His gun was concealed.
“Don’t you knock?” she asked, reproachfully.
“Sometimes. Did you sleep well?” he asked, flinging his jacket on the armchair.
“Well enough,” she shrugged. “Coffee? Tea?”
”No thanks. Where’s Mack?”
“Shower. Can’t you tell by the singing?”
”I wondered.” He looked her up and down. “Interesting work clothes, Slim.”
She rolled her eyes. “I haven’t had a shower yet.”
“But you have done your hair.” It was pulled back in a neat ponytail.
She stuck her tongue out at him. “It’s a woman thing.”
”That explains it,” he said with an amused smile. “Now,” his face shifted into serious
mode. “Frank is after you for an interview. He suspects you’re here, and will have
probably left numerous messages on your mobile. I suggest you get dressed, and you
go to work. When you’re finished with the interviews, see if you can pull anything
else about Pearly’s disappearance and get onto the airline, see if they can give you
anything on who used her credit card. We’ll regroup, and go off after any leads.”

37
When Mack emerged from the shower, half dressed, Lin took her turn in the
bathroom, and scuttled into the bedroom to change. She pulled on jeans and a white t-
shirt, and borrowed a pair of Mack’s clean socks. She towel dried and brushed her
hair, before pulling it up into a damp ponytail.
She left the bedroom and hung up her towel, before returning to the lounge, where
Mack and Jag were in serious sounding murmured conversation. “Shall we go then?”
They looked round. “Yeah,” said Mack, buttoning up his pale blue shirt. “I’ll be at
work until half five today, but do what you like.”
”Great. We’ll see you later, Mack.”
He waved as she and Jag left the flat. “That girl is still trouble,” he sighed.

38
Chapter 12
As soon as Lin and Jag walked through the glass doors of the station and into the
reception, she was ambushed by Frank. “We need to talk,” he said, as she signed
herself and Jag in.
“Jag comes too,” she stated. The uncompromising expression closed the subject.
“Fine.” Frank punched in the code by the double doors, and they buzzed open. He
steered through them, holding her elbow, and they stepped into an interview room.
Lin took a seat, with Jag at a distance behind the chair. Frank paced.
“Lin, we’ve got trouble. I found the note on your TV, and it’s being sent for analysis.
Do you want to tell me what’s been going on?”
She took a deep breath, and explained about Harry’s appearance and the theory that
he was bust out of the cells by Elizabeth Pearly and the author of the note. She told
him everything she knew and suspected, trusting him enough not to hold anything
back. When she was finished, Frank was still pacing. He ran a hand through his hair.
“I’m going grey, thanks to you,” he grumbled. “It’s quite possible someone is trying
to set you up. The notes certainly suggest that your theory about Knight, Pearly and
the mystery guy is correct, but the gun…The only purpose that would serve would be
that someone is trying to get you sent down.”
”Is it working?” she asked softly.
“Not yet. So far, all this evidence is circumstantial.”
“So what happens now?”
”You’re going to have to be interviewed, before we can let you out of here, and I
think it might be a good idea if you took some time off until all this blows over.”
She nodded. “Is that a suggestion or an order.”
“Either way, it’s what’s going to happen.”
”But what about the cases I’m working on?”
He pursed his lips. “Well, what you do in your own time is up to you. If you just
happen to fish about for extra information, it’s got nothing to do with me.”

All interviews were over by eleven. They left the station, and drove back to Mack’s
flat for lunch, and to go over the information once more. Lin grimaced. She hoped
they found something soon; she was tired of all this reviewing of files and reading.
She wanted to find whoever was after her, and make them leave her alone. After
talking to the airline and getting hold of CCTV footage and from customs, Lin had
discovered that the woman using Elizabeth’s card did indeed fit the woman’s
description, but that only confused Lin even more. After talking with Jag, she was
sure that Elizabeth would not have run away. Jag made a phone call, and promised to
try and get details from the airport in Barbados about the woman using Elizabeth
Pearly’s passport and credit card.
She sighed. Jag looked over at her. “What’s up?”
“There’s a guy stalking me and I’m one witness statement away from being a prime
murder suspect. My mother knows that I have a bodyguard, and I’m living with
Mack. It has not been a good week.”
”What do you want me to do about it?”
”Help me solve this case. Use all that knowledge, experience and whatever secret
resources you have. Once this case is solved, I can get on with my life, and maybe
take a nice long holiday in New Zealand.”
“Well my budget doesn’t stretch that far, but I’ll give you the next best thing. The
afternoon off.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Is that a serious suggestion?”

39
“How does a picnic sound?”
”Like a date.”
He grinned, “Not while I’m working.”
”Is that your only rule?” She asked, feeling brave.
“You’re flirting again, Slim. Grab a rug or something, and I’ll get some food. I’ll
meet you in the car in two minutes.”
A short while later, Jag parked the car by a large park, and they took the food and
blanket from the back. Lin selected a patch of grass out of the way, where she could
lie down in the sun and they unpacked the selection of sandwiches Jag had bought. As
she munched, Lin stretched out her legs and kicked off her shoes, wiggling her toes.
“So…” she began. “Let’s play twenty questions.”
He raised an eyebrow and took another bite of his sandwich.
“It’s a better version,” she promised. “You get to ask ten questions about me and I get
ten questions about you.”
“Make it five, and you’ve got a deal.”
Lin pursed her lips, “now a response like that intrigues me. It suggests to me that you
have lots of secrets,” her eyes sparkled mischievously. “Do you have lots of secrets?”
”Yes. That was your first question,” there was a slight smile on his lips.
“Darn. Okay, your turn.”
“What are your current top three films?”
”Um… The Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy; Star Wars, the Empire Strikes back; and
Benny and Joon.”
“Interesting selection.”
“Only because I;ve seen them all fairly recently. My turn…do you have a girlfriend?”
”I was expecting that to be your first question,” he grinned. “No, I don’t.”
“Are you married?”
”It’s my turn,” he pointed out. “What is the best thing you can cook?”
”Cheese on toast,” she replied honestly. “I’m a dreadful cook, one of the personal
defects which my mother tries valiantly to improve upon. The other is my job. So are
you married?”
”No.”
“Have you ever been married?”
”Yes.”
“Do you have any kids?”
“No.”
”What happened to your wife?”
”That’s more than five questions. My turn. What is your favourite type of book?”
”Either mystery books or science fiction, fantasy.”
”Why?”
“Mystery ones keeps my brain ticking, and it’s generally good practice for work,” she
grinned.
“And Sci fi?”
”It’s completely unrealistic, so I can be totally absorbed in some other obscure world
for a little while and forget about whichever catastrophe is happening at the moment.
Did you mean to use up all your questions like that?”
He lay back and closed his eyes and the conversation.
Lin watched him for a while, until she felt awkward. She’d brought a book with her,
but she didn’t want to read. She put the remains of the food back in the bag and lay
down on the rug. She lay on her front, with her head on her arms and found herself
drifting into sleep.

40
She woke to shadows rather than sunlight seeping into her back. She blinked, and
tried to remember where she was. “Jag?”
He smiled. “Good Morning again.”
”It’s the afternoon,” she yawned.
“Any time you wake up is the morning.”
She attempted to get up, and groaned, “ooh, now I feel old. My back hurts.”
He grinned, “come here.” He worked out the kinks for her.
”Mm, that’s better. I’m finding it hard not to start purring.”
She got a chuckle. Her mobile rang, and Lin reached for it. It was her mother. “Are
you coming for dinner?”
Lin looked to Jag, who shrugged. “Sure,” Lin decided. “I’m bringing Jag again.”
”I’ll set an extra place.”

41
Chapter 13
Jag dropped Lin back at Mack’s place later that evening. Dinner had been uneventful,
and Lin carried a Tupperware of food back to Mack’s. “Thanks for today” said Lin, as
Jag finished his sweep of Mack’s flat. “Not a problem,” he smiled. “I’ll see you
tomorrow.” She closed the door and dumped the food on the counter. Mack wasn’t
home yet after his weekly ‘few drinks’ with some of the other uniform guys down at
the Trenchwood station, so Lin scribbled a note asking him to keep the noise down,
stuck it to the fridge, and went to bed.

Lin woke to an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Something wasn’t right. She lay
perfectly still, listening with her eyes remaining closed. There were soft approaching
footsteps. Someone was in her bedroom! Where was her gun? In the lounge in her
shoulder bag. Damn! She uttered a mental screech, and tensed, hoping the intruder
would go away. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and flung herself into whoever it
was. She hit a wall of muscle and felled it to the ground, rolling over, and ending up
on top of Jag.
“Good morning,” he smiled, taking in her nightshirt and sleep mussed hair. She
staggered to her feet, blush rising in her cheeks.
“You’re lucky I left my gun in my shoulder bag.”
He looked amused. “Would you have shot me?”
She shrugged, “Not immediately. So what did you want?”
He sat up. “I’m going out for a couple of hours. Mack is still on the sofa, you’re still
being followed by my team so don’t wonder off, and I’ll be back in time for lunch.
The police have finished at your house. I thought you might want to go and check
your messages, do laundry, that sort of thing this afternoon.”
”Oh, sure.” She glanced at the bedside table. “Did you make me tea?” A steaming
mug of it was on a coaster by the alarm clock.
”I thought it was the kindest way to wake you up.” He got up. “Nice tackle by the
way.” And then he left.
Lin sipped her tea and shuffled into the living room, where Mack slept messily on the
sofa. She curled up in an armchair and watched kids TV for a while. Then she began
the washing up, clearing enough space and freeing enough equipment to make herself
a bacon sandwich for breakfast, leaving some strips for Mack when he finally woke.
She settled back into the armchair and finished her breakfast. At half eleven, all the
fun cartoons had finished, so she made Mack a cup of strong black coffee, sweetened
with three spoonfuls of sugar, and left the mug and plate holding bacon sandwich
under his nose in the hope of waking him up. She showered and dressed and was
washing up once more when Jag let himself back in.
“Either you have a key or magic fingers,” Lin remarked as he entered.
He smiled. “It’d be rude to tell. You alright?”
”Yeah. Mack’s still asleep, and it’s probably best to leave him to it. I have no idea
what time he got back last night.”
“It was more like this morning,” Jag corrected, “about 3am.”
Lin smiled, “sounds about right. Can we go back to mine, now? I need a change of
clothes.”
“Sure.”
Jag drove them over, checked the house, and let her in. it was odd going back home
knowing that only yesterday it had been crawling with forensics, and probably more
than a couple of cops had been moseying through her underwear drawer. It was a

42
huge invasion of privacy and made Lin angry at whoever had planted the note and
gun.
Jag observed the effect this had on her and folded his arms. “I can get a locksmith to
come tomorrow, if that’s any help.”
She turned to face him.
“After so many people being in your house, new locks would minimise the amount of
people able to get back in without being invited.”
Lin nodded, numbly. “Sure. Thanks.”
“So what can I do to help?”
”Are you any good at cooking?”
”Yes. I’ll make lunch, you do what ever you need to.”
“Thanks.”
She played the answer phone messages. There were four from her mother, demanding
to know what was going on. “Why do you have to find murder weapons in your
underwear drawer? What is going on? When will you be around for dinner? If you
want any more dinner ever again you’d better phone me.”
Lin grimaced and deleted the messages. She went upstairs, and everything felt odd.
Clothes had been moved, drawers rifled through, the house had been thoroughly and
carefully searched. The fact that it was cops rather than robbers did little to make her
feel any better. She went through her wardrobe, feeling the need to get rid of some
clothes. She felt herself blush, knowing that it would be all around the station that she
had Winnie the Pooh pyjamas and no dresses, one black skirt and men’s t-shirts.
Scowling, she looked around the room. It was cream with blue stripy curtains; plain,
boring, degrading.
She stormed downstairs and phoned Carla. “Hellooo?”
”Carla, it’s Lin. I can barely believe I’m saying this, but I need your help.”

An hour later, Lin had eaten an omelette made by Jag, and Carla was on the doorstep.
“Hi sweetie, I’m so sorry about what happened! Are you okay?”
”Yeah, just feeling a little violated,” she offered a wry smile. “Oh, and it’s not just us
here,” she began.
“Say, what’s that delicious smell?” interrupted Carla, making for the kitchen.
“Hi,” said Jag.
“Uh, hi!” Carla squeaked. Lin’s guardian angel was standing by the kitchen counter,
drying up.
“I’m Jag,” he said, introducing himself and offering a hand.
“Hi,” Carla repeated. “Um, yeah. Lin, let’s do this in the lounge.” She dragged her
friend into the sitting room. “You sly dog!” she squeaked. “He is gorgeous! How
come you know him? Is he married? Does he have a brother?”
“Shh!” Lin hissed, grinning. “he’s not deaf.”
Carla fanned herself frantically, “Why did you not tell me you had such a hot friend?”
”He’s my bodyguard,” Lin sighed. “Mack’s friend from the army.”
“Mm mmm,” her eyes glazed over for a moment. “Ahem. So, yes. I brought over that
magazine,” she dug out an interior decorating magazine from her bag. “I marked the
bedroom pages.”
Lin flicked through the thick magazine, finding the bedroom section and turning the
pages slower. “What colour do you think I should do my bedroom?” Lin asked.
“Maybe peach or a pale yellow,” Carla pondered, “a nice, gentle, feminine colour but
not too girlie.”
”But what could I do with the rest of it?” Lin asked.

43
“Paint the walls, get new curtains. Full length white voiles,” suggested her friend.
“Then a nice rug, new light fittings, maybe a couple of pictures for the walls.”
Lin blew out her cheeks. “Sounds like a lot of work.”
”Get Jag and Mack to help you,” Carla waved away the comment.
“Sounds expensive, too.”
”You’ve got the money. And if you shop in the right places it’ll be real cheap.”
”I’ve not really got the time to shop at the moment,” Lin sighed. “Nor the patience.”
”I’ll look around for you,” said Carla. “Charity shops and stuff. I’m great for a
bargain, you know. And I might be able to fish about at home and find you some
pretty bits and bobs.”
”Thanks, Carla.”
“That’s okay. All I want is to pop round when you have Mack and Jag painting.”
“You can look, but you can’t touch.” They collapsed in fits of giggles.
When Lin had decided on pale yellow for her bedroom, Carla left, and Jag emerged
from the kitchen. “Are you going to phone your mother?”
“Do you think I should?”
”She phoned you four times, Slim. You ought to get it over and done with.”
Sighing, she picked up the phone and dialled. Helen answered on the third ring.
“Hello?”
”Hey Mum, it’s Lin.”
”About time,” snapped Helen. “What on earth is going on?”
Lin sighed. “The case I was working on is involved. That’s all. Someone planted a
gun in my room, but Frank and the others are sorting it all out. I’m ignoring it all.”
Helen sighed, “why do you have to bring work home with you all the time?”
“I ask myself the same question,” Lin mumbled. “Look, I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you
later.”
“Alright. Try not to get shot.”
”I’ll do my best.” She hung up, “but I’m not making any promises.”

44
Chapter 14
Lin slept at Mack’s on Sunday night, as she still felt uneasy in her own home, a very
unpleasant feeling. As she idly watched the patterns of light on the ceiling, she
decided that she wanted her bedroom redecorated as soon as possible. And if she had
a few days off, why not get on with it? Struck with a burst of proactive energy, she
leapt out of bed, pulled on painting gear and began to pack up her room. She emptied
the top of the chest of drawers into a box, and moved all the bedroom furniture into
the centre of the room. After rummaging in the airing cupboard she found dust sheets
and covered the furniture with them, and placed newspaper over the carpet. Feeling
peckish, she paid a visit to the kitchen and fixed herself a bowl of Weetabix and a cup
of tea, as Jag knocked on the door. Preoccupied with her breakfast, Lin squinted at
him through the peep whole before opening the door and heading back to the kitchen.
“Good Morning to you to,” Jag said, looking amused.
“Can’t talk, eating,” she said, thickly. She swallowed the last of her cereal. “Let’s go.”
“And where might we be off to this morning?”
“DIY shop. We’re going to paint my room.”

When they got back from the store with tins of paint and new rollers, the post had
arrived. Lin scooped it up and binned an advert for even cheaper double glazing,
opened a bill, bank statement, and a letter. She opened the envelope, recognising
Marla’s handwriting. Out fell a stylish invitation and a handwritten note from Frank.
The invitation was for a ball in three weeks time. Her attention turned to the note.
After all those many years of you working here and avoiding the ball, you’re required
at said event, Frank wrote, There’s a ceremony which your presence is required for,
so you have to attend. It’s the rules. Lin could almost see Frank grinning as he wrote
the note. And you have to bring a date (re-read the invite). The whole of CID is
holding their breath. Frank.
Lin scowled at the invitation and left it on the kitchen side. The pair of them painted
the cop’s bedroom to the sound of a Queen CD that blared from Lin’s CD player.
After the first coat, Lin phoned Carla, making sure she’d be okay to make dinner, and
then called Mack on her mobile. “Hey Wonders, what’s up?” her friend said.
“I need your hands.”
”Uh huh. What for and is the rest of me welcome?”
”Yeah. I’m decorating my bedroom and I could do with some help.”
”Isn’t Jag there?”
”Yeah, but he’s starting to flag a bit,” she said, shooting a sly glance in her
bodyguard’s direction. “I guess he’s not used to proper hard work.”
She heard him laugh. “Sure. Are you making dinner or am I bringing it?”
”Carla’s cooking. She’s much better at it than me.”
”I’ll be over soon.”
”Adios amigo.”
Mack arrived a short while later, and headed for the kitchen. “Mm mmm,” he said as
he sniffed out dinner. “Carla, you are a culinary genius. Which one’s mine?”
After they had eaten, Lin heaved herself up out of the sofa, and chivvied the men into
applying a second coat of the peach paint to the walls as she and Carla washed up
from dinner.
When the painting was finished, the four of them settled down to watch a bit of
Monday night TV before Carla cast one last appreciative look at Jag and Mack, and
announced that she had to leave. Mack left soon after.

45
It was as Jag made them both cups of coffee, that Lin said, “You’re quite useful to
have around, you know?”
”Thank you,” Jag looked amused.
“So…where did you go yesterday morning?” She asked.
“Church.”
“Say again?”
He was smiling. “I go to church most Sundays. Whenever I can manage it.”
”Oh,” was all she could say. “So you’re a Christian?”
”Yes.”
“Huh. You don’t seem like the mind of guy to go to confession.”
He laughed. “That’s Catholics. I’m not one of those.”
“What’s the difference?”
”Catholics pray to Mary and believe in lots of ceremony, and having to go through
priests to speak to Jesus, who talks to God for us humble sinners.”
”And what do you believe?”
”I believe that Jesus already made a way for us to come to God, so priests doing it for
us are unnecessary.”
“So, were you a Christian when you were in the army? I mean, did you go around
killing people?”
”I did the basic training with Mack, and learnt all about guns and things, then I
transferred to strategy, and did more behind the scenes stuff. I wanted to help protect
people, and at the time, the army was the best solution. When I’d had enough I
branched out into security, which is less morally complicated.”
“Is that how you justify using violence?”
He shrugged. “My chosen job is protecting people. Like the police or even fire
fighters, but I’m protecting clients from people. The idea is to avoid violent
confrontation, but if that fails, to protect the client sometimes violence is necessary.”
“So do you have a big, enthusiastic Spanish family?”
He looked amused. “I’ve got two sisters and one brother.”
“Older or younger?”
”All younger.”
“Are they Christians?”
”You ask a lot of questions,” he observed.
She shrugged, “I’m curious.”
”I noticed. And yes, my family are all Christians.”

Jag left at about half ten, leaving Lin to snuggle down on the sofa in peace, trying not
to think about net curtains, rugs and ceiling lights, along with the smell of paint, all of
which managed to permeate her dreams.
Having plenty of time in his car to collect his thoughts, Jag pondered on Lin. She was
a strong character, and he was pretty sure that if she didn’t like him as she did, she’d
probably resent his presence and involvement in her life. He’d worked a few cases
like that, and it was not a good partnership. It meant a load of extra stress and tension
on top of the situation at hand which called for a bodyguard in the first place.
Mack had warned Jag when he had contacted him that Lin was not to be trifled with.
“She’d like to sort this guy out with a sharp right hook, but as she can’t she might try
to give you one, instead. So be nice. For everyone’s sake.”
And so Jag had started off to be pleasant and calmly professional, but the more time
he spent with her, the more of a friendship began to develop. Lin had a great sense of

46
humour, wasn’t afraid of jumping straight in to the action, and seemed to not care
what other people thought of her. It was a refreshing trait in a pretty woman.

47
Chapter 15
The next morning, Lin woke with a crick in her neck, and a headache. She went up to
check the room, and was pleasantly surprised at the effect that the sunlight had on the
peach walls. It looked cosy, warm and friendly. Definitely a good choice of colour.
She hung the throw back over the back of the sofa, straightened a few cushions, and
ate her breakfast in front of the TV as she waited for Jag to arrive.
Deciding that it was a good distraction, Lin flicked through a few home magazines
which Carla had leant her. Jag was about to ask for her plans today, but his mobile
bleeped, surprising them both. He picked up and as he listened, his expression
darkened. “Are you sure?....Damn. What about…” he sighed. “Fine.” He hung up,
scowling. “I’ve got to disappear for a bit,” he apologised, running a hand through his
hair.
“Say what? But you’re my bodyguard!”
“I’ll leave surveillance here, and they’ll phone me if anything is out of the ordinary.
Keep the beeper, mobile and stun gun on you at all times. I should be back in a couple
of days. Don’t do anything stupid.”
Lin phoned Carla. “Hey sweetie, what’s up?”
”Have you got those curtains and stuff yet?”
”Sort of. I’ve found a rug and voiles, bought them the other day. I’m still looking for
bed clothes and some good lights.”
”D’you wanna bring them over? I want to get my room back to normal.”
“Sure. Have you still got that curtain pole?”
”yeah. I had Mack put it back in.”
”And your furniture?”
”Ready to be loaded with clothes.”
“I’ll be over in twenty minutes.”
After unloading the car, the two friends decorated Lin’s room. They fitted the voiles
and put the sheep skin rugs on the floor, either side of the bed. Lin carried the last box
of clothes into the bedroom and began unloading it into the wardrobe. “So where is
your gorgeous guardian angel?” Carla asked.
“I take it you mean Jag.” Carla sighed theatrically, and put the back of her hand to her
forehead. “He had an urgent phone call and he had to disappear for a couple of days.”
“Say, what are your plans for the rest of today?”
“Nothing particularly interesting, why?”
”Because you seriously need more clothes, sweetie. Plus we might be able to find the
last few bits and bobs for your room. Wouldn’t that be great?”

The rest of the day was tough going. After being worn down by Carla and relenting to
buying 2 skirts and a couple of pretty tops and a pair of shoes which she would
probably never wear, they bought lights and bed covers. Lin almost collapsed through
the door when Carla dropped her off. Probably the most entertaining factor about the
day, not that she would ever hurt Carla’s feelings and tell her so, was the two men
trying to look invisible who followed them wherever they went.
Lin dumped the clothes over the wicker chair that sat in the corner of her bedroom,
and left the lights and bed covers over by the window. She hobbled down the stairs
again, and listened to her messages. Only one from Mack.
“Hey Wonders. I’ve got a Mexican take away and ER series 2 with your name on it.
Call me.”
Grinning, Lin picked up the phone and returned his call.

48
“Hello?”
”Howdy.”
”You got my message?”
”Yeah. I’ll be over at 7.”

After a pleasant beer filled evening, Lin told Mack about Jag being a Christian.
”Yeah,” was Mack’s reply.
“You knew?”
”Sure I did. When you work closely with people like in the army, it’s hard not to find
out details about people. His sister goes to the same church.”
“D’you know where they meet?”
”I think I might have flyer somewhere,” he said, getting up and rummaging through
the kitchen drawers. “Here it is,” and handed Lin a crumpled postcard. “They meet in
a hall off Langford Lane.”
Lin twirled the card between her fingers, lips pursed. “It would be quite useful to say
hello to his sister and see if she could give me a few details about his private life. Not
that I’m curious,” she added to Mack, “but it would just be good to find out,
y’know?”

Jag called Lin on Thursday afternoon, as she got back from the gym. “Hey Slim, you
ok?”
”Course I am,” she replied, “you would have heard by now if I’d been chased off a
cliff. What are you paying your goons for, otherwise?”
There was a smile in his voice as he replied, “I’m glad. Look, I’m really sorry but this
business I’ve got going on is gonna take me longer than expected. I should be back to
you on Sunday evening. Is that okay?”
”Was that a serious question, or just a hasty attempt to pretend that my preferences
dictate your work hours?”
”I’ll see you on Sunday.”
After waking early on Sunday morning and taking it as a sign, Lin decided to probe
Jag’s church, and went swimming at the leisure centre, before grabbing a cup of
coffee, and driving over to the hall. Probably, she thought, it was a cop thing. She felt
uneasy about being here, simply because she didn’t know what to expect. There was
no file to read, no back up to be called, and no idea of what she was about to walk
into, except for the friendly crumpled postcard stuffed in her back pocket. And there
was no one watching her back. Except, of course, the civilian clad muscle mountains
in the BMW two cars back. She parked the car and finished her coffee, Lin grabbed
her shoulder bag and marched towards the hall, cop face in place. A smiling grey
haired man handed her a leaflet on her way in, which she supposed was an order of
service, and she shuffled through the foyer into the main hall. There were no faces she
recognised, and the space around her only added to her discomfort, making her feel
lost and totally out of place, with all eyes aimed at her. She straightened up, and gave
an almost imperceptive raising of her chin.
The rows of chairs were split into three sections, and Lin spotted an empty seat in the
right hand section in the back row and made a beeline for it. She had another look at
the leaflet and found that it was a list of notices and meetings throughout the week.
The band started playing, everyone stood up and the service began.
An hour and a half later, the pastor closed the meeting with a smile and an invitation
for everyone to stay for tea and coffee. Lin had found the morning very interesting.
All these people seemed genuinely happy, and trusting in this idea of a loving God.

49
Her father used to go to church, but had never really talked about it to his children. At
first, Lin had wondered whether these smiling people had been brainwashed, but she
couldn’t see Jag allowing himself to fall for some cult scheme.
Lin made her way into the foyer and helped herself to a decaff coffee, deciding that
she didn’t need any more caffeine. She was stirring milk into her cup when a large
woman with bushy brown hair came up to her. “Hi there, I’m Annie,”
“Lin,” the cop replied, nodding.
“You’re new, right? I haven’t seen you before.”
“Yeah, my first morning.”
”So, how come you came here?”
”My mate comes here, and I was curious,” she said, not adding that she was curious
about Jag rather than the church.
“Who’s your mate?”
She hesitated, “Jag.”
”Oh!” she beamed, “You’ll have something in common with Cain, Ted and Shelly.
Shall I introduce you?”
”Yeah,” Lin decided, “that’d be great.”
Annie led her over to a tall muscular guy with a tiny dark haired young woman
attached to his arm. “Hey Cain,” Annie said, “This is Lin. She’s a friend of Jag’s.”
They guy grinned, and held out a hand, “Hi,” he rumbled, “how d’you know Jag?”
She shrugged, “he’s an old friend of my best mate.”
”This is Shelly. She’s my fiancée.” He pushed the woman forward.
“Hi,” she said, a big smile on her face.
Lin smiled back. “Hey.”
“So how come you turned up?” Cain asked.
“To be honest, I wanted to know about Jag. I mean, his place doesn’t give much
away, and he won’t tell me much.”
Cain laughed, but didn’t give anything away.
”So how do you guys know Jag?”
”Jag’s my brother,” said Shelly.
Lin fought to keep a smile off her face. Bingo. “Wow.”
Shelly nodded, “that’s the general reaction I get.”
“So what’s he like as a brother?”
She pursed her lips, “protective. He and Cain growled at each other for a good month
before they admitted they’d like to be friends rather than enemies.”
“So is he secretly a golfer or something equally amusing?”
Shelly tilted her head, “Does he know you’re here?”
“Of course.” If her surveillance team were doing their job.
“Then I’d bet he’s expecting you to ask about him.” She grinned. “As his baby sister I
get away with being sneaky. What did you want to know?”
“What’s he like with parties?”
“He doesn’t enjoy clubbing much; he’s more of the gliding around a room in a suit
with a glass of champagne kinda guy.”
”That’s good to know.” It was getting close to the ball, and she still needed a date.
Surely it would make his job easier. That way he wouldn’t have to waste all that time
mucking about with having a couple of his goons dress up as waiters.

50
Chapter 16
Lin drove to her mother’s house for lunch, and as she opened the door she was
greeted with the smell of a roast chicken being carved. “Hello paradise,” she drooled,
and followed her nose into the kitchen. “Hi mum,” said Lin, taking a deep sniff of
roast chicken. “You alright?”
”Yes dear, I’m fine,” smiled Helen. “This is a nice surprise.”
”Yeah, well, I was out already and your cooking is a lot better than my meals for
one,” she planted a kiss on her cheek, and shrugged off her denim jacket. “Are we
having sweet potato, too?”
”Was that a serious question? We always have roast sweet potato with chicken.”
“Just checking.”

It was late afternoon by the time Lin arrived back home. She had a contented smile on
her face, and her stomach was full of dessert. She parked outside her house and
trundled inside, dragging her swimming and shoulder bags with her. Lin dumped her
shoulder bag in the kitchen, emptied the contents of the swimming bag into the
washing machine, pausing to extract her hairbrush and shampoo bottle.
She kicked off her shoes, and punched the flashing button on her answer machine
whilst she stuck her head into the fridge. “Slim, I’ll be back by 6,” said Jag. Pursing
her lips, Lin glanced at the clock. Probably she had just enough time to whip around
with the Hoover, hang out the washing and tidy the lounge before he arrived. She
launched into cleaning mode. She was hanging out the last two t-shirts when the front
door opened as Jag let himself in.
“I don’t remember giving you a key.” She said, reproachfully.
He folded his arms. “Slim. Why would I not have a key to the house of someone I’m
shadowing?”
“Good point,” she conceded. “So how was work?”
”Hard and tiring.”
”Do you want a drink?”
”Yeah, fruit juice if you’ve got any.”
She led him into the kitchen.
She smiled, “do you want take away for dinner or to try and whip something up from
the air I have in my fridge?”
”Take away sounds like a lot less work.”

A short while later they were sitting in the lounge with fish and chips and slurping
fizzy drinks in front of the TV. “So Shelly seems nice,” Lin commented.
“Yeah, she is.”
”No, you’re supposed to ask me how I know Shelly’s nice.”
”She’s related to me,” he shrugged, “I thought you might have guessed.”
Lin elbowed him. “I went to your church this morning and met your sister and her
fiance.”
”I know. My merry men were going to phone me when you did anything out of the
ordinary, remember? Apparently you went shopping, too. But anyway, what did you
think of my church?”
She pursed her lips. “it was interesting. I’ve never really been before, and I’m not
religious.”
”Nor am I. It’s a way of life, not just a cosy label.”
”Oh. Well it’s not my way of life, either.”
He looked amused. “Are you glad you went?”

51
”Yeah. It gave me something to think about rather than simply what kind of parties
you like going to.”
“Well as much as being your bodyguard is a lot of fun, I’m afraid I’m going to have
to leave you again.”
”Aw, what? For how long?”
”I should be around on Thursday, but I might have to keep those other guys on your
tail.” He sighed. “I’ve got a big case unravelling, and I’m needed a lot. You’re good at
looking after yourself, so I’m going to keep surveillance on your tail. I’ve got a guy
called Diesel who’s going to be your temporary bodyguard. He doesn’t talk much,
and when he does, it’ll be in Spanish, but he’ll help you duck if someone starts
shooting.”
”Great. You do realise I’m as linguistically challenged as a brick?”
Jag just smiled.

She spent the next day reviewing information about the cases she was working on.
How strongly were the two missing women linked? Was the boyfriend the same
person? How would she find out? She yielded little fresh information, and gave up on
Tuesday, and instead she went over to her mother’s house and was treated to a coffee
break in Tesco’s before the weekly shop. Once or twice she suggested that Diesel go
and fetch a few pints of milk or choose some biscuits, but he remained at his distance,
and folded his arms.
It was late Wednesday afternoon, when Lin was scowling at a recipe for biscuits, that
Frank phoned. “How are you?” he asked when she picked up.
“If there’s much more of this stay at home malarkey, I’m going to turn into a
dangerous housewife.”
“So have you decided what to wear yet?”
“What to wear?”
His voice faltered, “you haven’t forgotten the ball, Lin, have you?”
Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “Oh no.”
Frank laughed. “You bring a new meaning to the phrase ‘living in denial’.”
“Saturday night, correct?”
“That’s right, and the whole of CID wants to see who you bring. Well, have a nice
evening.” He was still chuckling as he hung up.
Lin sank her head in her hands and groaned. How was she going to manage this? She
looked at the time. Half five. If she hurried she could pick up a lasagne on the way
over to Mack’s and ask him whether he’d take her to the stupid award ball. She
scooped up her belongings and headed for the door. She drove across town to the high
street and bought 2 portions of lasagne from the take away café, dived back into the
car and joined the ring road out of Hartlith and into Trenchwood.
By six, Mack buzzed her in and she jogged up the stairs, balancing their dinner in her
arms.
“Hey Wonders,” Mack grinned, retrieving his dinner, “how you doing?”
”Fine. No, not fine. I’ve got some ruddy ball on Saturday, and I have to wear a dress.
Do you want to come too? I have to bring a guest, and well. You look good in a tux.”
”Cheers, Wonders, but I’m already taken. I going with Amber from Hartlith uniform.
That red head is on fire!”
”Eww, spare me any more details. So who am I going to get to come? I have to bring
someone. And it has to be a guy. There’s no way Ads would come. Too many alpha
males.”
”Ask Jag,” Mack suggested, tucking in to his dinner.

52
“Really?”
”Sure, why not? He might like you enough to come along.”
“Plus it would make his shadowing job easier?”
”Yeah, that too.”

On her way back from Mack’s later that evening, Lin decided to bite the bullet and
phone Jag. She punched in his number and waited as it rung three times before he
picked up. “What’s up, Slim?”
”I need a favour,”
“Go on.”
”Uh, basically there’s a posh award ceremony ball thing, and I have to go because
I’ve been nominated. Personally I think there’s some sort of bet going on about
whether I’ll turn up, what I’ll be wearing, and all that jazz. But seeing as it would be
kinda stupid for you to pay your merry men to play dress up as waiters and keep an
eye on me when you could do it better, would you be okay with coming?”
”Sure.”
”Really?”
He chuckled, “yeah. When and where?”
”This Saturday night, seven thirty at the Hartlith Hotel.”
“I’ll pick you up at quarter past. Oh, and wear something slinky.” He hung up before
she could think of a response.

53
Chapter 17
Diesel, Lin decided on Thursday when Jag replaced him as her bodyguard, seemed to
be as conversationally challenged as a brick. He nodded at her to say hello and
goodbye, and when they rolled up outside Lin’s house on Thursday evening and saw
Jag waited for them, leaning against the Range Rover, he got out and finally said
something. “todo ha sido reservado. Ella es agradable, pero ella viste gusto un
hombre. Usted debe haber vistola durante una detención. Ella tendría feliz ese hombre
en la tierra.” Jag laughed.
“What did he say?” Lin demanded.
“He said everything’s fine, that you’re fun but you dress like a man, and watching you
duel over parking spaces is highly amusing.”
Lin gave Diesel a death glare, “tell him that next time I’ll duel with him.”
Diesel gave a bark of laughter, got back into his car, and drove off.
“So is that case all fixed now?”
He ran a hand through his hair, “yeah, it should be.”
“And you’re all mine again.”
”For the moment,” he said with a wolf like smile.

Before she knew it, it was Friday evening and Lin had no idea what to wear. In her
desperation, she called Becky, and for good measure she phoned Carla, too. At seven
the two women arrived with armfuls of clothes, accessories and hair and makeup
tools. Gingerly Lin let them in and they congregated in the lounge with cups of tea,
but Lin opting for a beer.
“So Jag is going?” checked Becky,
“Yeah. He said I should wear something slinky.”
Carla and Becky exchanged glances and raised eyebrows. “What?”
Carla fanned herself with her hand, and Becky pretended to swoon. “What?” repeated
Lin, getting increasingly agitated.
“Honey, if a guy that looks that good asks you to wear something slinky, then he is
after something.”
“Nuh uh,” Lin shook her head, “He’s totally job focused. I doubt he’d even notice if I
were naked with this stalker on my tail.”
The other two pursed their lips and shook their heads. Lin let her head fall into her
hands. “Well what have I got that’s slinky?” she pointed to the 3 items she had found
in her wardrobe that weren’t her everyday clothes. There was the skirt Carla had
persuaded her to buy, a shirt, and an old black skirt that she couldn’t remember ever
wearing.
An hour later they had whittled down the outfits to four. There was Lin’s floaty pink
skirt, a very sexy sleeveless black dress which clung to the cop’s body like a second
skin, a silky deep purple ankle length dress with a deep v-neck and matching stole or
a red dress which flared from mid thigh and had a very low back. All of them were
Carla’s.
“Well?” Becky asked, hands on her hips. “Which one?”
Lin looked helplessly at the dresses.
“Well the red and black are very slinky,” Carla pointed out.
“Yeah, well.” She sighed. “Okay. I don’t like the purple,” she chucked it towards
Carla. “I feel naked in the black,” it flew through the air. “So that leaves red or the
skirt.” She looked up, “what accessories have we got?”
Almost two hours and three beers later, Lin shoed her friend and sister out of the

54
house. She looked at the chosen outfit, which hung from the lounge doorframe, and
sighed. Then she dragged herself up to bed.
She pried her eyelids open the next morning, and crawled down the stairs to the
kitchen. She clutched at her head whilst the kettle rumbled to life, and made herself a
cup of tea. Lin shuffled into the lounge and flicked on the TV. When she had finished
it, she felt more humane, and went to wake up in the shower.
She did housework until lunch, when she changed to paperwork, attempting to ignore
her evening plans. At half five, however, she decided it was time to get ready. Carla
and Becky had written down a list of everything which she needed to do before Jag
came to pick her up. Lin picked up the list gingerly, and made a start.
An hour and forty five minutes later, Lin dropped the dress over her head and the
doorbell rang. She opened it and found Jag standing on the doorstep leaning against
the porch, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and bowtie and his hair slicked back in a
ponytail.
He looked her up and down slowly, “well.”
She felt herself blushing, “come in. I’m almost ready.”
Adjusting the dress and feeling the whisper of the silky dress against her legs, Lin
rooted around until she found the black handbag, beaded kitten heels and shawl which
Carla had leant her.
Jag watched her from a distance. Lin had obviously made quite an effort, and the
effect was stunning. In her years of wearing plain clothes and no makeup, she had
established an image which did not allow men to find her sexy or attractive. It seemed
as though she wouldn’t let herself think that way either.
The cut of the dress made her legs seem longer and the material hugged her legs when
she moved. The low back was desperately enticing, and made up for the modest cowl
neck at the front of the gown. She looked good in red. Very good.
She appeared at his side, rooting through the tiny handbag. “Okay, keys, money,
phone, but that’s about it. No room for anything else.” She looked up, “shall we go?”
”Hang on,” he adjusted the shawl, draping it expertly around her shoulders, “okay.”
He locked up the house for her as she stared at the car. “We’re going in your
Porsche?”
”It would be a shame to waste all that effort you’ve made by turning up in a 4x4,
wouldn’t it?”
“So you like?” she asked, twirling mischievously as he opened the car door for her.
He gave her that wolfish smile. “Very much.”
As Jag drove, he tried to keep his eyes on the road in ignore the smell of Lin’s
perfume. She was so similar and yet so different to Caroline. Caroline had been curvy,
had long blonde hair, loved to sing, and was probably the most gentle and loving soul
he had ever known. Lin had a wicked sense of humour, had as much skill with a gun
as Caroline had had with a microphone, and was forever getting dragged into scrapes.
He tried not to smile.
She was fun.

55
Chapter 18
The Hartlith Hotel was already swinging by the time Jag and Lin arrived. Taking a
deep breath to psyche herself up for the coming evening, Lin accepted Jag’s hand out
of the Porsche. The valet took the keys to park it, and Jag turned her to face the main
doors. They strode in, receiving a smile and ‘good evening’ from the guy at the door.
Lin was glad that Jag was steering her, her hand on his arm, as she had no idea where
to go. Jag handed their invitation to the usher, who smiled at them and waved them
through to the hall.
Lin blew out her cheeks at the sight of it. It was huge with a large stage hosting a live
band with an empty podium. White covered tables lined the walls, laden with finger
food, and waiters bearing trays of drinks circulated. Lin was trying not to feel self
conscious with all these polished looking women, and Jag squeezed her hand
reassuringly.
“Are my eyes deceiving me?!” cried a voice, “Wonders, my darling, you look
amazing!” Mack spun her, and looked admiringly at the outfit. “You should wear
dresses more often.”
”Dresses, fine. But these heels are already killing me,” she winced.
Amber, Mack’s redhead appeared by his side, beaming. “Lin, you look so different!”
she exclaimed. “I didn’t recognise you,”
”Thanks,” Lin replied wryly. She got the idea that she might be getting lots of these
sort of responses. “You look very nice,” she added. Amber did a seductive twirl in her
tight fitting black cocktail dress.
“Lin,” called Frank, beaming. “Well well, you do scrub up well.” Maggie smiled
beside him, looking beautiful in a bright blue dress and long elegant white gloves.
“I decided to make an effort,” she shrugged. She shot a sideways glance at Jag. “So
what do we do now?” she hissed.
“Have a drink,” he replied, handing her a champagne glass. “We’re supposed to
mingle. So grab my arm and I’ll parade you around.”
Glad of instruction in an alien environment, Lin accepted the drink and clutched her
guest’s arm. It took a while to get around all of the guests. Everyone in CID
commented on her appearance, and more than once Lin commented that she needed
flash cards with: Thanks, I tried hard written on it, for whenever they told her she
looked nice. She was on her second champagne glass by the time they had finished
their lap of the hall.
“Care to dance?” Jag asked her, offering a hand.
“I’m not much of a dancer with these clever steps and stuff.”
”Just follow my lead,” came the reply.
Lin took one last look at the outstretched hand, drained her third glass of champagne,
and grabbed it, slightly unsteadily. “Alright, le’s dance.”
He wrapped one arm around her waist and took her hand in his. “Just follow my feet,”
Jag whispered into her ear, sending an involuntary shiver down her spine. They
danced for another 2 songs and a couple more drinks, Lin beginning to enjoy herself
and this feeling of security in her guardian angel’s arms. “You’re a good dancer,” she
commented.
“It’s the army training,” he replied, a wry smile. “All that footwork; dancing comes
easily.”
She giggled.
“You’re legless,” he added softly reproachful.

56
“Me? I think you may be mishtaken,” she snorted. “I’m jus’ having fun.”
”You won’t be in the morning.”
”Are you threatening me?” she glared at him.
“Only warning you,” he grinned, and leant her back in his arms, her head tipped back,
and surveying the rest of the room upside down.
“Hunh,” she said once she was upright once more, “I could do with some air, I think.
The room’s spinning a little.”
Looking amused, Jag all but carried her out of the room and out to the posh garden
which was lit with outdoor candles. She shivered in the sudden cool from the heat of
the hall. Her guest draped his jacket around her shoulders, and he leant beside her on
the rail.
“Well you certainly make evenings like this fun,” he said, rubbing her back.
“Thanks,” was the wry response. She looked confused. “What happened to my
shoes?”
”You took them off, honey, remember? They’re in the cloakroom with your shawl.”
”That’s probably why my feet are cold.”
Jag shook his head, chuckling softly.
“Don’t laugh at me, Bruce Henderson,” she scowled. He turned to her, and tipped her
chin towards him.
“You’re beautiful you know?”
Tears pricked in her eyes, and Lin blinked them away in shock. “Really?” it was
barely a whisper.
He quirked a grin, “sure you are. Only problem is you don’t believe me.”
”Jag look at me,” she said, taking a step back. “I’m drunk, my feet are dirty and have
blisters, I cut my legs shaving them earlier, I’ve got scars all over me, and my hair’s
starting to wilt.”
He pulled her close in his arms. “I am looking.” His eyes locked onto hers, and Lin
almost felt herself diving into their depths. She swayed backwards to compensate and
felt the ground rush towards her, and the world spun wildly. She flung out a hand, and
Jag caught her, saving her from falling flat on her face.
Mack appeared, Amber clinging to him, and proceeded to snog her in plain view of
everyone around, before catching sight of his friends, and managing to look slightly
bashful. “Alright?” he said, clearing his throat, he took another look at Lin, and
snapped his eyes back to Jag. “I think Wonders needs to go home.”
” I had just arrived at the same conclusion. I’ll take her back to the car, can you meet
us around the front with her stuff from the cloakroom?” He handed Mack the tag from
his jacket.
“Yeah. I’d look after her at hers, but, well…” he glanced at Amber who gave him a
look that could boil water. “Uh, I’m working tomorrow morning. Early. Real early.”
“Sure,” said Jag, looking amused. “Sundays at work are the worst. Alright. We’ll
meet you out the front, won’t we Slim. Slim?”
Lin was out cold.

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Chapter 19
Lin woke painfully to a throbbing headache and a burning behind her eyes. She lay
still and quiet, trying to remember how she had ended up in her bed still wearing the
borrowed red dress from Carla. She recalled Jag talking about taking her home, but
nothing after that. As she lay there, she heard muffled noises coming from the
kitchen. She groaned. Of all the mornings for her to get burgled it had to be when she
had a hangover. She could either stumble helplessly downstairs without her stun gun
as she had no idea where it was, or she could lie where she was and deny that there
was anyone in the house. Hopefully whoever it was would be satisfied with whatever
they found in the kitchen and go away.
A short while later she heard soft footsteps on the stars and a chink. A chink? She
thought. Why would a burglar make a chink sound on the stairs? Her questions were
answered as the bedroom door opened and Jag came in, bearing a tray which
contained a glass of water, paracetamol, a cup of tea, and a plate of toast. He was
wearing his shirt and black trousers from the night before.
“If I get drunk every night, does that mean you’d hang around more?” She croaked as
she pulled herself into a sitting position.
He looked amused and placed the tray on her lap. “Slim.”
“Dare I ask what happened last night? I vaguely remember discussing leaving, but
that’s all.”
“Honey, you passed out at the hotel.” He still looked amused, “I brought you home
and put you to bed. Mack was the one who suggested I take you home if you
remember. He would have done it except he had to be at work early this morning.”
“I’m almost positive it’s Sunday.”
“Yeah.”
“And Mack had to go to work early?”
“That’s what he said.”
“Oh,” she said as the penny dropped. “He had to sleep with Amber. Right.”
Jag tried to laugh quietly.
“Haven’t you got church today?”
“Only if you can manage without me.”
“Well sure, I’ll have a long bath and do nothing. And your company isn’t required for
either.”
He smiled. “Okay, I’ll be back at about half twelve. Have lunch if you can cope with
it, otherwise I’ll pamper you when I get back.”
“Is that a promise?”
“You’re flirting.” He ruffled her hair and left.

As he had promised, Jag arrived just before twelve thirty, and Lin was on the sofa,
had managed to eat a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. He let himself in, and sat by
her on the sofa.
“How’re you feeling?”
”Almost back to normal.”
”Good. Let’s go out.”
”Say what?”
“I’ve been working and doing paper work all week, and I want to do nothing in the
fresh air. D’you like the seaside?”
”Let me get this straight. You’re offering to take me out to the sea side for the day.”
”Sure. But I’m after peace and quiet, not noisy fairgrounds and stuff.”
”Sounds good to me.”

58
”Then grab some stuff, and I’ll have a bite to eat. I’ve got a beach barbeque in the
car.”
“You are so good for days out.”
“I know,” he grinned.

A short while later, Lin was sitting in the passenger seat of the jeep, smiling. They
were off for a day at the beach. She, Jocelyn Sharpe, was about to have a day out at
the beach with Bruce Henderson, the most good looking bloke she knew. Carla was
going to be so jealous.
They drove for a while, and Lin took a nap. She woke to a hand on her shoulder, and
stared blearily up at Jag. “We’ve arrived, Slim.” Lin got up and saw that they were
looking down at a sheltered cove with a sandy beach, and only a few other people
about.
“You sure know some good spots,” she commented.
They got out and made their way down to the beach. Both of them had changed into
shorts, and there were spare changes of clothes and blankets in the car for when they
got cold. They crossed to follow the little path to the top of the beach, and as they
reached the sand, Lin kicked off her shoes and walked barefoot down to the sea.
She waded in up to her ankles and looked around, Jag was close behind, also barefoot
and watching her, an amused smile on his face.
“Why do I get the impression that you work far too hard for your own good and never
indulge the childish parts of you?”
”I’m a cop, Jag,” she reminded him, “That makes carefree leisure time kinda tricky.”
“Is that why you like spending time with me? So you can have fun?”
She waded out and back towards him. “I like you for a whole lot more than that.
Yeah, having days like this are great but they’re just a bonus.”

They went exploring and found another cove. It was completely deserted, and was
more like a long strip of sand. Lin decided to sunbathe, taking the opportunity that she
almost never had to soak up the sun. She was wearing a black bikini under her shorts
and t-shirt which her mother had bought for her a long time ago, and still fitted fine.
Jag’s eyebrows shot up his forehead as he saw it and Lin laughed to herself, storing
away his reaction to delight in later.
Lin dozed on and off, smothering herself in sun lotion whenever she remembered. Jag
was reading a book, shades over his eyes, and t-shirt abandoned. Lin smiled behind
her own sunglasses. He was pretty darn gorgeous.
Mid afternoon, they drove to the nearby town and bought ice cream and a cheap
badminton set, which they brought back to the beach and played in the shallows. It
was about six o’clock when they returned to their towels on the sand and Jag started
up the barbeque.
When they had eaten, Jag lay back again, and Lin sighed contentedly. “Thank you for
today. And last night.”
”My pleasure,” he smiled, “I had fun too.”
”You are one amazing guy,” she observed.
He opened one eye, “How’d you come to that conclusion?”
”Well you’re an ex-army guy, you work dangerous cases all the time at stupid hours.
You like champagne parties, quiet days on the beach and God.” She shot him a
sideways glance, “you’re a pretty tough guy to suss out.”
He propped himself up on his elbow. “In my line of work it’s stressful and manic. So
in my own time I like to have a sense of calm.”

59
She looked curiously at him. “Isn’t it hard? You know, believing in a God that science
says doesn’t exist?”
”No, I know that God’s real. He answers my prayers, looks after me and loves me.
Science doesn’t change that.”
“But…” she stopped herself, “Sorry, I don’t mean to bug you.”
“Asking questions doesn’t bug me.” He grinned, “at least not questions about God.”
She pursed her lips, “what do you think about the Big Bang theory?”
“To be honest, I don’t think it matters. God created the world. Whether he did it
through the big bang or in seven 24 hour periods or over a long time, it doesn’t matter
to me. God still created it.” He looked at her. “It’s harder to believe that nothing
created something out of nothing than something creating something out of nothing.”
“Hunh,” she looked confused. “I guess that makes sense.”
He smiled. “Think about it.”

60
Chapter 20
They drove back an hour or so later. Lin was snuggled in her seat, contented and
sleepy, and Jag was silent as he drove. The cop jumped slightly as her escort’s phone
beeped. He picked up at the second ring.
“Hello?” A smile spread across his face. “Hi Papa.”
Lin watched him curiously.
“No, no puedo realmente ahora hablar... sí, yo le llamaré detrás. Adios.” He hung up.
“Now I wish I hadn’t flunked Spanish in secondary school,” Lin commented.
They arrived back at Lin’s house and got out. Lin observed that almost out of habit,
she handed him her keys and waited on the doorstep until he had done a brief scan of
her house.
“All clear,” he said, handing back her keys. She dumped her bag in the hallway.
“Thanks again for today. And yesterday,” Lin added, leaning against the doorframe.
“Not a problem,” he said, eyes boring into hers. “Any time you want some more time
on the beach or at some champagne party you let me know.”
“Buena noche, Jag.” She said, showing off the full extent of her Spanish.
He kissed her forehead. “miel buena noche.”
“Say what?”
He chuckled. “Good night, honey.”

When Jag had dropped Lin home after a long and pleasant day, he plugged his
parents’ number into his phone as he drove back to his flat. “Hello?” came his father’s
voice.
“Hey papá, es Bruce”.
”Don’t ‘hey’ me,” shot back Alessandro. “You can talk now, huh?”
”Lin was in the car with me. I thought it rude to talk about her while she was there.”
”That’s what Spanish is for, my boy.”
”I figured that could be rude, too. What’s up?”
”Shelly tells me that you’ve got a new woman in your life. I’m guessing she meant
that Lin woman.”
”She did, huh?” Jag decided he’d have to get his sister later.
“Yes. So are you bringing her to the wedding?”
”Papa, I’m not sure if introducing the poor woman to you guys is a kind thing to do.
She’s had a rough ride.”
”We’d be nice,” he objected. “Ask her at least.”
”I’ll think about it.”
“Call us to say what’s happening.”
”Alright. Say hello to Mama for me.”
“Adios.”
Jag hung up and sighed, running a hand through his hair. Should he invite Lin to meet
his family? On the one hand it would be very amusing, and hearing his father struggle
to speak politely in English was always fun. And yet his enthusiastic part Spanish
family were crazy. He liked Lin a lot, but he didn’t want to scare her.
Maybe he’d forget to ask her.
Maybe she’d say no.

Lin was up and working by 9 the next morning, and was comparing the timelines of
events that she had drawn up for the 2 women. Janet had been on her way home from
work. As the woman lived alone it was difficult to find out what time she usually got
home. Lin had made the journey herself, and found that it took about 20 minutes. She

61
had checked Janet’s usual closing off time at the accounting building that she worked
at, and therefore if her guesses were accurate, Janet would have generally been
arriving home at about ten to six every evening. Lin had spoken to work colleagues
and friends, but decided to speak to them again. She’d try and see if there was any
correlation in feelings before the women disappeared.
She slung her bag over her shoulder, picked up her jacket and went out to Jag’s car.
Her bodyguard hadn’t said much today, but he had only really picked her up from
home and driven her to the station.
She slid into the passenger seat. “We’re off to Naomi Watts’ house. She runs a
playgroup in Rushmard, off St Martin’s road.”
Jag nodded, and started the engine.
As he drove, he glanced at Lin out of the corner of his eye. She seemed lost in her
own thoughts, and he didn’t really want to disturb her. But he really ought to aske her
today if he wanted to give her any chance of getting to the wedding. In his experience,
women took days to get ready for weddings. The ceremony was on Saturday, and it
was already Monday. She was probably already wrapped up in what she wanted to
say to this Naomi, he reasoned. He’d ask her on the way back. Maybe when he
dropped her home tonight.

Kids, Lin decided as she surveyed the crowd of small snotty nosed children, were a
lot of mess. When Becky had been in college, she had mused that she’d like a child to
keep her company, so she wasn’t lonely. Lin had replied that a goldfish or guinea pig
was probably as good a companion but a lot less work. And at least they didn’t
answer back. The children, most of them blonde, looked up at her and Jag with awe.
Lin remembered Becks once advising Lin not to ever sit down or put her bag down in
a nursery if she didn’t want it to get snot, crayon or sick on it. Trying to ignore the
children, Lin shoved her hands further in her pocket, and turned to Naomi, who ran
the nursery.
“Hi,” Naomi smiled, a brunette girl in her arms. “DC Sharpe, right?”
”Yeah. I’d like to talk some more about Janet.”
”Sure,” she passed the child to another grown up, and led them through to an office
decorated with crayon scribbles on paper, bearing the names of various children.
“What do you want to know?” Naomi asked, motioning to a couple of tattered seats
across the desk from her. Jag and Lin sat.
“I was wondering,” Lin said, “if you could describe how Janet was behaving or acting
before she went missing.”
“Well, she just seemed a bit strung out, I suppose. I put it down to her being tired,
with Aaron.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I suppose Aaron and Janet had been going out for about a month before she
disappeared, and as far as I know, they were still going okay. Jan used to rush home to
make his dinner and stuff. She was always very good to him. I guess she was
returning the favour?”
“How so?”
“Well Aaron was real romantic, and used to take her out loads and treat her and stuff.
I think she just wanted to make it up to him.”
“Were Aaron and Janet arguing at all?”
“Jan mentioned a couple of times that they had rows.”
“Do you know what they were about?”
“No, Jan didn’t say.”

62
“Was Janet a spontaneous or a more planned person?”
“Definitely not spontaneous,” Naomi laughed. “But I think she enjoyed the change
with Aaron, who loved giving her surprises.”
“Do you think it’s possible that Janet and Aaron just went on a spontaneous holiday
and forgot to tell anyone they were going?”
Naomi shrugged. “I don’t know. However much Aaron would surprise her, I don’t
think she’d go off for this long without getting in touch with work or anything. She
loved her job, and would always phone in sick, and make sure we had someone to
cover for her. She was a very responsible lady.”
“Well thanks for your help, Naomi.”
”No problem. I hope you find her soon.”
”Yeah, me too.”

Next stop was Cananby Crescent, where Annette Damara worked in a clothes shop,
off the Highstreet in Hartlith. Annette reminded Lin of a Barbie doll, complete with
the big blonde hair. “Can I help you?” she asked, looking Jag up and down
appreciatively.
“Annette Damara?” Asked Lin.
“Yes?”
Lin badged her. “DC Sharpe, Hartlith Police. This is my associate, Jag. We’re looking
for your friend Eleanor. We’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“Oh, well. Sure.”
“Is there somewhere we can go to talk?”
”Uh, come through,” she said, waving them into the back room. A startled shopping
assistant took a long look at Jag before scuttling away into the shop. She waved them
towards the seats. “What do you want to know?”
”Did Eleanor ever mention a man called Corey?”
”No. Yes, once. She was in a bad mood, and snapped something about Corey pissing
her off. Then she clammed up when I asked her who he was.”
”Did she mention anyone called Nathon?”
”Yeah, he was her boyfriend. They were going out for about a month before she went
missing.”
”Did you ever see Nathon?”
”No, but he definitely existed.”
”Why do you say that?”
“Well normally if your friend has a boyfriend and you never meet him, he’s pretend,
but he sent her flowers at work and whisked her away once or twice.”
”Would you say that Eleanor was a spontaneous person?”
”Not at all. She didn’t have much of a life, the poor thing, so she had an order and a
way of doing everything.”
”How did Aaron change that?”
”He just…I guess he was her prince charming. He swept her off her feet, and made
her happy.”
”Did Eleanor ever talk about having arguments with Aaron?”
”Not really, no.”
”How did she seem before she disappeared?”
”Normal really. Maybe a little stressed. She seemed to be doing stuff all the time.”
”Thanks for your help, Annette, we’ll be in touch.”

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Once back in the car, Lin blew out her cheeks. “I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”
Jag grunted and nodded in agreement.
“Aaron and Nathon seem very similar, and both women seem to have the same
mannerisms. They’re both organised, like to plan, the boyfriends swept them off their
feet. They both seemed stressed before they disappeared.”
“Could be the same man,” Jag suggested.
“Suppose they were. This guy can sure pick out a good target. He plays the romantic
guy, spontaneous and charming. The ladies fall at his feet. He stays with them for a
month and then the lady gets stressed and they disappear?”
”Check in the office. See if there are any similar cases,” Jag suggested.
“Fine. But if this is the same guy and there are many cases linked, then where would
all these women be going?”
”Bottom of the river with concrete boots, maybe,” Jag suggested.
Lin shuddered. “I’ll phone the hospitals again, and then I’ll check the database.”

64
Chapter 21
When Jag drove Lin home that evening, she had her head full of thoughts chasing
each other around and around. Jag took a deep calming breath, and cleared his throat.
“What are you doing this weekend?”
Lin looked at him, surprised, “why,” her face broke into a smile. “Are you going to
take me out again?”
He smiled. “Answer the question.”
”Nothing fun,” she sighed. “Why d’you ask?”
”You remember Shelly?”
”Of course.”
”Well hers and Cain’s wedding is on Saturday.”
”Uh huh.”
”And it would really make my job easier if you came along.” He cringed inwardly.
Interesting way to make her feel wanted.
“Oh.”
“It’ll be fun,” he promised.
“Do I get to meet your relatives and hear embarrassing stories about you?”
”I would expect so,” he conceded.
“Where is it?”
”A couple of hours drive. We’d be staying in a hotel with the rest of my family.”
“Would that be alright with your family?”
”As Shelly has already informed my family of your existence and they are all
demanding to meet you, it would be a lot safer all round if you were to come. Plus I
enjoy your company.”
”Well okay,” she shrugged as he parked the car outside her house. “How long is it
for?”
”We’ll go up Friday after work, be around Friday evening. The wedding is about
eleven Saturday morning, and the rest of the family will be going to church on
Sunday, hanging around for lunch and going home later in the afternoon.”
”Will we be able to drop by here to pick up my bag on the way there?”
”I expect so.”
“Cool.”
Jag did a quick sweep of the house and returned to the doorstep. “What’s the plan for
this evening?”
“I’m going to have a look through all these other files,” she said, hefting the
cardboard box of photocopied files that she’d dug up of unsolved female missing
persons cases over the last 3 years. “Then I’ll probably go to bed.”
”D’you want some help?”
”Sure.” Lin heated up some leftovers sent by her mother and listened to her messages.
The first was from Carla asking when Lin would be able to drop the dress back over,
the second and third were breathing. Jag heard, and came into the kitchen. He
frowned, plucked the tape out of the machine and swapped it with a blank one. “Stay
here,” he said, before disappearing outside. He was back a few minutes later. “The
surveillance guys will deliver it to an analyst when they finish their shift.”
Lin nodded, and passed him a plate of dinner. “Right, let’s get to work on these files.”

The next evening was very similar. They scoured through the box and found that at
least four other cases over the past 3 years were very similar. Velma Allen, Roxanne
Gittes, Josephine Fox and Wendy Nurse had all been between the ages of 24 and 33,

65
Wendy and Roxanne had been single. Velma had a boyfriend already, as did
Josephine. And yet all the cases felt the same.

On Wednesday evening, Jag dropped Lin home, and did his routine sweep of the
house. Closing the front door, Lin glanced at the memo on her fridge, reminding her
to drop the dress back off at Carla’s. “I might drop the dress off, Jag,” she said,
glancing at the dry cleaned dress waiting in its wrapper.
“So I’m not needed this evening?”
”Not really. And if you don’t tell the guys following me I could have some fun with
them,” she grinned.
Jag chuckled. “I’d advise against it, when I’m not here, they’re the ones protecting
you from creepy stalkers.”
She set off up the stairs, “well, maybe. Not that I can’t look after myself, I’ll have you
remember.”
”True,” he agreed, following her. She stuck her head in the wardrobe and hunted
around for the shoes and stole that she’d borrowed as well as the dress. Jag reached up
and removed the dress from the wardrobe. He looked at it with a half smile. “It looks
a lot better on you.”
She reappeared from the bottom of the wardrobe. “Well gee, thanks.”
He looked amused. “Are you blushing?”
”No,” she blushed. “Don’t be stupid.”
Jag took a step closer, and brushed a strand of hair from her face. “You are blushing.”
”You’re flirting,” she accused, narrowing her eyes.
“What can I say, you inspire me.”
”Can I tell that to your mother on Saturday?”
”Only if you want to get marched up the aisle and be pestered for grand kids.” Lin
blushed even more. “Okay, I’m leaving,” he chuckled, and handed her the dress. And
then he was gone.
Lin remained standing in the middle of her bedroom, arms laden with shoes, bag and
dress until she was sure his car had disappeared. Blowing out her cheeks, she got
ready to go to Carla’s.
Carla lived in a posh block of flats in the outskirts of Hartlith, overlooking the river.
After parking in the multi visitors car park, she marched into the lift and pushed the
button for the fifth floor. She marched down the corridor to Carla’s flat and knocked
on the door. A second later, her friend answered.
“Hey sweetie, oh you’ve got my dress, thanks. Come on in.” Lin closed the door
behind her and handed over the red dress and other borrowed items. “Drink?”
”Yeah, please. Breakfast juice if you’ve got any.” Carla had been known on occasion
to produce a cocktail when Lin had not expressed an opinion about what drink she
wanted.
“Did the ball go well?” Carla asked, mixing the grapefruit and orange juices together.
“Yeah, I think so. I got a little drunk, so my memory is a little hazy.” Carla laughed.
“I didn’t know what I was doing all evening. Jag paraded me around and we danced a
little.”
Carla grinned. “I bet he looks good in a suit.”
Lin remembered him in his tux, with his hair tied back, and smiled. “Yeah, he’s pretty
darn gorgeous in a suit.”
”From what I’ve seen, that guy is just plain hot!”
Lin laughed, not trusting herself to reply as she remembered how close he had been to
kissing her at the ball.

66
“Are you blushing?”
”No. Look, I think I might be returning that dress only to ask to borrow more
clothes,” she made a face.
“Oh? What event is it this time? Not that I mind you borrowing my clothes,” she
added. “I’m just nosy.”
Lin pursed her lips. “I’m going to a wedding on Saturday with Jag.”
She had her undivided attention. “Whose wedding?”
”His sister.”
”Why did he say he was inviting you?”
”He said it would make his job easier.”
Carla cackled triumphantly. “Aw, my sweetheart’s growing up.”
”Say what?”
”He likes you, honey.”
”Don’t call me honey.” Only Jag gets away with that. “And he’s my bodyguard. He’s
supposed to be with me all the time.”
”Except now.”
”Yeah, well, he’s got surveillance on me. And I didn’t think it was fair of me to ask
him to follow me here. One evening of you whispering about him is enough.”
Carla just grinned. “So, let’s get down to business. What are you going to wear?”
”Well we’re going down Friday night, meeting his family, the wedding is on Saturday
and we’ll be coming back sometime on Sunday afternoon.”
“So you’ll need 3 outfits,” Carla began, counting on her fingers. “smart casual on
Friday, pretty on Saturday and something casual for Sunday.”
“I was thinking that I could wear normal stuff except for Saturday which is what I
need your help on.”
Carla shrugged, “well okay. It’s your wedding.” She burst out laughing.

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Chapter 22
On Thursday evening, Jag and Lin were at Mack’s. Amber was also there, wrapped
around Mack on the sofa, under the pretence of watching TV. Lin held a Bud in her
left hand and her head with the right. Jag sat beside her, lost in his own thoughts,
probably planning his big brother speech or something for the wedding.
The files hadn’t turned up much more that day. There were no dead bodies matching
the descriptions of any of the women that Lin was searching for and Lin felt as though
she may have hit another dead end.
Jag looked over at her out of the corner of his eye. He was finding it hard to maintain
a distance. In his line of work it was natural to become close friends or confidences
with the person that he was guarding. He had never really been attracted to anyone
under his care, until Lin. He had to remember to keep a distance. It was becoming
increasingly difficult as he had slipped into the habit of calling her ‘Slim’ almost as a
pet name.
She was not a Christian.
She was a job.
There were no grounds for anything more affectionate than a protector. He’d have to
keep reminding himself of that.
Lin got up to go to the loo, leaving the other 3 in the lounge.
“So Jag,” began Mack with a yawn. “I hear you’re whisking Wonders off for the
weekend.”
“Don’t give me that look,” Jag looked amused. “I’ve got to go to a wedding, and it
would be easier all round if Slim came too. Then I wouldn’t have to have a
surveillance team traipsing around.”
“Haven’t you got any prettier girls you could go with?” Amber asked.
Jag shrugged, “she’s pretty enough.”
“But she doesn’t wear any makeup. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen her legs.”
“I have,” piped up Mack, he grinned, “she always has skinned knees.”
“But she can look nice when she makes an effort,” Jag said.
“Yeah,” chuckled Mack, “but when does that happen? Her last boyfriend asked her to
wear a skirt once. He said she could look nice if she tried, so why didn’t she?” He
cackled. “Wonders knocked him into next week. It was hilarious.”
Hidden the other side of the doorway, Lin felt her hands start trembling with anger.
How dare they discuss her like that? She’d had enough of being babysat and hearing
talk about her skinned knees and ex-boyfriend. Growling to herself, she took a deep
breath and wandered calmly back into the living room, behind the sofas, into the
foyer, swiped up her bag and some car keys from the side table, and silently closed
the door behind her.
She flew down the stairs, glanced at the keys and realised with a grin that they were
Jag’s. She resisted the urge to glance up at the window and see if they noticed that she
had gone, and beeped the Range Rover open. She had seen Jag disable the other alarm
so many times, that it was no problem. She dived in the driver’s seat, threw her bag
onto the passenger’s side and sped out of the car park.
Lin cackled as she drove home. That’ll teach Jag to talk about her behind her back.
And as for her appearance; what had he said? She can look nice when she makes an
effort…she’s pretty enough. Stuff him! She declared. She’d give him pretty, so damn
pretty he wouldn’t recognise her.
She drove to her mother’s house. After turning her phone off, she let herself in the
kitchen door and surprised her mother who was having a quiet drink. “Hi Mum,” Lin
waved on her way through the house. “Is Becky in?”

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”Upstairs,” came the reply. Lin took the stairs 2 at a time, and burst into her sister’s
bedroom, where she was sat on the bed in a dressing gown with a mud pack on her
face, cotton wool between her toes, and a bottle of nail varnish.
“What are you doing here?” Becky asked, surprised.
”Getting beautified.” Lin declared, and opened the wardrobe. “So what kind of thing
can I wear to a wedding?” she asked, pulling out a couple of dresses.
“Are you serious?”
”Deadly,” Lin snarled. “If that mongrel thinks he can talk about me like that I’m
gonna knock his ruddy socks off.”
Becky wore an expression of shock and mild anxiety at her older sister’s reaction.
“Uh, okay. Sit down.” She waddled over to the wardrobe. “Whose wedding is it?”
”Jag’s sister.”
“Right.” Becky proceeded to throw 3 dresses at the cop in quick succession, followed
by 2 short skirts, one slightly longer and a few stringy tops.
“If you want a dress,” Becky said, picking up the first three items, “the white is pretty
and simple. Would look great with your complexion, wear sandals or small heels and
maybe a denim jacket. The lilac is smarter,” she pointed out, holding it up, “you could
get away with heels, but probably better with flats. The pink would look pretty, too,”
Becky said. It had spaghetti straps, was clingy and pale pink with small darker pink
flower pattern. “You should wear it with hair down and curly, big flower clip and
maybe a denim jacket and sandals. If you didn’t want to wear a dress-”
”Whoa, hold it,” interrupted Lin, struggling not to feel totally overwhelmed. “You
decide. What should I wear? Dress or skirt?”
”I’d say dress. Either the white or pink.”
”And what about the other days?”
“Jeans and a white tunic. Lightweight and sexy.”
“Have you got a tunic?”
”Does a duck have wings?” Becky threw one in Lin’s direction.
“Fine. I’ll take the pink. I need shoes, a bag and hair and make up tips.”
Becky wiped away a fake tear. “I never thought I’d see the day. My big sister has
finally acknowledged her gender.”
”Cram a sock in it. And get rid of the mud pack. You look like a swamp creature.”

Becky was demonstrating how to style her hair with curling tongs when Helen called
up the stairs. “Jocelyn!”
Lin winced. It wasn’t sounding good. “What?”
”Mack is on the phone.”
Gulp. “I’m busy. I’ll call him back.”
”NOW!” came the angry screech. Lin sighed, gathered up the clothes, hair curlers,
accessories and makeup, and trundled down the stairs. She dumped it on the clean
kitchen table and Helen frowned disapprovingly as she looked for a large plastic bag.
“Go,” Lin said as she picked up.
“How does the Range Rover compare to the old Mondeo?”
”What did you want?”
”Just to warn you, I suppose. It’s not a good reflection on a bodyguard when his body
runs off with his car.”
“Get stuffed.” She hung up, grabbed the bag from her mother, kissed Helen’s cheek
goodbye, and went back to the car. Tomorrow she would prove to Jag that she could
not only look great on special occasions, but she could look nice whenever she chose
to. This time, it was personal.

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Jag tried to hide his smile from the back of the surveillance car. It was possible that
Lin had forgotten she had surveillance on her tail as well as a bodyguard. Even so, it
had not been too difficult to find her. Diesel had phoned when Lin got in the car, and
asked if his boss knew that the body he was meant to be guarding had just driven off
in his car. Diesel had followed Lin to her parents house, left Vince to keep an eye on
her, and had driven back to pick up his boss. Jag waited in the car until Lin turned off
all the lights and bolted the doors. He got out and unlocked his car, and smiled again.
She had deactivated the interior alarm without any trouble, it seemed.
Chuckling, he backed up and drove home.
She’d be in with a surprise tomorrow morning.

Lin woke early, and rolled out of bed, into jogging bottoms and a ratty t-shirt. She
pulled her hair into a ponytail, stuffed her feet into old trainers, grabbed her keys and
mobile and left the house. An hour later she arrived home sweat soaked, out of breath
but feeling healthier. The Range Rover had disappeared last night, which she wasn’t
very shocked about. Jag would have hitched a ride with someone and come to collect
the car last night.
She let herself inside, and dragged herself into the shower. She combed and blow
dried her hair, pulled on lightweight jeans and a stretchy red v-neck tshirt, and went
downstairs. Jag sat in the kitchen, coffee in hand and suppressing a smile.
Lin gave a small shriek and promptly made to smack him around the head. He
grabbed her wrist, blocking her, and smiled some more.
“What are you doing here?”
”No matter what made you decide to storm off last night, I am still your bodyguard.
You are my responsibility so don’t run off. Got it?”
She snatched her hand back and saw a cup of tea already waiting for her. She sipped it
suspiciously.
“So what’s the plan for today?” He asked pleasantly.
“I’m going to go through the police records, and see if I can pull the boyfriend
interviews in the four similar cases to Eleanor and Janet.”
“Fine. I’ll drive you and wait in the car.”
”Doesn’t this bore you? Chauffeuring me around?”
He shrugged. “It’s my job. Right,” he rinsed his empty mug and left it for washing up.
“Let’s get a move on.”

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Chapter 23
It was dark, cold and dusty in the police records office. There were boxes of files with
names on them, all grouped by the date they were opened. With the help of the clerk,
Lin found her way to all the old boxes for the other four cases she was looking at. She
found the interview tapes and thanked the clerk, retreating back to her desk at the
station.
She pushed the oldest tape into the machine and plugged in headphones. The
interview began, and she pulled out a pad of paper and a pen, ready to make notes.
Roxanne Gittes’ boyfriend Hugo Farrington was the first up. He gave a
comprehensive account of when he had last seen his girlfriend and sounded suitably
worried about her, but not overly concerned.
Lin finished the tape and slid in the interview with Velma’s boyfriend, Christopher.
He was concerned, but admitted to having a few shouted arguments with his girlfriend
of eight months, and said it was possible that she had decided to up and leave. Lin
looked over the file, and saw that another interview but with a work collegue had said
that Velma had quit her job one day, and never came back. A chunk of money had
disappeared from her bank account, and the case had been dismissed after six months,
deciding that the woman had decided to start a new life.
After listening to all the other interviews, Lin was tired out. She’d skipped lunch,
deciding to keep working, and was regretting it now. She felt a headache coming on,
but wanted to keep going. She felt as though she was on the brink of something.
She looked at the scribbled pages of notes.
Velma’s boyfriend Christopher had no idea that he was being 2 timed with a mystery
boyfriend, who had come up in a search of Velma’s house, mentioned many times in
a diary. Josephine, the other woman who also had a long term boyfriend, had had her
house searched, and a number of love letters turned up from a man named Ronan.
The other women, Roxanne and Wendy, had been going out with boyfriends Aaron
and Nathon for about a month, give or take a week or so.
She was almost certain, Lin thought as she played the tapes once more, that Aaron,
Nathon and Hugo who had been interviewed, were the same person. They sounded
slightly different, like the same person attempting to make their voices sound a little
varied. Lin was still puzzling this through when 2 hands on her shoulders made her
jump three feet out of her chair.
Jag grinned down at her.
“Could you be any quieter?” she demanded reproachfully.
“We’re leaving early to get to your place, pick up your stuff and head off to the
hotel.”
“Fine.” She gathered up her shoulder bag, dropped the tapes back off in the records
room, and marched out to the car. She was looking forward to his reaction when he
saw her later.
Once back at her house, Lin left Jag in the lounge, and went upstairs to get ready. The
dress and other top for Sunday were already in the kit bag that she was taking, along
with a toiletries bag and extra shoes and a small handbag. Lin tweezed her eyebrows,
brushed and braided her hair, and pulled on the jeans and white tunic recommended
by her sister. After a quick once over in the floor length mirror, Lin added the hair
curlers and a few last minute items to the bag. She carried it down stairs, and gave a
smug grin when she saw Jag’s reaction.
“Let’s go then,” she reminded him, resisting the urge to twirl. He cleared his throat,
took her bag and opened the door for her.

71
The drive was quiet. Lin was wrapped up in her own thoughts about the missing
women and how to do her hair tomorrow morning. Jag was trying not to notice Lin’s
perfume.
The hotel was off the main street, overlooking a park. When the car was parked, they
made their way inside to the reception desk and checked in. They took the lift to the
eighth floor, and Jag found the rooms. To make his security job easier, Jag’s family
had hired a couple of suites. After unlocking the door, Jag did a security sweep and
Lin followed him through the rooms. There was a small reception room with a couple
of armchairs, a bathroom, and 2 bedrooms coming off the lounge.
Jag put down the bags. “You can have the master bedroom, I’ll take the single,” he
said.
Lin plonked down her luggage on the bed, and when Jag had retreated to his own
room, she pulled out the dress and hung it up in a vain attempt to de-wrinkle it. Jag’s
mobile chirped from the other room and after putting her wash bag in the bathroom,
she heard him hang up. “Who was that?” she asked
“My father. Everyone else is here and waiting to meet you,” he smiled. “They’re
down in the bar. Are you ready for this?”
Lin shrugged, “meeting your family’s just part of the job, right?”
Still smiling, Jag led her out.

The bar was not too busy, a few small parties sitting around tables. Over in the corner
was a rather loud Spanish party that Lin realised Jag was leading her to. Taking a
deep breath, straightening up and deciding to radiate calm confidence, Lin tried to
relax her clenched stomach.
“Bruce!” came a cry from one of the women at the table. She was tiny, with a large
smile. “Baby, it’s so good to see you,” she embraced Jag, and he seemed able to crush
her spindly limbs with his muscular frame.
“Hi Mum,” Jag smiled. “Mama, this is Lin.”
Rosanne Santiago embraced Lin as well. “Welcome, my dear. It’s wonderful to
finally meet you. Shelly has told us all about you,” she waved towards Jag’s sister,
who grinned and waved from the table.
Lin smiled back, and did a finger wave.
“Have a seat,” Rosanne suggested, sitting down. “What would you like to drink?
Alessandro’s paying,” she added with a smile.
“I’ll have a lemonade, please.”
”Si,” nodded an elderly man, and ordered for her, attracting the attention of a waiter.
“Alessandro’s my husband,” Rosanne explained, “this is his brother Frankie. You’ve
already met Shelly and her fiancé Cain. Kerry and Bree are Shelly’s bridesmaids, and
Jim is Cain’s best man. This is my other daughter Lillain and her husband Angelo.
They have a little girl called Maria, and this is my other son Carlos. He’s single.”
”Mama,” Carlos protested weakly.
“Well you are,” she declared. “But not for much longer, I hope. Anyway, Bruce, is the
room alright?”
”It’s fine, Mama, thank you. What are the arrangements for tomorrow?”
”See,” Rosanne smiled at Lin, “he is all work work work. We’ve sorted everything,”
she assured her eldest son. “Lin will be with the family at all times. I’ve spoken to the
caterers, and the hotel people about the hall hire. Lin will be seated with you all the
time; between you and Carlos.”
Lin glanced at the younger brother, who shrugged apologetically. The waiter passed
her her lemonade.

72
“Good,” Jag sighed. “That makes my job easier. So Shell, how’re you and Cain
feeling?”
Shelly looked lovingly into the eyes of her fiancé before answering, “a little nervous,
but very excited.”
Cain grinned in agreement.
“Is Lin short for something?” asked Lillian.
“It’s short for Jocelyn, but please don’t call me that,” she winced. Lillian smiled. “I’ve
got loads of nicknames, but Lin is probably the most common.”
”So how do you know each other?” asked Carlos, looking intrigued. Rosanne’s ears
pricked up, too.
“D’you remember Mack, Mama?” Jag asked.
“Smiley man, talks a lot, good with kids?”
”Yeah.”
She nodded.
“Lin is Mack’s best friend. She was having a few security problems so Mack put me
in touch with her.”
”Ah, a working relationship.”
”Well, it’s not anything else,” Jag pointed out to his family. Lin was almost positive
she saw him blush when his siblings exchanged sideways glances.
“When are we eating?” demanded Frankie in a thick Spanish accent.
“We’ve a table booked on the terrace,” said Alessandro, similarly accented. “The
view is lovely.” The party moved outside and ate overlooking the sunset across the
park.

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Chapter 24
Lin woke to an early phone call, her head covered by the duvet, face smushed into her
pillow and arms and legs all over the place. She heard Jag pick up the phone and
murmur a response. He hung up and Lin heard his soft footsteps. Uh oh.
“Wakey wakey, sleepy head,” he said softly. “We’re needed.”
She whimpered slightly into her pillow.
“Are you alright?” there was a smile in his voice.
“Yup, just great. Wup di doo.” She removed her head from under the duvet, “what are
we needed for?”
”As temporarily one of the family, the ladies have had breakfast and are getting my
sister preened and pampered, and the men are getting Cain ready.”
”So what’s happening to you?”
”I’m going to follow you at the moment, then we’ll go down with the men to the
church later on. We’ll get ready later on, so shower, throw on some clothes and we’ll
go down for breakfast.”
”Mm,” Lin perked up at the word, “okay. Give me a couple of minutes.”
They were downstairs fifteen minutes later.
After munching her way through a delicious continental breakfast with fruit salad and
a big mug of tea, Lin felt a little more ready for this wedding.
Jag led her up to where the ladies were.
Lin was getting the feeling that Jag’s family were richer than he let on. They had
hired a suite for the bride and groom (which the ladies presently occupied), a suite for
Cain and the men, and the downstairs hall for the wedding reception. Plus rooms for
the bridesmaids and best man. Lin shuddered to think how much all this must have
cost.
Jag knocked on the door, and after a few minutes, they heard laughter and footsteps.
Rosanne opened the door. “Ah, here you are. Come in, both of you.” They followed
her into the large sitting area, where the three bridesmaids were chattering away with
the nervous bride.
“Right,” said Rosanne, snapping into action. “Bree, lets get started with Shelly’s hair.
Kerry, get the flowers ready. Lillian, hang out all the dresses. I’ll iron Maria’s flower
girl dress.”
”Shall we just observe, Mama?” Bruce asked.
“For the moment, dears.” The women sprang into action, and Lin watched from the
floral patterned sofa. Bree played hairdresser most efficiently, whilst Rosanne applied
makeup and Lillian and Kerry bustled around with the other tasks. There was a pink
and white bouquet for Shelly, a basket of petals for Maria, and small bunches of long
stemmed flowers for the other three women. The dresses shimmered in all their
organza glory, and light sparkled on the diamante adornments to the gowns. The
bridesmaids were in pale pink, and the bride in ivory with a train and sparkling veil.
The dresses alone must have cost a small fortune.
Once Shelly’s hair had been arranged, Lillian did her sister’s make up, and Bree
turned her attention to Kerry’s and then Lillian’s hair.
“We’ll go and get ready,” Bruce announced, getting up.
“Yes, dears,” Rosanne nodded absently. “We’ll meet you in the church.”
Bruce gave his sister a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “You look beautiful already,” he
assured her.
“Is that the brother or the man talking?”
”Both,” he smiled. After carefully putting her down, he and Lin went back to their
rooms to change.

74
Lin sprang into action. She curled her hair, wiggled into the dress, garnished her wavy
hair with a flower, concentrated hard on her makeup, and was slipping into the shoes
that her sister had leant her when Jag knocked on her bedroom door. “Are you nearly
ready?”
”Yeah. Hang on.” She grabbed the dark pink pashmina, straightened up, and glided
out of the room.
Jag was impressed: Fast and stunning.
The dress clung in all the right places and her curled hair softened the cop’s usually
stark appearance. Delicious.
He simply nodded in approval. “Very nice.”
“Thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself.” He looked wonderful in a tux, she
reminded herself.

The church was just across the park. Shelly had decided to walk the short distance
from the hotel, being able to enjoy wearing her gown for that extra little while. The
men were huddled in the lobby, waiting for Jag and Lin to join them. As the pair
arrived, a hush descended briefly, as they all admired Lin in the pink dress. She
grinned, curtsied, and they left.
Lin enjoyed the sunny walk through the park, the pashmina loosely draped across her
arms, and clasping the little bag that Becky had suggested with the outfit. When the
group arrived at the church, there were guests arriving. The men and Lin entered the
graceful stone building, and took their seats. The chapel began to fill up, and half an
hour later, the wedding march started, and everyone stood up.
Maria, Lillian and Angelo’s daughter, scattered pink rose petals as she waddled up the
aisle, and was followed by Bree, Kerry and Lillian, who stood to the side at the front.
Shelly glided up the aisle on Alessandro’s arm, her face a picture of serenity. As they
reached the front, Alessandro pulled back the veil, kissed his daughter’s cheek and
took his place to her side.
The ceremony was beautiful. The vows were punctuated by hymns, and after the
beaming bride and groom had exchanged rings and kissed, they walked back down
the aisle as man and wife. The bridesmaids linked arms with the best man and a
couple of Cain’s other close guy friends. Then Jag’s family and Lin followed them
through the church and out into the sunshine for almost an hour of photos.
Eventually, the bridal party and guests headed back to the hotel for the reception. Lin
found herself seated, as promised, between Jag and his younger brother. Being
surrounded by such testosterone made her want to giggle. Or maybe that was the
champagne. When everyone was seated, there was a quick speech from Cain before
everyone dug into their lunch. More speeches followed, with the cutting of the cake
and some gifts for the bride and groom, followed by gifts for the bridesmaids.
The afternoon followed with dancing and music. Watching from the sidelines, Lin
observed Maria dancing on her Uncle Carlos’ feet, and the bride and groom danced,
and circulated, greeting all their guests. The rest of Jag’s family danced during the
evening, and Lin leant over to murmur her thanks at being invited. Without turning
his head or glancing at her he replied, “no problem. I should be thanking you for
putting up with my family for the weekend.”
”You’ve met mine,” she pointed out.
He smiled, “yeah, but my family’s Spanish. Yours hasn’t got a patch on ‘em.” Lin
chuckled. “So d’you want to dance?”
”Let me guess, it would make it easier for you to survey the room? Check things out?
Just like me being your date to this wedding was just making things a little more

75
simple for you?”
”Sounds like you’ve got me sussed, Slim.”
She shrugged, “only seems fair.”
”So d’you wanna dance?”
”Only if you lead. I still can’t dance.” Smiling, he took her hand and led her onto the
dance floor. They glided past various relatives of Jag’s, all of whom took great delight
in noticing Lin’s presence. Later that evening, Shelly threw her bouquet to Carlos, the
bride and groom went up to their suite, and the party started to wind down.
Lin collapsed into a seat along the side of the room, and took another sip of the glass
of champagne that had magically appeared in her hand. Jag was beside her, having
little choice, but not seeming to mind all that much.
“I thought Spanish parties lasted for weeks,” Lin said to her bodyguard.
“Most of the time they do, but I think everyone staying at the hotel is coming to
church tomorrow.”
”Wow. Does the church know?”
“My mum phoned up.”
“Wise woman.”
“Yeah, just don’t tell her that.”
Lin smothered a yawn. “I think it’s time for me to turn in.” Jag helped her to her feet.
“I’ll wake you in time for church tomorrow.”
“Thanks,” she gathered her little handbag and flung the pashmina over her shoulder.
They went upstairs, and Lin waited for Jag’s all clear before she collapsed on her bed.
Spanish weddings were absolutely exhausting.

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Chapter 25
Lin woke early in the morning, and groaned at the alarm clock. The display told her
that it was quarter past six. She lay awake for a few minutes, tossing and turning,
before admitting defeat and getting up. She phoned down to reception to see what
time the kitchens opened for breakfast. After discovering that she’d have another 45
minutes before the early breakfast sitting, Lin ordered room service and was told she
would have a five or ten minute wait. The cop headed for the shower and dressed in
jeans and tunic before combing her wet hair. There was a soft knock on her bedroom
door and Jag pushed it open.
“Room service.”
”Is it here already?”
He nodded, “arrived while you were dressing.”
They moved to the seating area, and Lin curled up in an armchair with a cup of tea.
Jag had coffee and toast, and Lin finished off a couple of croissants.
“Couldn’t you sleep either?” she asked, cradling the hot mug in her hands.
“When you get up, so do I. It’s part of the job description.”
”Sorry,” she said ruefully.
He shrugged her apology away. “Why couldn’t you sleep?”
”I dunno,” she scowled. “I should have been able to, after being so tired yesterday.”
“So what do you want to do while we wait for the rest of the world to wake up?”
”Go for a walk?” she suggested. “The weather looks nice.”
”Sure.”
The park was beautiful in the early morning sunshine. Lin had pulled on a denim
jacket, and shoved her hands in the pockets; it was rather chilly. Jag wore a
lightweight jacket to conceal his holster, but he didn’t look at all cold. They wound
their way through the park, and Lin sighed. “So are all your family Christians like you
and Shelly?”
”No. Our close family are, but most uncles and aunts are Catholic. It’s a Spanish
thing,” he explained.
“I like your family,” she decided.
”That’s good. They like you too. Especially my mother. She thinks I need a woman in
my life right now. Sadly she doesn’t get the message that it’s my job to hang around
with you,” he said ruefully.
“I hope you’re doing more than hanging around. I’m counting on you to keep my
head down if someone starts shooting at me.”
He grinned, “no worries there, Slim.”
Lin pondered over saying something, and it must have shown on her face, because Jag
interrupted her thoughts. “What is it?”
“I’m just thinking.” She glanced at him; he was waiting for more. “I just don’t get
how you people trust in ‘God’. It’s like trusting in something you can’t see.”
“Do you believe in the wind?”
“The wind that I can’t see, but I can see the effects of it? Yeah. I’ve heard that one
before.” She looked unimpressed.
“Where did you hear it before?”
She paused. “I think it was from my dad. He died about eight years ago from cancer.”
“I’m sorry.”
”Me too.”
“Was your father a Christian?”
“Yeah. He started to go to church a long time ago. Mum wasn’t all that interested, but
he kept going there. He took us along a couple of times. At Christmas and Easter,

77
mainly.”
”What was he like?”
”Calm. Almost serene. He didn’t seem to worry at all, and generally seemed almost
content.” She shot a glance at him. “I even prayed once.”
”Oh?”
“I begged God to keep Dad alive. He didn’t.”
Jag wore an unfathomable expression. “I’m sorry that that’s your experience. I guess
that makes it pretty hard when someone says that prayers are answered. I guess it
makes you wonder why God didn’t answer your prayer.”
“It used to,” she shrugged, feeling uncomfortable. “Now I just ignore it.”
“It?” Jag repeated. She simply shrugged again, and folded her arms, unwilling to
discuss it further.
They walked for a little longer. “So what was it like growing up in a big loud, Spanish
family?” she asked.
“Well it wasn’t very big. Me, Shell, Cain and Lill were born in Spain. We lived with
my Gran for a while, and then our family moved to England after Gran passed away.
Lil moved back to Spain when she grew up, and Cain went to America. Shell stayed
at home, and I joined the army, so it wasn’t much of a generally over powerful
Spanish experience.”
“So are you the favourite nephew?”
He didn’t answer, but she watched a faint smile play on his lips.

They headed back to the hotel, packed their bags and loaded them into the Range
Rover. Then they joined the rest of the family and they all trekked to the church for
the service. Lin found it more formal that Jag’s church, but the mood seemed very
similar. The congregation sang happily, and most of them seemed to be listening to
the vicar speak on love, as he had the day before. Lin found it hard to concentrate, as
a pounding in her head testified to her previous bad nights sleep.

After lunch at the hotel, the newly weds headed off to the airport, and the guests
disbanded. Jag drove Lin home and after security checking her house, left her to get
settled back in under the supervision of a surveillance team.
Lin unpacked the crumpled clothes and shoved them in the washing machine. She
pressed play on her answer machine. There was a message from Carla, asking to
know what had gone on over the weekend. There was one from her mother inviting
her to dinner, and one from Frank, asking for an update on the missing persons cases
she was unofficially working on.
She phoned her mother and declined the offer of dinner, but promised to return
Becky’s clothes when they were washed. She phoned Frank whilst she made a cup of
tea, and explained everything that she had found out. Then she hung up and called
Carla.
“Well, what happened?” Carla said when Lin said hello.
“Nothing happened,” Lin reassured her best friend. “It was a wedding, for goodness
sake.”
”What did he think of the clothes?”
”I got the impression that he liked them.”
”I’m getting the impression that he likes you, sweetheart.”
“Nuh uh, he’s my bodyguard. It’s his job to hang around me and protect me from bad
guys. Liking me makes his job easier, is all.”
”So he does like you.”

78
”Well even if he does, that road has a big fat ‘no entry’ sign on it, and it leads to no
where. He’s a Christian, I’m not. He’s my bodyguard, I’m the…”
“Body?” Carla supplied helpfully.
She did a head slap.
When she had hung up, Lin rifled through the stack of post, and found a blank
envelope. Frowning, she opened it, and found a letter:
Did you miss me?
I did. So did your family.
Also enclosed were six photographs of Becky, Ads and her mother. They were asleep
in their own beds. A wave of icy cold dread washed over her, and the paper trembled
in her hand. Anger, fear and the desire to run fought for priority in her stomach.
Reaching to her belt, she hit the panic button on the bleeper that Jag had given to her.
She grabbed a bag with essentials in it: revolver, stun gun, pepper spray, purse, keys
and mobile phone, and dived into her car. As an afterthought, she checked briefly for
any suspicious looking wires or exploding devices, and drove to Mack’s place.
She let herself in, and found that Mack was out. She phoned his mobile on the
landline, and explained the situation.
“Where was Jag?” Mack sounded furious.
“He dropped me off after making sure the house was creep free. I think he went back
home.”
”Phone him. Chances are he’s about to park outside, but do it anyway. Stay at mine as
long as you need.”
”Thanks but I’ll probably just stick around here until Jag turns up. I don’t want to kick
about at your place more than I have to.”
She hung up, and was getting a beer from the fridge when the front door opened and
Lin scrambled to hide behind the sofa and wrench her gun from her bag. She appeared
over the top of the sofa, gun aimed directly at Jag.
“Don’t shoot,” he said, holding up his hands.
Lin sighed and put the gun away. “Holy Cow, you gave me a fright.”
“I noticed,” he said, wryly. His demeanour darkened. “What happened?”
Lin relayed the events of the past half hour.
“I shouldn’t have left,” Jag sighed, running a hand through his hair.
“You’re not supposed to be my shadow all the time,” Lin was having second thoughts
as she said it.
“Yes I am. That’s my job. So, what do you want to do?”
”What are the options?”
”You can stay here or go back to your house and I stay too, or I can put you in a safe
house.”
“Hunh. Not much of a choice.”
“Well?”
”There’s no way you’re locking me up.”
”Not even to keep you safe?”
”Especially not to keep me safe. I refuse to be helpless like that.”
”So?”
She took a deep breath. “My place. And I guess that means you’re my new roomy.”
Huh, she thought. Why didn’t that sound too bad?

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Chapter 26
After baked potatoes in front of the TV, Lin brought down the customary laundry
bundle for Jag’s duty nights. Before Jag allowed her to go upstairs to bed, he did a
thorough search of the house and locked all the windows and doors. Trying not to feel
resentful, Lin brushed aside his goodnight, and stomped through the hall, to the stairs.
Jag fished out his mobile and called base. “I want surveillance on this place, the
family home and Mack’s flat. No one is to approach without my knowledge.
Understand?”
“Sure,” came the reply from Vince, Jag’s second in command. “What do you want to
do about the Farrington issue?”
”We’ll sit tight on this one for the moment. Her sister could be the only link we’re
going to get, and I don’t want anyone screwing this up.”
“What about the stalker?”
“If there’s any more movement on that front, we’ll move her into the fortress. But I
doubt she’ll go without a fight. And that’s one I don’t fancy battling out.” He hung up
and sighed. It had been a long weekend, and tomorrow wasn’t looking much better.
From the stairs, Lin listened to the conversation with a scowl. So, Jag was using her
sister. Somehow it was linked to some important investigation and Lin’s bodyguard
was using her to watch Becky, who would lead him to his target. He was going to
have to reconsider. There was no way anyone was going to use her family.

When morning came, Lin stumbled down the stairs to find Jag sitting at the kitchen
table reading the paper and sipping a mug of tea. Someone must have dropped off
some clothes for him this morning. Lin wondered what the surveillance guys had
thought about him staying the night at her place.
“Morning,” he said as she flicked the kettle on and fetched a bowl and cereal from the
cupboard.
“Morning,” she echoed. “What’s the plan for today?”
”We’re going to the station to talk to Frank. He phoned earlier wanting to speak to
you. Then I thought we could go and see your family. You can return Becky’s clothes
and give your mum peace of mind,” he smiled.
“Fine. I’ll go and get ready.”
As she pondered, she showered and dressed, a scheme forming in her brain. After
checking the contents of her bag for everything she would need, Lin left it in the
bathroom. She phoned Carla on her mobile and requested an emergency lift on the
corner of the street a few minutes walk away. She saw that Jag was ready, and trotted
down the stairs and into trainers.
“All set?” he said, holding the door open.
“Yeah.”
“What about Becky’s clothes?”
She made a show of pausing, trying not to look embarrassed, and turned on her heel.
”I’ll be a couple of minutes.”
“I’ll wait in the car.”
She closed the door behind him and bolted up the stairs into the bathroom. Lin
snatched her bag and put it over her shoulders and climbed out the bathroom window.
She shuffled along the window ledge and landed lightly on the shed. Then she
sprinted across the garden and vaulted the fence. She crossed a couple of gardens and
into the alley way. Carla was waiting for her as she jogged up to the car.
“Are you okay, sweetie?”
”Drive,” Lin barked. “Away from my house.”

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”Uh oh, did you and Hunky have a tiff?”
”He’s using Becky,” she hissed through gritted teeth.
“I thought he was guardin’ your body?”
”Yeah. Well. Let’s get out of here.”
”Where are we headed?”
”Mack’s.” she pulled out a set of keys. “He just leant me his motorbike.”
Carla dropped Lin off outside Mack’s flat. She let herself in, and borrowed a leather
jacket and a rucksack, which put her bag inside. She had left the panic button and the
traceable phone in the house, so she didn’t have to worry about being tracked by that.
She rummaged in Mack’s kitchen drawer until she found an envelope filled with bank
notes. It wasn’t stealing, she reasoned to her self as she helped herself to the fruit
bowl and went down to the garage, Lin fully intended to replace all of Mack’s
emergency stack of cash once she could use her card again, but until then she had to
be invisible. Mack would understand. She unlocked the garage, and came face to face
with Mack’s shiny motorbike.
She grinned and ran her hand along it, before pulling on the jacket, backpack and
helmet. It was time to disappear.

As she rode, Lin pondered on why she was disappearing. Ok, so Jag was using her to
get to Becky, whilst Lin herself needed protection from a crazy stalker. But then, Lin
could look after herself. Or at least that was what she was trying to put across. She
decided that if she could evade Jag, she could evade whoever was watching her.
When she stopped at a service station for lunch, Lin decided to call home. She kept a
close eye on her watch, not wanting to make contact long enough for the phone call to
be traced. Undoubtedly Jag was monitoring the family’s calls.
It rang four times before Lin’s mother picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Hi Mum, it’s me. Listen, I just wanted you to know that I’m going away for a bit. I
don’t want you guys to be alone, but stay away from Jag. Especially Becky.” Her
pride did not want her family close enough to be manipulated by Jag and his team as
they used Becky in whatever case they were working on.
“Jocelyn,” Helen began, through gritted teeth. “What is going?”
“I want you to take the others to a safe house. Phone Frank, he’ll help you out. Gotta
go.” She slammed the phone down, and sighed. Her mother was going to give her a
right earful when all this was over.
After grabbing some more food and stuffing it into her backpack she went back to the
bike.
She drove for another few hours, until her muscles had seized up and she ached.
Stumbling off the bike, she booked into a travel inn with a fake name, so it would
make tracking her down more difficult for everyone who was looking for her. Her
bike was safely put away in the garage and Lin ate a room service dinner before
heading for the shower.
Lying in bed, Lin contemplated her next move. She knew how to disappear; over the
years of tracking people down she had picked up the finer points of vanishing. She
had her passport, was paying for things with cash, she was using a fake name, and had
gotten rid of tracking devices. Perhaps she should go north. Or maybe south. Town or
City? Keep moving around or try and hide in a city?
Frowning, she decided to sleep on it.
She was out of her room and back on the road by nine o’clock in the morning. She
had decided to go north, to Scotland. Many years ago, Lin had visited Scotland with a
geography school trip, and had loved the countryside, apart from the task of

81
measuring hills, and calculating the speed of some of the streams the class had come
across. She rode the motorbike north for another few hours, until she stopped in a
town, and parked Mack’s bike at the back of the station’s large car park. She paid for
a day’s parking, so it didn’t get clamped, and gathered her belongings.
She hopped on a train to Scotland half an hour later, and emerged in Edinburgh at
twenty to nine. Lin found another travel inn, and stayed the night, pondering on her
next steps.
She could keep moving a little, or stick in the city. She was going to need money
soon, so maybe she should get a job. A vague idea tugged at the edge of Lin’s mind.
What about a barmaid job? Then she could get some quick, easy money, and would
be able to live for a little while before she transferred to another bar somewhere. She
could rent a room somewhere.
Lying on her back and staring at the ceiling, Lin sighed. Being invisible was a lonely
existence. She felt foolish for her reaction to Jag earlier. Maybe she should just use
her credit card in a cash machine and wait to be picked up, she mused. Or perhaps she
should just invent a remote control for time, so she could rewind and do things
differently.
She left the travel lodge the next morning, and stopped off at a convenience store to
buy a sugar fix in the form of a chocolate bar. She picked up a couple of sandwiches
and a drink, and made her way to the counter. Digging into her cash filled purse, she
felt a sharp jag in her back, and a voice hissed in her ear. “Give me the purse,” said
an accented youth, the gun trembling slightly in his hand.
Lin faced a tough decision. She could be a victim, or she could arrest this guy. She
was trying to be invisible, so arresting him wouldn’t help her to go unnoticed. But on
the other hand, she needed her cash.
“Give it to me,” the mugger repeated with a snarl. Reluctantly, Lin held the purse in
her right hand up by her shoulder for him to take. He reached for it, just as her other
hand shot up to grab his wrist and with her right arm she knocked the gun from his
grip and spun him around, yanking his arm up behind his back. She pressed him
against the counter, as the startled sales clerk dialled for the police, and she extracted
her handcuffs from her shoulder bag, cuffing him smartly.
So much for laying low.

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Chapter 27
If it had just been the sales clerk and Lin in the shop when she had arrested the
mugger, she might have been able to stop the man mentioning that she was there, but
the presence of several other startled customers had made it impossible to disappear,
like batman would have. Reluctantly, she waited until the police had arrived, trying to
figure out a plausible story for why she had disarmed and apprehended the man. The
uniformed officers took the slightly baffled would-be mugger into their car, and a
roughly middle aged portly PC came over to her.
“I’m PC Lake, Greenhill Police. I understand you reprimanded this mugger.” His
accent was faintly welsh.
“Apparently so.”
“What’s your name, missus?”
“Lin Sharp.”
“Well Miss Sharp, I’ll need to take you down to the station to take a statement.”
“Sure.” It wasn’t as if she had anything important to do that day.
The station was a little like Hartlith Police Station, but a little more cluttered, with
slightly tatty chairs in the waiting room. She was taken through into a bare interview
room and sat down across the table from PC Lake.
She filled out a sheet with her details on, and watched PC Lake closely as he saw her
lack of contact details. No mobile number, or address, as she had already checked out
of the Travel Lodge that morning. “So is there no way of us contacting you?”
“Why would you need to contact me? I’ve done nothing wrong.”
”Police just get uncomfortable if they can’t contact a witness. Now why don’t you
explain your version of today’s events?”
Lin briefly described to PC Lake and the recording tape what had happened earlier
that morning.
“And if you don’t mind me asking, Miss Sharp, but where are you coming from?”
”South. I’m touring.” Well, it wasn’t a total lie.
“And where did you learn all those police moves?”
“TV,” she smiled sweetly. “That and self defence classes.”
He didn’t look as though he believed her. “Weren’t you worried about the gun?”
”It wasn’t loaded,” she reminded him.
“Yes, but how did you know that when he pulled the gun on you?”
”I didn’t think it would be. Muggers never have loaded guns. I saw it on Watchdog,
once.”
PC Lake remained sceptical. “Well, that’s pretty much sorted, I suppose,” he said.
“We have a number of other witnesses that agree with your story, and you did a great
service today, Miss Sharp.”
But not nearly as great as it would be for me to solve those missing women cases, Lin
thought. “Just doing my bit,” she replied with a smile.
“Actually, if you could just wait here for a few moments, I will be back with you very
shortly, I just want to check something before you go.”
“Uh, sure,” she said. Mentally thunking her head against the wall, Lin waited. She
was in another country, and she was still working at a police station, how ironic.
A tall, broad shouldered policeman, dressed in a shirt and smart trousers followed PC
Lake back into the waiting area about ten minutes later. He ushered her into the
interview room, and Lin found herself uncomfortably wondering what PC Lake had
told his new cop.
“Ms Sharp, I’m DC Webb,” said the man who was probably in his early fifties. “PC
Lake tells me that you apprehended a would-be mugger this morning.”

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“That seems to be the general consensus,” she agreed.
“And you also said that you had learnt all your moves from TV?”
“That’s right.” She had a bad feeling about this line of questioning.
“Then I’m sure you’re aware that we’ve run your name through our systems, as a
normal precaution,” Lin’s stomach sank, but she nodded. “It was a valiant attempt to
remain unnoticed,” he smiled wryly, “but normal members of the public do not
disarm gun toting muggers.”
She folded her arms. “My mother always said I was special.”
DC Webb smiled again. “I’m sure she did, DC Sharpe.”
She fought the desire to swear. “Can I go now?”
”In theory yes, but we’d rather you stayed here until your escort arrives.” She raised
an eyebrow. “The appearance of a cop pretending to be a normal public citizen who
did not give her full name at interview raises certain questions. We spoke to DCI
Harper, and he assured us that a friend of yours named Jag was on his way.”
Lin closed her eyes, trying to block out this unfortunate turn of events. “He did, huh?”
”Yes. He should be here in an hour. In the mean time, would you like a cup of tea or
coffee? A magazine or two?”
“Am I not able to go and wait elsewhere?”
“Your DCI strongly recommended that you were to stay here, where you are unlikely
to be found by your stalker.”
Lin sighed. “A strong cup of coffee would be a good idea, then.”

An hour passed by, as Lin sat in a waiting room, browsing with little interest through
a celebrity magazine. She had eaten her supplies, and was being unobtrusively
watched by the receptionists. A door opened and Lin looked up at Jag, who had a
mixture of amusement and exasperation across his features.
“You took your time,” she said, getting up.
“Hmm, if you’d been able to suppress your police instincts, I would have taken
longer.”
“Did I win?”
”I wasn’t aware that your security was a game,” the amusement was gone now.
“I didn’t think that the compromising of my family’s safety was on the cards either,
but hey, what do I know? I’m only a cop.” They remained with locked eye contact,
neither one backing down. Just then, DC Webb arrived, and broke the silent war of
wills. He and Jag introduced themselves, exchanged I.D, and DC Webb shook Lin’s
hand in farewell.
Jag drove them to the airport, and they arrived back in Hartlith a few hours later.
Continuing to ignore her guardian angel, Lin made herself some dinner, sat down in
front of the TV and went up to bed, pretending not to hear the closing of the door
behind him. Surveillance was heavier that night.

Lin woke to the sound of rain on her window, and dressed in trakkies. After a quick
run, she was drenched in the soft patter of rain, and had pretended not to notice the car
following her every move. She let herself back in, and went up to the bathroom for a
shower, leaving sopping trainers by the front door. She flicked the shower power on,
and pulled back the curtain above the bath, and froze in horror. Across the tiled wall a
message was written in something red and liquid. Blood. The message read:
I’m tired of waiting…
The letters were still dripping down the wall and every fibre of her being screamed.
She fumbled for the panic button, returned along with her mobile phone from Mack’s

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place, and only had to wait 30 seconds as she tried to slow her breathing for a group
of black clad men to burst into the room, take in the scene, and take her out to their
bullet proof car. Jag joined her minutes later as she shivered from the cold sweat and
shock.
As she looked to him, she forgot all her resentment. She forgot about sulking, feeling
angry, and seemed to have transformed into a helpless child curled up in the back of
the car.
Wordlessly, Jag handed her a shirt, her shoulder bag and a bag of clothes. She knew
exactly what it meant, and it wasn’t good. He took her to the Toyota, waited until she
was strapped in, and then drove her to the Fortress.
On their way, Jag’s mobile beeped and he answered. He listened for almost a minute
before hanging up. He glanced at her, and then back at the road. “Bad news. You
remember Terrence Churley, drugs guy?”
Lin nodded.
“He’s been found in the boot of your car. Been dead for about a day. Most likely it
was his blood on your bathroom wall.”
Lin absorbed the hit and closed her eyes. Her life was going from bad to worse.
“We’ll get the test result later today.”
She nodded and her vision blurred through tears. She dashed them away angrily. Why
was she crying? Churley wasn’t a nice guy. And yet she knew why. She was helpless.
The one feeling that she hated more than she hated the horrible world of crime. The
reason she had become a cop, to stop feeling helpless. To do something useful to
combat it. And yet, here she was, being taken to a safe house after she had found
blood writing on her bathroom wall.
If there was a God, he had a cruel sense of humour.

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Chapter 28
They drove for a couple of hours, and ended up in a leafy suburb. As he pulled up at
the large iron gates, Jag pointed a remote bleeper, and black gates slid silently apart.
He drove them through, and up a long driveway, which ended at what looked like a
small, private block of flats. Security cameras were everywhere, and it really did look
like a fortress.
Lin’s guardian angel parked the car on the ground floor, which had been turned into a
car park, and she followed him across the concrete expanse, and through the doors,
into the foyer. There was a reception desk, where a swarthyman sat by a computer.
Jag nodded to the man, and strode into the lift which was waiting for them. Feeling
slightly awestruck, Lin stepped in beside him, and they rocketed upwards.
“There are five floors, here,” Jag began, “The ground floor acts as a garage; the first
floor has meeting rooms for clients. The second floor is accommodation for my men
and a gym. The third floor is offices and monitors for the security systems. The top
floor is a witness protection flat.”
They reached the top floor, and stepped out into a small plain hallway. A single door
faced them, without a room number or knocker. Jag pulled out keys, and unlocked the
two locks. “Come on in,” he offered, stepping aside.
Lin felt her jaw drop open. The flat was obviously made to be comfortable, stylish
and a pleasant environment. Pale laminate flooring ran throughout, and the rooms
were decorated in warm, soothing colours. It had all the modern conveniences, and
two bedrooms with small double beds. There was even a Jacuzzi bathtub.
“You should probably go and unpack your bag,” said Jag. “That normally helps me
to get settled in. Go have a bath and I’ll make you a drink. Tea, coffee or hot
chocolate?”
”Mm, hot chocolate, please. I’ll be out in a bit.”
Lin took her bags into the room and unpacked the various clothes that Jag had
thoughtfully gathered for her. A smile played on her lips as she noticed the three pairs
of jeans, a tunic, shirt and a few t-shirts. He really did seem to like that tunic.

In the kitchen, as Jag sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his mind ran through all
the evidence. Dripping blood…the message…murdered the previous night…Lin’s
car? How…Why?
He was still puzzling over this as Lin emerged from the bathroom in clean clothes.
She took the offered hot choc, and sipped it. “So what’s the plan, batman?” she asked.
“Trust you to talk about super heroes after this morning,” he smiled gently.
She shrugged, “I’m pretty good at living in denial.” She took another swig of hot
chocolate. “Let’s do something productive. Why is this guy targeting me?”
”Have you got any ideas?” She nodded. “Talk me through it.”
”Okay. I’m pretty sure that this low life is stalking me because of the case I’m
working on. As far as I can remember, the first note I got was the day that I arrested
Terrence Churley. I remember because that creep bruised my jaw,” she rubbed it
wryly. “The fact that it was Terrence’s body is somehow significant. So is the blood
note.” She suppressed a shudder.
“’I’m tired of waiting’, why would someone say that?”
”It’s a threat. The location of the blood, getting into my house while I was out.” She
pursed her lips. “This is probably the same stalker who left the other notes. It’s
definitely a guy. It’s all about arrogance, ego and male dominance, isn’t it? He wants
to make me scared, and he’s doing a pretty good job,” she offered a shaky smile. “But
how does it link to the missing women? Were Janet and Eleanor being stalked, too,

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and they just decided to disappear to get away? What do you think?”
Jag looked at her as if deciding what to tell her. “I’ve got a few ideas.”
”Are you planning on telling me these ideas?” she prompted.
He pursed his lips. “Eleanor and Janet were dating the same guy. I’m not sure what
his real name is. I’ve been on the computer, and from CCTV tapes of the police
stations when the men came to make statements, and I compared the images. They
look like the same guy.”
”And when were you planning on telling me?”
He ignored her. “What are the chances of 2 missing women with the same boyfriend
but using different names?”
”So there’s a connection. What else connected them? Are the other ladies in the same
position? Damn it, I need those files.”
Jag got up and ushered her to the study. “What were the other women called?”
Lin gave him the names and he plugged them into an elaborate data base search
engine. She was surprised at the amount of pages that came up. After selecting the
correct Harriet Coates, Beverly Elton and Sally Henderson, Jag scrolled through basic
data on the women. “It looks like all of these ladies were in their late 20s, early 30s.
They’ve got family in the country, and all of them went missing in the last 3 years.”
“Any listed boyfriends anywhere?”
”I can’t see any at a glance. I’ll print it out,” he shot her a glance, “give us something
useful to do,” he added with a grin.

They were still going through files when Jag decided it was time to break off for
dinner. He made a call downstairs to have pizza delivered, and as they ate in front of
the TV, his mobile beeped. He picked up and wandered into the kitchen to talk,
leaving Lin to finish her pizza. When her guardian angel returned, he had some news.
“That was forensics. We’ve got a preliminary report on the bathroom and the car. The
blood is definitely Terrence’s. There was a small glass phial in the bathroom bin,
wiped of prints. It was a plain glass bottle for no.17 perfume. It’s a common brand, so
they’re unable to trace it. The letters were made by a paintbrush. The width of the
lines suggests a grade 4 paintbrush, and they’re working on a make from the couple of
hairs they found. The brush has not been found yet.”
”Great. So a paintbrush is going to tell us who’s stalking me?” She made an indelicate
sound. “Do we know how they got into the house?”
”They didn’t leave any prints and did a good job of dusting things down, but it seems
our stalker managed to knock over some pot pourie.”
“From the windowsill,” Lin finished. “So he probably got in via my escape route.”
Jag nodded. “We’re searching the garden and I’ve got men going door to door in the
area.”
”Good,” although Lin was feeling a little nauseous. “We’re getting somewhere. So
what do we know about this guy? Let’s see if we can do a profile.”
“He’s egotistic. Showing off his abilities in being undetected and intrusive. He’s been
watching you. He noticed you were gone for a few days. He’s managed to get past
security on you family’s house.”
”He’s got to either have a detailed knowledge of my work (knowing that I brought
Churley in a while ago and that I know him) or he’s connected with Churley himself.
And he’s connected with Harry Knight and therefore Elizabeth Pearly.” Lin sighed.
“This is getting real complicated.”
“You should phone your mother,” Jag advised. “I don’t want to alarm them but this
guy really does seem to be after you, and…”

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”And maybe after Becky, too.”
Jag just looked at her.
Lin made the call, and Helen picked up at the second ring. “Hello?”
”Mum? It’s me.”
”Oh thank heavens,” choked her mother, sounding tearful. “I’ve been so worried
about you! I can’t get through on you home number and your mobile phone is
switched off and there are men in cars outside wearing sunglasses that look like your
friend Jag. The other day he was here, asking where you were, for crying out loud!
Why would your bodyguard not know where you are, Jocelyn? This is serious!”
Lin waited until her mother took a couple of deep breaths. “All better now?”
”No! What is going on?!” she demanded.
Lin sighed. “Look, Mum. All you need to know is that I’m fine, and Jag is making
sure I stay that way. The men outside with sunglasses are Jag’s friends, and are
making sure that you lot stay safe, too. Now, is Becks home? I need to speak to her.”
Helen sighed. “I’ll fetch her.”
Lin blew out her cheeks with relief. Becky came on the line. “What’s up, Lin?”
”I need you to do me a favour. Things have gotten complicated with this missing
person case thing, and I need you to keep mum and Ads and the girls safe. There’s a
chance that you lot are in danger too, but that’s why there are men with shades in
black cars outside. They’re hanging about to protect you. Basically, I hate to do this to
you, but you’ve got to stay grounded. No going out other than to work, where you
will be followed by an invisible bodyguard. No boyfriends over, and no nights out
clubbing.”
“What’s going on, Lin?” Becky whispered, worried.
“Just do it, okay? You’ll be fine. I promise.” Famous last words.

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Chapter 29
When 4am came around, Lin was already out of bed. She was restless and had slept
fitfully, thinking hard about the case, and trying to link all the missing people and
various events together. She padded into the kitchen and flicked on a lamp. After
fixing a midnight snack, she sat on a stool at the breakfast bar and began scribbling
down names and notes and ideas that she wanted to follow. She was so engrossed that
she didn’t notice Jag until he murmured her name, to which she jumped.
“Jeez,” she gasped. “Don’t do that.”
“Can’t sleep?”
”Duh,” she remarked, turning back to the pad. “How come you’re up?”
”I told you before; part of the job description.”
”How did you know?”
”Silent motion detector alarm; the vibration woke me up.”
”Sorry bout that,” she mumbled, her mouth full of peanut butter sandwich. “Can I use
the computer?”
”Sure. I’ll set you up.” She finished the sandwich and brought the pad and mug of
coffee through to the study. Jag logged her on, typed in passwords and eventually
relinquished the chair. “Call me if you want help.” And then he left her to it. Feeling
slightly more in control, Lin typed in names that she was looking for, and narrowed
down searches for specific details. At 8am, Lin called in as many favours as she could
and managed to get names for the boyfriends of the various women: Ronan Ellis had
dated Harriet Coates. Tarin McGreggor had been going out with Beverly Elton and
Sally Henderson had been dating Aaron Fington when she disappeared. Aaron
Fington was also the name of Janet’s boyfriend, and Lin furiously cross referenced the
men, and found a credit card in the name, but no other records. No phone bills, no
membership at Tesco’s. She did a satellite search for the house and found that it did
not exist. There was no number 79 West Field Grove. It only went up to 78. Lin went
through all the other names of the boyfriends of the missing women. There were
credit cards and fake addresses galore, but nothing else. So, she concluded, they were
almost certainly the same guy, but she needed proof. She went for one last look in the
police records for all the men’s names, and came up empty. However, she shuffled
out to the kitchen and found Jag trawling through a file. He closed it as she
approached, igniting her curiosity. “I need a favour,” she said.
“Shoot.”
“I need a hell of a load of CCTV footage from the station.”
He didn’t ask what for, or why, or what did she think this was, magic land? He simply
asked: “when from?”
Grateful, she gave him the dates of when the various boyfriends had been bought into
the station for routine questioning. He made another call, and wandered downstairs to
talk to someone. As he stepped out of the room Diesel stepped in, just as Lin tucked
the file Jag had left on the table in the back of her jeans, and covered it with her shirt.
She smiled and did a finger wave.
He returned the expression, sat on the sofa and turned on the TV.
“I’m going back in the study.”
He nodded, without turning, and she hurried to explore the contents of the file in the
privacy of the office. It was on a man called Joseph Powell. Lin froze. She knew him.
Joseph Powell had been arrested on countless charges of GBH, armed robbery,
kidnapping and stalking. Sadly, he had only ever been charged for the armed robbery,
and had been found not guilty, by virtue of insanity and sent to an institute for the
criminally insane. All the various witnesses and victims had been very reluctant to

89
testify and various charges had been dropped. As Lin read through all the information,
it became more likely that Powell was behind the stalking. According to the file the
stalking had been melodramatic, and over the top. Animal blood had been used to
paint messages on walls, and terrified victims had been driven paranoid by his
activities.
Lin replaced the folder and made herself and Diesel cups of coffee. It was only when
she retreated to her bedroom for some comfortable privacy that she lay flat on her
back, and tried to think. She was asleep in seconds.

When she woke up, Lin glanced at the clock and was slightly surprised to see the
digital numbers read half twelve. She rolled to her feet and went for a shower. Once
she was dressed in fresh clothes, Lin wandered back into the kitchen and found that
Jag had replaced Diesel. He was sitting on the sofa with his back to her, and her pad
of notes on his lap. He was playing the CCTV tapes on the VCR in front of him, and
had a laptop on the coffee table. “You found anything yet?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he passed the notes back to her and continued to fast forward the tape. She
looked down and saw that there were now a collection of small print outs of various
men. Then she noticed that despite the differences in hair style and colour and the
mixture of contact lenses and glasses, facial hair and clothes, all the men looked the
same. They were the same guy.
“Holy cow,” she whispered. “I was right.”
“Darn straight,” he agreed, and paused the tape. He looked at her. “We’re on to
something big, Slim.”
“You don’t say,” she replied in hushed tones, partly to herself. “So the boyfriends of
all these missing women are the same guy. We have a possible murderer but we don’t
know who he is. And where does Powell come into it? That’s not him.” They
exchanged glances and Lin gave a guilty shrug, “Hey, if you don’t want me to read
files, don’t leave them lying about.”
“So what do you think?”
“I think that I want Powell arrested.”
“Do you think he’s your stalker?”
“It’s looking very likely. But what does he have to do with these missing women?”
“I don’t know, but that’s what we’re going to find out.”

Jag sent out a fleet of his men to track down Powell. Forensics had more information
for them, which Jag relayed to Lin, who read and re-read the faxed report. They were
getting a better picture, and it looked disturbingly like Powell. Lin covered her head
with a pillow and groaned. “I hate this. Waiting. I should be out there looking for
whoever is wrecking my life and hunting them down.”
“Slim, give yourself a break. There’s nothing more we can do. We’ve exhausted all
the possibilities. Try and do something else.”
She grumbled some more.
“Battleships or chess?” he asked.
Lin reappeared from under the cushion and raised an eyebrow. “Say what?”
He repeated the question. “Which do you want to play?”
After a pause, she replied, “battleships. But don’t think this will distract me.”
Half an hour later, Lin had lost dramatically, and was demanding a third game. Jag
smiled. “I think it’s time we ate.” He cooked them omelette and chips, and Lin was
almost melting by the time she discovered there was cheese cake for pudding. She

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washed up whilst Jag dried in between sips of coffee. When it was all done, Jag
relinquished the remote, and she flicked through countless TV stations.
Eventually getting bored of the lack of imagination on the sky box, Lin glanced at
Jag. “I’ve got a question.”
“Sounds like normal,” he smiled.
She ignored that. “The waiting. How can you stand it? I don’t trust Powell, and not
that I doubt your men, but…” she left it hanging.
“There’s nothing more we can do. You have to stay safe and out of harm’s way. I’m
protecting you. That’s how it works.” He shot her a sideways glance. “it’s the feeling
helpless, isn’t it?”
She looked slightly startled.
“You’re having to trust other people.”
“Don’t start with the whole ‘let’s analyse Lin’ thing. It’s not much fun.”
“Am I right?” He waited for a response.
Eventually she replied. “I became a cop all those years ago because someone was
stalking me. I didn’t have proof, so the police wouldn’t help me. I had to do it myself.
So I got trained up, and that sick man was the first guy I busted. I learnt long ago that
trusting people is all very well, but you can only trust them so far. The rest of the
time, you have to make the effort yourself. But right now, I can’t be trusted to look
after myself, let alone anyone else.”
He shook his head. “This is out of your hands, Slim. You don’t have the power to
make everything the way you think it ought to be.”
”And I suppose your God does?” Jag said nothing. “So why is all this happening,
then? Why is Joseph Powell stalking me and making my life a misery?”
“If I had all the answers, I could be a very rich man about now.”
“I thought God was all powerful?”
“He is.”
“Then why doesn’t he do it right?”
Jag tried hard not to smile. “So you could do a better job than God?” There was a
heavy silence. The loaded question stopped Lin in her tracks. What was she going on
about? She was just picking a fight because waiting made her irritable. Maybe it was
time to trust this God again.
By the time she rolled in to bed, she had been sufficiently distracted from the case,
and slept well until a phone call from the other room disturbed her and she buried her
head under her pillow before dropping off to sleep again.

When she woke up properly, it was to a slight noise. She opened one eye and found
Jag placing a cup of tea on the bedside table. “Morning,” she smiled sleepily.
He didn’t return the expression and suddenly she was suspicious. “What is it?”
”It’s Becky, she’s been kidnapped.”
“What?!” she leapt out of bed and threw on jeans. “When did it happen? What do we
know? Where was she?”
”I got the phone call a little while ago,” he said, trying to placate her. “Your sister was
on her way to work, but never arrived.”
”What happened to those invisible bodyguards?” she demanded.
“They lost her on the motorway, and have been searching ever since. We phoned
ahead to the office but she still hasn’t arrived. Lin glanced at the clock as she pulled
on socks. It was almost ten o’clock. Becky was always at work by half eight.
“Where’s Powell?” she asked, dread rising in her throat.

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“We don’t know. My men couldn’t find him. They looked everywhere.”
”Obviously not well enough,” she snarled. “Powell has my sister, and I’m going to
kill him for hurting her.”

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Chapter 30
Jag assured Lin that everything that was possible was already being done on the
ground to find Becky. Lin searched criminal records on all the names of the various
boyfriends of the missing women, and anything that might link Powell in with them.
Eventually, she found something.
Hugo Farrington. He was a boyfriend of a missing woman, and Lin suddenly
remembered Becky telling her that her boyfriend was called Hugo. “Jag,” she called,
he appeared by her shoulder. “There has to be a connection between the boyfriend and
Powell. What if they’re working together?”
”To what end?”
“Well, we’re pretty sure that Powell is stalking me, and you’re after a bloke called…
Holy cow. Tell me that the guy you’re after isn’t Hugo Farrington.” His silence made
Lin’s stomach drop to the floor. “This creep has been dating my sister, and you didn’t
tell me that you knew?”
“I-”
Lin held up a hand. “I don’t want to hear it.” The pain was almost tangible. Jag had
deliberately hidden it from her. Something so important, and pivotal to the safety of
her family. Tears were rising in her eyes as she quietly left the room.
Jag felt awful. He had seriously hurt her, and there was a sudden lack of trust in the
air. Great. After all that talk about Lin trusting God, she must think of him as a
complete hypocrite.
In her bedroom, Lin dashed away tears and pulled herself together. She got dressed,
and perched on the edge of the bed. In not telling her that he was watching her sister,
Jag had effectively betrayed her. Jag knew her priorities, her family’s safety was
paramount. If she couldn’t trust her guardian angel, who could she trust?
A thought surprised her. Jag was only human, he wasn’t perfect. Wasn’t Jesus
supposed to be perfect? Both God and man? So if she put her trust in a human, who
was guaranteed to be imperfect, shouldn’t it be easier to trust in someone who was
completely flawless?
So was God real? The various things she remembered her father saying about Jesus
when he had still been alive testified to the fact that he was real. And if so, then what
was stopping her from trusting in this God? Taking a step into the unknown, she
bowed her head, like she had been taught in school, and prayed once more.
“God, if you’re there, help me to find Becky. I don’t know if I can trust you. My
family are the most important people in my life. The last time I prayed to you, you
ignored me, and took away my Dad. Please keep Becky safe, and let me find her soon.
Amen.” She opened her eyes, and felt the worried knot in her stomach relax slightly.
She left the bedroom, and came face to face with Jag.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” he said. “It wasn’t the right time. For all we knew,
Farrington could have been some random guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. I
didn’t want to give you any unnecessary worry.”
“Well a lot of good that did.”
“I’m sorry,” he repeated.
”If we don’t find her today, then you’re gonna be REAL sorry,” she threatened.
“Now, let’s do something useful. If I were a psychopathic serial killer, where would I
stash my prey?”

They went to the computer and looked at various properties that all the boyfriends
owned, including those of Joseph Powell. Jag sent teams of people out to the various
addresses to search the properties for any trace of Becky or clues to her whereabouts.

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Lin phoned her mother after she had done everything she could think about on the
computer. “Hey Mum, it’s me,” said Lin when she picked up.
“Oh thank goodness!” cried Helen. “Becky’s missing and we don’t know where she
is. We’ve got bodyguards and we cant go out of the house so the girls are having the
day off school and are watching TV and I don’t know where Becky is.”
”It’ll be okay, Mum,” Lin hoped aloud. “the bodyguards are there just in case. You’ll
be fine.”
“Of course I’ll be fine. I’m worried about my baby.”
We’re doing everything we can to try and find her, mum.”
There was silence from the other end.
“Mum?”
Helen sighed tearfully. “Please find her,” she whispered.
“I will.” She hung up and looked back to Jag. “I need to get out and find her.”
”You’re not leaving the building.”
“How many more guys have you got to go and do these hundreds of searches? Not
enough, I’ll bet. Lets go and give a hand. You’ll be there, and however many other
blokes you fancy surrounding me with.”
He just looked at her.
“Please, Jag?”

Lin was grimly determined to find her sister. Ten minutes later, she was kitted out
with Kevlar vest, gun, mobile, panic button, and three black clad bodyguards. Jag
drove, Lin sat in the back with Diesel, and another guy sat in the front. They had only
one property to visit, and Jag would not be persuaded otherwise. He had relented far
enough to let her out under heavy supervision to try and find her sister, but was not
happy about it. If the older sister urges had not been so strong, Lin might have felt
guilty for making Jag take her out. But then again, he didn’t have her mother pleading
for him to find Becky.
So, they were in the bullet-proof Range Rover, heading to a house belonging to
Joseph Powell’s uncle, on a run down street on the outskirts of Rushmard. They
parked a few houses away on the opposite side of the road, and got out of the car.
Diesel went first, closely followed by Jag who flanked Lin. Max went round the back.
Without bothering to knock, Diesel rammed through the door, and milliseconds later
Jag and Lin came from behind him, guns drawn. The house was empty. The walls
were peeling paint and there was a heavy musty scent in the air. Carpet had been
pulled up, exposing scuffed floorboards and the only furniture was ancient and
broken. Max appeared from the back door, and they moved upstairs. There was no
sign of anyone visiting the house recently. Lin’s stomach sank. The only chance she
was going to get at finding her sister, and it was blown.
“Time to go,” Jag said, steering her out of the house. Lin trailed after him obediently.
Max was waiting by the car, and just as they got out onto the street and were crossing
the road, there was a yell from Diesel who was still inside. “Stay here,” Jag ordered
Lin, making eye contact with Max. “Keep her safe.”
He ran back into the house.
Max opened the car door and Lin got inside. He shut the door, and there was an
unmistakeable whizzing sound of a silenced gun shot. Max slumped against the door,
and Lin’s jaw dropped open in horror. The car door was flung open and Robert
Powell lunged into the back seat as Lin frantically rummaged for her gun or pepper
spray or anything. He clocked her round the head with his gun, and darkness
swallowed her.

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Lin was dragged back to consciousness by a throbbing in her head. She opened her
eyes and saw more darkness. She wiggled her fingers and toes and went to move her
limbs, but realised she was tied up. She blinked again, and tried to identify the other
sensation. Moving. She was being driven somewhere in the boot of a car. Oh crap. As
much as possible, she felt her limbs to make sure nothing was broken, but then she
began to wonder where she was going. Something was odd about this situation,
besides being kidnapped. Tied up. In the boot. Holy cow! Powell had tied Terrence up
in Lin’s boot. He must have. She was certain now that he was her stalker, and if so,
then he did the blood thing, which meant he must have killed Churley. But then how
was he linked to Farrington? Was he linked?
As she mulled this over, she realised that the car had stopped, and moments later she
squinched her eyes shut at the light when Powell opened the boot. He shoved some
sort of cloth bag over her head, and wrenched her from the car. She tried to walk, but
her legs had gone to sleep. He dragged her. Lin tried to identify the crunching beneath
her feet. Not gravel, dirt. Some sort of dirt track somewhere. The uneven path made it
really difficult to walk blindfolded. They reached some sort of building. Powell
wrenched open the door, and Lin listened to the echoes. It was metal. A barn of some
sort, perhaps. Powell closed the door after them, and he threw her on the floor, the
sack still on her head, causing her to swear thickly.
“Lin?” came a gasp.
“Becks?”
“Oh my life,” Becky sobbed. “It is you. Are you okay?”
”Enough!” snapped Powell from somewhere in the barn. “Shut up, both of you.”
“Can I at least take this off so I see my sister?” Powell grumbled a little, and there
was some shuffling. The hood was ripped off, and Lin blinked. They were in a barn,
and there was old straw and hay strewn on the dirt ground. There was a chair where
Powell slouched, and opposite Lin wearing her travel agents uniform, missing a shoe,
holes in her tights, filthy face and streaks of eyeliner staining her cheeks, was Becky.

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Chapter 31
She had a stupid smile across her features, and Lin fought the desire to laugh. God
had answered her prayer! Becky was alive and seemed well enough to smile, which
was definitely a good sign. She paused in her joy to remember what she had prayed
exactly. Yes, God was real, and yes he had answered her prayer. Then surely he was
worthy to be trusted, and for Lin to rely on. She pushed the thoughts from her mind,
and turned back to the immediate reality.
“Are you alright?” Lin asked her sister, loud enough for Powell to hear, and making a
show of struggling to sit up as she fought with the rope which tied her hands.
“Yeah, fine. Never better,” she replied with false cheer. Lin did a mental head slap.
“What happened?” trying to keep the conversation going to muffle the sounds of
rustling straw as she wriggled her hands.
“I was driving to work. Got onto the motorway but there was a crash so all the traffic
was being diverted. I got a little lost, and then I was rammed off the road. I fainted
and next thing I remember, I was here.”
One of the skills that Lin had decided that it would be very useful to know, was how
to escape from rope and handcuffs. In her job, there was always a danger that a
criminal would outsmart her and tie her up. Powell may have had good practice at
tying people up, but Lin had better practice at getting free. Especially when Mack had
thought that it would be hilarious if he handcuffed her to the fridge.
So, keeping her hands behind her back, Lin made a show of trying to move, and
suddenly howled in pain. “Lin!” Becky squealed. “Oh no, what is it?” Lin carried on
making lots of noise.
“Shut up!” Powell bellowed from his chair. “I said SHUT UP!” He strode towards the
‘bound’ sisters, and drew back his hand to punch the cop. In the blink of an eye, Lin
punched him in the stomach, winding him, leapt to her feet, and followed it with a
knee slam in the gonads.
Powell dropped to the ground, unable to speak, and curled into the foetal position. Lin
heaved herself to her feet and bound his wrists behind his back, his ankles, his knees,
and after checking the coast was clear, she dragged him out to the car. She gagged
him and left him beside the vehicle, not having the strength to haul him into the boot.
Lin went to the front seat and retrieved her revolver, stun gun and mobile. Lacking a
holster, she made sure the safety was on, and shoved the gun in the waistband of her
jeans. She phoned Jag’s mobile and was waiting for him to pick up when she heard
the click of a gun. “Hang up. Now.”
Lin did as she was told.
“Drop the phone.” It hit the ground with a thud. Two bullet holes appeared in it.
“Walk into the barn. Slowly.” Lin walked. “Turn around.” She turned and found
herself staring into cold eyes. In the corner of the barn, lying on the ground
unconscious, was Becky.
Not Good.
“You know,” he said, gun casually aimed at her, held in his right hand by his chest,
“we never had the pleasure of meeting. I’m Hugo Farrington, Becky’s boyfriend.”
“I figured as much. But that’s not your real name.”
”What makes you think that?”
”Why would you go by your real name if you were planning on killing Becky like you
did to all those other women? What’s different about now?”
He smiled mirthlessly. “So you figured it out.”

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“Yeah. Harriet Coates, Beverly Elton, Sally Henderson, Eleanor Woods, Janet
Bridges and Elizabeth Pearly. That’s a lot of ladies to date and then get rid of.” She
was guessing about Pearly.
“Close,” he nodded, approvingly. “But you’re wrong about Elizabeth. I never dated
her.”
“Oh?”
“No. She was my stepdaughter.” Lin absorbed the blow. “She got in the way, so I had
Powell remove her.”
”You ordered the murder of your own stepdaughter?”
”Not really. Joseph took the initiative.”
“What was the deal with Knight and Churley?”
Farrington tilted his head as if considering answering. “Harry Knight was smuggling
for me. He got clumsy, and in the way. Joseph disposed of him. Then Elizabeth got in
the way, too. She was kicking up a fuss about Knight’s disappearance, and was
threatening to go to the police. Joseph thought it safest if we get rid of her. I agreed.
Terrence helped Harry out of jail. He had to be kept quiet. They all did.”
”What’s your real name, if you don’t mind me asking. Only I know you’re not Tarin,
Ronan, Aaron or Hugo.”
He gave a barking laugh. “Smart and witty. Seems I might have chosen the wrong
sister.” Lin tried not to glance over at Becky. “My name is Stephen Farrington. Hugo
was my brother.”
“Why the date-and-dispose routine?” She asked casually. If it weren’t for the gun
which he still had trained on her, it could have been perfectly respectable dinner table
conversation.
He pursed pale lips. “After a while, the relationship would get boring. My girlfriend
would stop making the effort for me, and it got on my nerves. We would argue a lot,
and they just began to annoy me.”
”So you killed them.”
“Yes. Well, either Joseph or myself.”
Lin moved her hands casually to her hips “So why was Powell stalking me? On your
instructions?”
”Yes. I sent him to watch Becky before I made my move at the travel agents. You
intrigued me. When I saw Becky, I knew I wanted her, and thought you might get in
the way. I sent Powell to distract you.”
“So, Stephen…”
”Don’t call me that,” he snapped suddenly, grip tightening on the gun.
“Why not?”
He scowled. “Why should I tell you? You’re about to die anyway.”
Lin shrugged nonchalantly. “Sometimes it helps to get stuff off your chest.”
There was a pause and Lin prepared to take action. “My…brother died in an accident
when we were young. My parents blamed me.” The cop was surprised that her tactic
had worked.
“I guess you didn’t have an easy ride after that.”
”Before that too,” he snarled. “Hugo was always the favourite. I always got the blame.
So I decided to make Hugo take the blame for the things I did,” he had a dark smile
on his twisted features. “So when I kill you, the only name people will know is Hugo
Farrington, and he’s already dead,” he gave another crazed grin, and a cackle. He
brought up the gun, and aimed for her head. “Goodbye Jocelyn.”
He moved his finger to pull the trigger.
Lin dropped to the ground and rolled.

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She grabbed her gun from her jeans waist band and fired.
Farrington returned fire and Lin rolled out of the way, dodging bullets until she heard
the wonderful click of a gun out of ammo. She only had a few seconds to breathe
before Stephen Farrington launched himself through the dusty air, and tackled her to
the ground. They kicked, spat, struggled and punched at each other. Farrington was
reaching for Lin;s gun and she was trying to fire at the ceiling so she would be out of
ammo too. She managed to get another 3 shots off at the ceiling, when Stephen went
for her neck. He was trying to strangle her. Lin choked and struggled as his hands
tightened. Her vision began to cloud, and darkness seeped into the corner of her
vision. There was a buzzing in her ears, and Lin could feel herself weakening. In
desperation, she drove the heel of her hand into his nose, but he barely registered it.
As time stood still, Lin realised that there was nothing else to do. She had no other
reserves of strength to draw on. She was going to die alone, with her little sister
looking on. But there was someone who could help. Surely if God would lead her to
her sister and answer that prayer, it was worth a shot. Submitting herself into the
hands of the saviour of the world, she silently cried, Jesus, please save me! The
darkness swallowed her and silence descended.

From the deep dark pit of silence, Lin heard hundreds of footsteps approaching. There
was shouting and a gunshot, and Becky screamed. A rhythmic pounding overrode all
other sounds and sensations, and pain was dragging her towards the noise. She felt a
hand on her neck, and under her head. Her eyes flicked open, and she looked up into
the eyes of her guardian angel. “You took your time,” she croaked, or at least she tried
to. All that came out was a whisper. Jag smoothed her hair from her forehead. “It’s
okay. I’m here.”
Paramedics appeared and Jag held her hand whilst the medics did their job. Out of the
corner of her eye, Lin noticed that Becky had been taken out to the ambulance, but
just seemed to be in shock. As the paramedics worked, Jag explained that not only he
but Mack and Frank were there. They all had teams searching for her once they had
learnt of her disappearance, and had turned up outside the barn.
Eventually, the paramedics loaded her into the ambulance beside Becky. After
checking that she was still able to smile, Mack relinquished his place by her side to
Jag, and the ambulance drove to the hospital.

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Chapter 32
Once she was in a hospital bed, Lin demanded that Becky be placed in the bed next to
them, and had insisted that Mack call Helen as soon as they had left the barn, to tell
her that her daughters were safe, and being checked up at the hospital. Lin also
discovered that Stephen Farrington and Joseph Powell were both in custody. Between
drinks and ice cream to soothe her bruised throat, Lin gave her witness statement, as
Jag sat beside her bed, a watchful statue.
The sisters’ family arrived, and burst into the room with flowers and descended on the
two women with hugs and kisses. Lin was even glad to see her nieces.
Helen fussed over her daughters, demanded to see a doctor to get a progress report,
and reluctantly allowed the hospital food to be eaten by her daughters once she had
tested its quality.
Lin rolled her eyes almost continually, but allowed her mother to make a fuss. Having
one daughter in hospital was bad enough, but two at once after not knowing where
they were or what was happening, was even worse. Jag had slipped away
unobtrusively, and when he returned, it was with Mack and Frank, who stopped by to
check that she was okay, and deliver edible gifts and flowers. Frank also insisted that
she was taking some proper time off. At least a week. Well, maybe just a few days.
Eventually, a nurse came to shoo Frank, Mack, Jag and the children out. Lin wore
their mother down, who was intent on staying the night. She reminded Helen that the
only reason they were there was for observation, and the possibility of concussion.
Reluctantly, their mother returned home with their brother and Becky’s daughters. Jag
promised to pick up both sisters the next morning, and Lin tried to sleep.
She lay awake, listening to Becky’s slow breathing and the odd background noises of
the staff on night shift, and pondered over the day.
This God had saved her. She had prayed and he had answered her. He had saved her
sister, and spared her life. After eight years of ignoring this God whom had seemingly
ignored her pleading prayer, he had definitely caught her attention. She stared up at
the ceiling, and began to pray. “Well God,” she began, not really knowing how to
pray, “um, thanks for today.” Then she laughed. It seemed so ridiculous that she
would thank the God who had created the world for today. And yet, not quite so
stupid. “You saved me today. What more can I say but thank you?” and then she
remembered the prayer that the church leader had prayed on that Sunday that she had
snuck into Jag’s church. “Jesus Christ, I come to you, admitting that I’ve sinned and
done wrong. I’m sorry. I want to live for you. I want to love you Lord. Amen.”
As she said the words, a smile stretched across her face, and a peace descended in her
heart. She slept well.

It was near nine o’clock when Jag picked her and Becky up the next morning. He
declined the cup of tea which Helen was eager to offer him, as a token of her thanks
for saving her daughters. Lin was amused to see that the off duty Jag favoured witty
khaki t-shirts and jeans over his uniform black. By ten, they had delivered Becky back
into the embrace of the family, and Jag drove Lin home. She put flowers in water, and
mused over the best way to tell Jag that she had become a Christian. A sly grin crept
over her lips, and she plonked down by him on the sofa and sighed. “So, what book
would you recommend for a new believer to read?” She asked.
He shot her a sideways glance. “Luke,” he replied, eyes narrowing suspiciously.
“Why?”

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“I was just wondering about which book I should start reading first. I mean, should I
start from the beginning or just pick a book at random?” She was grinning openly
now.
“Am I to understand that you decided to become a Christian?”
“You are,” still smiling.
“What helped you make that decision?”
“Well I prayed yesterday morning, when we found out Becky was missing. God
answered my prayer and I found her. Then when Farrington was strangling me, I
prayed again. God saved me. So last night, I decided that he was worth trusting.”
Jag was beaming. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.”
”Sure you can,” she grinned. “How happy does it make you?”
He shifted on the sofa to face her, and reached across to entwine his fingers with hers.
“Ridiculously happy. I always feel like that when He answers my prayers.” He was
still smiling. “Do you want to go to church?”
Her eyes lit up. “Yeah! Will we be in time?”
“If we hurry. Let’s go.”

Lin phoned her mother on the way to church, and informed her that both she and Jag
would be over for lunch. They made their way into the hall, and Jag was greeted by
Shelly, Cain and a few other people Lin didn’t know. Jag introduced her as his friend,
and Annie gave them both enthusiastic hugs as they found seats with Jag’s sister and
her husband, and a few of Jag’s other friends. Lin struggled to keep up with the
unfamiliar words and songs, but on occasion recognised one from either of the 2 times
she had visited a church recently, and drank in the preach with a delighted heart.
When the meeting was over, Lin found herself easily chatting to these friendly, God
loving people. Jag was never far away, and Lin was grateful for his off duty presence.
Jag introduced her to Geoff, a chirpy church leader with a big smile and an infectious
laugh. By the time they got back into the car, Lin and Jag had been invited to three
houses for dinner during the week.
“You know,” she said as they drove to lunch, “that was probably the best morning
I’ve had in a long time.”
“Glad to hear it. Maybe we should make a habit of it. The idea is to mooch lunch off
different people every week,” he told her. “That way you get free food, and socialise.”
She laughed. Things were sounding getting better and better already.

Second draft of the re-write completed31602395.doc: 21/10/2006

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