Page 38 of Deep Waters

Reece glanced at the three lawyers. “I don’t think you need to worry. They’re having a grand old time.”

“Let’s keep it that way, eh?”

“You know, if you had a great social media profile, you wouldn’t have to worry about that. People would be queuing up to come on one of your trips. Post a few pictures with your top off. ‘Sexy fisherman’, that kind of thing, and you’ll be the hottest new thing.”

Harry laughed. Reece was possibly the most endearingly naïve guy he’d ever met. His ideas were ridiculous, but it was impossible not to like him. “The only hot thing I’m interested in now is lunch. Get downstairs and make a start so we can feed my customers on time.”

* * * *

“Would you like to sit here?” Christian gestured to an empty table outside the coffee shop. “It’s a nice afternoon. We should enjoy it while we can.”

Gemma Payne shook her head. “No. Let’s go in. I don’t want anyone seeing me talking to you. I’ll only get more grief for it.”

She marched inside. Christian followed in her wake until she chose a seat in the rear corner, as far from the door and windows as she could get.

“What would you like?” he asked, keeping his tone light and friendly. “They have some delicious looking cakes on the counter.”

Gemma glanced at her watch. “A small cappuccino,” she said curtly. “Nothing else.”

“I’ll be right back.”

They were on the old side of the town, down one of the back streets. He’d spotted this place while wandering the other day, but this was his first time inside. Gemma Payne was on a break from her job at the Seagull Café and had insisted they meet somewhere out of the way. A combination of nosiness and good luck had brought him into contact with Niko Jasinski’s ex-girlfriend. He’d spent a couple of hours in the working men’s club yesterday afternoon, plying the daytime drinkers with free booze as they told him everything they knew about Niko. Most of it was third-hand gossip and guesswork, but he’d struck gold with the information about his ex.

Christian placed the order and returned to the corner, where Gemma gazed blankly at the screen of her phone. She put it face down on the table when he sat.

“Nice place,” he said.

She screwed her face. “It’s purely for the tourists. Overpriced and all style over substance. The Seagull is miles better.”

“Have you been working there long?”

“About a year. Just part-time while I’m at college.”

“Oh, really. What are you studying?”

She glowered at him. “I thought you wanted to talk about Niko, not me.”

She wasn’t going to make this easy for him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, keeping it friendly despite her tone. “Habit, that’s all.”

Her eyes bore into his. Christian had no idea why she’d agreed to speak to him, but now that she was here, he had to make the most of it and not piss her off. He smiled softly, and she looked at her hands on top of the table.

“How long were the two of you dating?”

“Probably a year…maybe a little longer.” She gnawed at a fingernail. “Yeah. We met around spring last year. We were seeing each other by Easter.”

“And how was he? As a boyfriend, I mean.”

Gemma sighed. “You know, all anyone is saying about him now is how wonderful he was. Such a great guy. Mister Perfect. I bet that’s what everyone else you’ve talked to has said. Right? I suppose that’s what people do when somebody dies, isn’t it? They only remember the good stuff.”

“Don’t you?”

A grimace. “No one is perfect, despite what they’re saying now. He hurt me like no one else ever has. He was a bastard when he wanted to be.”

Gemma clammed up when the waiter arrived with the drinks. They sat in silence as the coffee cups were laid out. Christian smiled politely until they were alone again.

“Go on.”

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