Page 42 of Between the Lies

When he’d hightailed it out of the pub, Nina had run after him. They hadn’t spoken on their way back to the flat or since. She’d noticed how he clammed up after something intense occurred. Still, the silence between them felt easy, almost companionable, like she supported him just by being there.

After she’d left Mumbai aged twenty-four, Nina hadn’t really been there for anyone. And no one had been there for… She cleared her throat. ‘How long have you been a cop?’

Robert frowned. ‘Fifteen years, give or take. I joined as soon as I could.’

So why hadn’t he progressed beyond the rank of constable? He certainly had the talent for it.

Something buzzed in the silence of the night – it wasn’t her phone; she didn’t have one anymore – before the sound switched off. A minute later, the buzzing sounded again.

Robert’s feet faltered. He groaned and reached into his pocket.

Nina stopped beside him, adjusting her hair again. Robert used his left hand to swat her hand and stop her from fidgeting, then checked his phone.

The screen displayed a photo of a woman – Cheryl Spiers. Nina remembered her from the alley.

Robert rejected the call and stuffed the phone back in his pocket.

Nina raised an eyebrow. ‘Ghosting your boss?’

His phone rang again, and again Robert cut the call off, and this time set the phone on airplane mode. ‘Not my boss, just an insistent pain in my arse. And we’re on a mission.’

Oh aye, the mission. The mission that had led them to a costume store to purchase a wig for Nina. Now stuck to her head, the wig irritated her scalp and tickled her middle back. To make it worse, Robert had stuck a pink beanie – with a pom-pom – on her head.

If it wasn’t as cold as the bloody Antarctic, Nina would have decked Robert and risked her chances of being identified.

She smacked the hair falling into her eyes, and this time Robert reached out and clutched her wrist – right where her coat sleeve ended. Nina gasped at the skin-to-skin contact.

‘Sorry, my hands must be freezing.’ He dropped her arm.

Nina wanted to roll her eyes. That wasn’t why she’d gasped. However, some things were best left unexplained, especially regarding her, her heart and Robert. He didn’t understand her silence, though.

Robert continued, ‘You can’t play with that hair – the wig might come off.’

She could point out that his perfect hair wasn’t currently being pulled so tight it looked like he’d had Botox. His get-up consisted of only a fucking blue beanie. Nina growled. ‘Let’s get this over with.’

Instead of sharing the plan with Nina, Robert had simply asked her to wear that wig and follow him. She could’ve pointed out that she wasn’t, actually, his well-trained bitch. But as he hadn’t really spoken to her since the pub, she didn’t plan on needling him in case he called Cheryl and sent Nina away in handcuffs.

So here they were, out on a night-time stroll with the streetlights spotlighting them. They dodged a handful of people finding their way back home, then jaywalked across the empty street towards their destination.

Nina’s heart rate kicked up. She now knew exactly where they were headed.

The alley that led to Walls Street didn’t scream safety, and it definitely wasn’t a road Nina would’ve taken in the middle of the night.

Robert reached out to her, once again grasping her hand, and she held on to him, more out of a need to calm her racing heart than anything.

The first time they’d met, Nina had taken shelter in this alley. But it had been much lighter outside then.

Robert led her along to the street where her life had changed forever. Even in the dark, the charred remnants of the building stood out, now haloed in gold by a streetlight. The beige stones of its walls had turned black with soot, its windows splintered.

Robert halted alongside the opposite building. All the buildings here leaned on each other, forming a chain. It was a miracle the other ones hadn’t burned that night. Unlike this one, they weren’t all derelict.

She heard Robert gulp and turned towards him. Instead of the building, he was staring at her. ‘The day we met… Did you notice something?’

Nina startled at his whispered question. ‘What?’

Robert raised a finger towards the building. ‘See the scarring on the top floor?’

She nodded. The fire had eaten up most of the top floor, even shattering the windows.

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