Page 51 of Between the Lies

‘Dickheadson?’ Robert growled. ‘Why’s he coming here?’

The colour drained from Nina’s face. If the presence of three police officers in her living room hadn’t affected her before, a DCI Robert didn’t like did. ‘Who’s that?’

‘A dick,’ Joshua said as he bit into a Digestive. ‘And our – Robert’s and mine – boss.’

‘Wh-Why is he coming here?’Really, Nina?Somewhere in the back of her head, despite all the running away, she had always known. A fire could only keep the forensic experts at bay for so long. They’d found something; they’d?—

The buzzer sounded, and Nina jumped, losing her grip on the French press. The container plummeted to the floor, landing with a loud smack. Glass shattered into a million minuscule shards.

Nina shut her eyes, the urge to run so tangible, she could taste it. Robert had hit the nail on the head. She ran – that’s what she did. It had saved her before. Only now, she stood surrounded by cops, with no way out.

‘Why is he coming here?’ she mumbled, as if they hadn’t heard her the first time.

When Nina opened her eyes, she saw Cheryl digging into the cabinet under the sink. ‘Don’t you have a wee broom?’

‘Why are they here?’ Nina fisted her hands but realised even her fists were shaking.Run, run, run.‘Tell me!’

Cheryl smacked the cabinet door closed, a brush and dustpan in hand. ‘Forensics don’t lie, Nina. And thanks to a smart camera that you accessed’ – Cheryl shrugged – ‘we can now prove that you were at the crime scene and that you killed someone.’

‘What camera?’

Cheryl began gathering the shards of glass. ‘Your colleague’s camera. The moment you restarted it, it connected to the cloud and his gadgets.’

Oh fuck!

Robert had been frozen in the centre of the living room, tuned in to their conversation. Now he strode towards the kitchen counter. ‘Who did she kill?’

Seriously? After the night they’d shared, he’d ask Cheryl that and not turn to Nina and offer… help?

Joshua butted in now, eyes wide. ‘Dickheadson wouldn’t say. He doesn’t want anyone else to take the credit for it.’

‘Fuck credit!’ Robert roared. ‘Who did she kill?’

Another knock came at the door followed by a rattling bang. Nina whimpered. She faced Robert, eyes begging for him to do something. Hell, to open the damn window and help her out.

But she wasn’t a fairy-tale princess, the protagonist in a superhero story or even an innocently convicted criminal.

And Robert wasn’t her white knight.

Cheryl headed to the door, her ponytail swinging behind her. With every thud of her boots on the carpet, Nina’s heart sank lower. The looseness from last night solidified into stress.

Nina sank her teeth into her lower lip, knowing this was it. Her doom.

The door swung open and a man stepped in. His eyes were beady, hooded under a pair of thick, overgrown eyebrows. He spotted her at once – then noticed the state she was in before he found Robert and actually fucking giggled. ‘Oh aye, now this is better than what I thought I was getting.’

His teeth had yellowed and decayed, just like the man he was. He waddled in, two uniformed cops in tow. ‘Nina Banerjee, at last we meet.’

This had to be Dickheadson. She got the nickname. Hell, he’d uttered just a few words and she loathed him already.

The man walked further in, holding up a printed sheet of paper. ‘I’ve got a warrant to seize and search your belongings, and a warrant for your arrest. Now you can run, but seeing as you’re surrounded by cops, that will only make this worse for you.’

Nina crossed her arms in front of her chest. It gave her the appearance of being intimidating, or so she hoped. Plus, it hid her shaking hands.

Out the corner of her eye, standing diagonally across from Dickheadson was Robert. The fire in his eyes, all that passion with which he’d held her, kissed her, hell, made love to her had vanished. Now he resembled the same man who’d accused her of killing his wife.

After giving Nina a once-over, Robert turned to his boss. ‘Why are you here?’

Dickheadson tilted his head, a frown corrugating the dry patch of skin between his brows. ‘I thought you’d know, as you’ve been aiding a criminal and obstructing justice. Didn’t she tell you she was a killer?’

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