Page 74 of Between the Lies

His body stirred, his inner Neanderthal encouraging him to devour her, right there on the floor.Stop it! The last thing you need is her kicking you in the nuts.

Nina’s eyes tracked the neat stack of papers, then his phone on top of it, and lastly the camera. ‘I can’t believe I could be so gullible! I?—’

‘Nina, please, let me explain.’

She rolled her eyes, picking up the travel packs he’d removed from her rucksack. She dumped them back in, finally reaching for the camera.

Damned if she ran away from him now!

Robert leaped up and grabbed her shoulders. ‘Darling, please look at me.’

‘Fuck you!’

‘Nina…’ He cupped her face. ‘I remembered something. That’s why I couldn’t sleep.’

He pointed to her notes. ‘I thought I’d find that something in there. But you’ve done a brilliant job with those notes. Then I remembered…’

He led her to the sofa and sat down with her on his lap. She made a grunt of protest, but didn’t push away. ‘Earlier, when you saved us from that biker... I noticed something. But then we… er, we kissed and…’

Nina raised an eyebrow as if to say, ‘get to the point.’

Robert cleared his throat. ‘Food delivery guys always have those cube-shaped backpacks, you know, to store the food in. Typically, they’re bright green or orange.’

‘I have ordered food online before, Robert.’

‘Our biker wasn’t wearing one.’ He sputtered. ‘I saw him zip downhill, riding the bike, wearing all black, without an insulation bag on his back.’

Nina’s eyes lit up the moment she realised what Robert was trying to say. ‘He wasn’t a delivery driver.’

Fuck, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t remembered that very important fact. He didn’t know how other countries or cities did things, but in Glasgow it was odd to see someone on an electrical bike without the basket.

Whoever had been on that bike had intended to plough them down. That hadn’t been a mistake.

A frown furrowed Nina’s eyebrows. ‘But how did they know we’d be there?’

‘The SUV. They were staking that place out, which could also mean they know about the locker. And maybe they were the ones who broke into it.’ Robert pulled Nina into his chest. ‘And if we stick to our original theory of Anne being your lead, whatever data she had on them, she’d stored in those lockers.’

Nina bobbed her head. ‘And they stole it.’

At that understanding, Nina pivoted, so she straddled him. Her gaze roamed over his face, studying his lips, then his eyes.

Robert set his hands on her waist. ‘Are we okay?’

Perhaps for him their love-making last night had been a step forward when for her it had been nothing but a simple way to relieve stress. He wouldn’t blame her if she never trusted him again.

Nina leaned in and whispered. ‘That’s still up for debate. You could start winning me back by taking me out to dinner.’

CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX

It took him two beers and a fish supper to make amends with Nina and assure her he would never again work for the boss who had all but slaughtered his lifelong dream.

Nina sat back in her chair, eyeing their surroundings.

Merchant Square housed multiple pubs and restaurants fenced in by the old walls of the city’s market. A glass ceiling topped off the setup, giving the area a sense of privacy while retaining the atmosphere of a square.

At this time of the night, fairy lights glinted from the ceiling, a warm sight against the darkened sky.

Given it was a weeknight, the pubs within the square were almost empty, a stark contrast to the last time Nina and Robert had gone drinking at the Counting House. They were more in sync now than they’d been back then.

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