Page 27 of Ticket Out

Patty’s room was an explosion of color compared to the heavy Victorian style of the rest of the small row house. It looked neat, although there were two dresses laid across her bed, as if she had been choosing what to wear.

He’d done a thorough search, and had taken away a dark red diary to study later, and a current photo of her, leaning against a tree out in the countryside, with the sun shining on her hair.

“That were our holiday last year,” her father said, hand trembling as he held it out to James. “Down Brighton way.”

James had driven away from their house feeling the weight of time passing, the frustrating lack of any direction. He needed something to break.

He had checked on where Gabriella lived before he’d left to see Patty’s parents, and he didn’t even try to excuse why he went to her before he headed home to his empty flat.

Despite his reasons, though, it turned out to have been a good idea. She’d given him a lead he wouldn’t have had.

As he pulled into the main road traffic, he faced the fact that he needed to keep a professional distance from Gabriella Farnsworth, because his thoughts where she was concerned were so plainly unprofessional.

He stopped at a chippy on the way home to get some fish and chips, as the slice of bread he’d eaten had only just touched sides, but it had been delicious, for all that.

Sourdough.

He didn’t think he’d ever had it before.

He burned his fingers as he lifted hot chips out of the bag to eat as he drove, scorching his tongue as he tried to chew, and knew he would picture her in her small, pretty bedsit, sipping strong, Italian coffee and nibbling on jam and bread whenever he thought of her.

It was a better picture than her, white-faced and head bowed, in Gennaro’s café, trying to talk about finding Patty’s body.

As he swung into his reserved off-street parking, he thought about what she’d told him about the car outside the gallery.

He didn’t know if it was reasonable for someone to take longer than half an hour to drop off paintings, but what interested him more than that was that Devenish and Patty Little had known each other. From what Gabriella had told him, the delivery driver had known her, too, and if it was him who’d met her in the club, then he’d known her more than just in passing.

Had the conversation in the street that Gabriella had witnessed been the reason why she’d been killed later that night?

As he walked up the wide stairs to his second floor flat, he thought back to his original interview with both Patty and Devenish. Neither had given any indication they knew each other.

Devenish would be getting a visit from him and Constable Hartridge tomorrow morning.

It kept coming back to Clematis Lane. Whatever was going on there seemed to be worth killing for.

* * *

“Something’s up with you.” Ben had to lean in close to speak to her over the general mayhem of the pub. “What is it?”

Gabriella hesitated, then glanced over at Dominique and Trevor, walking back to them with drinks for everyone in their hands. She didn’t want to drag her friends into this. She had pondered going out to meet them at all after DS Archer had left her flat, but they had arranged this get-together two weeks ago, and she didn’t want to sit alone in her flat, brooding.

“What’s going on?” Dominique scooted in next to her, forcing Gabriella to move a little deeper into the booth.

“Not here,” she said at last. She couldn’t bear the thought of shouting about dead bodies over the laughter in the King’s Arms. “When we walk home.”

Ben looked like he was going to push it, then he took his Guinness from Trev and gulped down a sip instead.

He would never have even considered pushing her when they’d first met. He’d been too quiet, and Gabriella had the sense he kept waiting for Trevor, Dominique and herself to tell him to get lost.

He’d shared a cabin with Trev the whole way across from Melbourne, and he always gave Gabriella the impression that he didn’t think himself cool enough for a friend like Trevor.

But slowly, as the journey had unfolded, he’d gained more and more confidence.

It made Gabriella very angry when she thought of his family. He never spoke much about them, but she knew they were the reason he was so timid and self-effacing.

She was glad he’d had the courage to leave them and go off to find a new life for himself.

He caught her watching him and she gave him a cheeky grin and tipped her head toward Dominique. “So, are you running Terrific Teens yet, Neeky? I look out for it when I walk past the news stands on my route.”

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