Page 56 of Return Ticket

Gabriella nodded back. “Do you remember Mr. Archer?” she asked Teddy. “The detective sergeant who rescued me back in the summer?”

“Aye.” Teddy Roe gave a nod. “You’re stepping out with him, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” She was surprised at the warm feeling she had at the thought. “I told him what you told me about the body you found in the old Billick Building, and he’s very interested in talking to you about it. So don’t be surprised if he comes looking for you. It’s just about what you can remember from that time, to help him.”

She knew Teddy Roe. Knew he would run in a blind panic before he could think things through, if he didn’t have advance warning.

“Help him?” Teddy Roe considered it. “I can do that.”

“Good.” She glanced at the cars parked beside the curb, and just then, a sleek black Mercedes drew up and parked clearly on double yellows. She hitched her bag up on her shoulder. “Have a good day, gentlemen.”

She could hear Teddy Roe chuckling behind her, she assumed he was tickled at her calling him a gentleman, and then the two men went back to discussing what was feasible for them to take back to Teddy Roe’s little shed, given they were going to have to carry anything between them.

As she got closer to the Mercedes, she began to steel herself for a confrontation. People with shiny black cars like the one in front of her were usually owned by rich old men. Sometimes she got lucky, and it was a chauffeur, and they were generally all right, but if it was the car’s owner, it often went badly.

She didn’t know what enraged them more; that she was giving them a fine, which they didn’t like, or that she was a young woman telling them, an older man, that he was in the wrong.

Disrespectful and uppity were two words she heard almost every time.

To keep things short and sweet, she wrote down the license number so she didn’t have to ask for it, or waste time looking afterward.

As she reached the driver’s door, she’d almost convinced herself it was going to be a chauffeur because the engine kept idling, but the man inside didn’t look right. He wasn’t in a chauffeur’s uniform, but neither was he over fifty and all puffed up.

Instead, he looked a little too sleek, and wore a little too much cologne.

“You’re stopped on double yellows,” Gabriella said. “You’ll need to move along, or I’ll have to issue you with a fixed penalty notice.”

“That’s fine,” the man said. “Why don’t you get in first for a minute, eh, love? I need a word with you.”

Gabriella stared at him. “A word?”

“Just a quick chat about a fine you issued a couple of months back.” He smiled and patted the passenger seat.

Gabriella froze. She didn’t like that she did, but it was so surprising. So unexpected. “No.”

She saw immediately that he didn’t like that. She was almost mesmerized by the sudden flash of temper on his face, and then he leaned across, and his hand snaked out and gripped her forearm. “Wrong answer. Tell me about a green Jaguar in Chelsea.” The man’s eyes were a light blue, and he watched her with cold detachment as she began to twist her arm to get free.

“Are you mad?” She tried to step back, give herself more space to get away, and he ground his fingers into her even harder.

“Just answer the question, girly, and I’ll be off.” He jerked her forward, closer to him.

“I won’t answer anything until you let me go.” She stared at where his hand was clamped on her arm, almost unable to believe this was happening.

“Fine.” He let go, and the moment she was free she backed away, and then ran around the rear of the car and onto the pavement.

She was cradling her arm close to her chest.

“Now, that wasn’t nice. We had a deal.” He was out of the car so fast, he was on the pavement before she could even decide which way to run.

She looked up and down the street. The only people to be seen were Teddy Roe and his friend Jerry.

“Teddy Roe,” she shouted. “Get help!”

Teddy Roe was already looking her way, and the man from the Mercedes glanced at the two old men and dismissed them.

Gabriella lifted her bag as a barrier between them. “You hurt me,” she said.

“I just needed you to concentrate,” he said, with a shrug that enraged her even more than the way he’d held her. “The green Jaguar you fined three months ago. Which house did the driver come out of?”

---