Page 139 of So Wild

She almost smiled. “Can you believe this is happening?”

“No, but we can get through this. We need to stay calm and focused.”

Julia gave him a look that said‘Thanks, Dad’and reached for her satchel, drawing out a gray flannel shirt. It had been a muggy summer’s day but thanks to the thick concrete walls, the property office was unnaturally cool. Max was grateful it wasn’t winter. It would be ice-cold and he’d freeze to death before suggesting he and Julia huddle together for warmth. She wasn’t exactly dressed for comfort in her tight jeans and white lace singlet. He snatched a look at her tattoo before she pulled the flannel on; computer code and cherry blossoms tied together with a USB cord. There was a phrase as well; Max had Googled it once.She conquers who conquers herself.

He had a tattoo as well. Bonnie had paid for it on their trip to Thailand. She was oddly turned on by the tattooing process, like the ink was turning him into some bad boy or maybe just someone other than the guy she married. Either way, Max liked his tattoo, but it wasn’t personal the way Julia’s was. It didn’t say ‘I’m smart and delicate and complicated’ the way all those numbers surrounded by pale pink petals did.

“Hey, man, are you okay?”

Max jolted out of his reverie to find Julia staring at him, eyes narrowed. “You look like you want to hit me with a phone book.”

He felt a hot rush of guilt. She would probably find police brutality preferable to the way he’d been analyzing her body. “I’m not pissed, I promise. It’s the eyebrows.”

She grinned, her youth and beauty shining out at him, and Max hated himself a little more for wanting her.

“Now we’re officially screwed, what should we do?”

Max opened his mouth to suggest something stupid, like a cup of tea, when a loud bang echoed above their heads, followed by the unmistakable sound of footsteps.

Julia leapt to her feet. “Oh my God. Someone’s upstairs.” She rounded on him. “When they leave they’ll walk past the property office. They’ll see the keys in the door!”

Max’s mouth went dry. If they got out now, he could still make his appointment with Bonnie, and some distance and many beers from now, this inappropriate attraction would feel like a bad dream. “We need to get their attention.”

The footsteps grew louder, the sound echoing through a right-hand vent on the wall. Julia snatched a chair from the nearby table and stood on it.

“Hello?” she shouted into the vent. “Hello, can you hear me?”

There was no response. Julia brought her fingers to her lips and gave an ear-splitting whistle.

Max put his hands over his ears. “Jesus.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t stress, it was a good idea.”

They stood stock-still, waiting for footsteps to come hammering down the stairs to investigate the noise. After several tense seconds, the knot in Max’s stomach tightened. “It’s no good. The sound must be traveling down the vent. I can hear people talking.”

He pressed his ear against the grate, acutely aware of how close his face was to Julia’s and trying not to be.

“Got much on for tonight?”

Max recognised the broad, flat voice as Sergeant Daly.

“Missus has a roast going.”That was Grant Jackson, one of the detectives.“Feel like a beer?”

“You’ve got the right idea. Let’s head out the front and walk to the pub. I’ll lock up on the way out.”

Julia banged a fist against the vent. “If they go out the front they won’t pass the property office. They won’t hear us.”

Max gritted his teeth. “I can’t be that unlucky. Surely to God I can’t be.”

“We’re the last people in, yeah?”Jackson called.“Where’s Connor?”

“I’m here,” Max shouted. “I’m in the property office, you tool.”

Julia giggled nervously.

“Connor left half an hour ago. What about that IT bird? Was she in today?”

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