Cold Light Read Free Page A

door.
    When she turned to face him she had two sandwiches in her hands, two cups of filter coffee, one of them black. Medium height, hair medium brown, red-faced, stocky, Detective Constable Lynn Kellogg, back from her parents’ poultry farm in Norfolk, byway of the deli across the street.
    â€œMozzarella and tomato,” Lynn said, handing Resnick a brown paper bag already leaking French dressing. “I thought you might not have eaten.”
    â€œThanks.” He prized the plastic lid from the coffee and drank. “I thought you weren’t due in till this afternoon?”
    Lynn widened her eyes and moved to her desk.
    â€œThings at home not so good?” Resnick asked.
    Lynn shrugged. “Not so bad.” She shook some loose pieces of lettuce from the paper bag and pushed them back inside her sandwich.
    â€œI found the turkey,” Resnick said, nodding in the direction of his office.
    â€œGood.” And then, suddenly grinning, “It’s a duck.”
    â€œI was just wondering,” Divine said. He was on his way out of the ward, interview over, and he’d timed his move to perfection, coinciding with Staff Nurse Bruton’s purposeful walk towards the drugs trolley. Lesley Bruton—tall, her height accentuated by the mass of dark hair untamed by her nurse’s cap … it was there on her badge, printed out for all to see. “Like I say, Lesley, I was wondering …”
    â€œYes?”
    â€œWhat time you got finished? You know, came off shift.”
    â€œI know what it means.”
    â€œSo?”
    She gave him a look that would have scuppered a more sensitive man and lifted a clipboard from the side of the trolley.
    â€œLook, it’s not a chat-up, you know. No way.”
    Amusement flirted across her eyes. “Help you with your inquiries, can I? Something like that?”
    What? Divine thought. Give me half the chance!
    â€œNo,” he said, “not official …”
    â€œI thought perhaps not.”
    â€œSee, what it is, I’ve got to stay here till he gets back on the ward. Raju. Could be—well, what?—hours.”
    â€œCould be.”
    â€œThing is, there’s this present I’ve got to get. You know, for tomorrow.”
    â€œSpecial, is it?”
    Divine nodded, looked sincere.
    â€œGirlfriend?”
    â€œSort of.”
    â€œUnderwear, then?”
    Divine treated her to his lop-sided grin; he was starting to sweat more than just a little.
    â€œBlack and sexy?”
    â€œCould be. Why not?”
    She looked at him, saying nothing. Waiting.
    â€œThere’s this place,” Divine said. “That arcade back of the Council House. Real posh.”
    â€œI know it,” Lesley Bruton said. “My boyfriend buys me stuff there all the time.”
    Jesus! Divine thought. His eyes slithered down her uniform, wondering if she was wearing any of it now.
    Lesley slid her hands along the rail of the trolley. “And you’d like me to pop in there when I finish?” she said. “Pick up something for you. For your girlfriend. A bra and pantie set. Maybe a camisole top. One of those teddies.”
    â€œYes,” said Divine, “that sort of thing.” Wondering if a teddy was what he hoped it was, one of those all-in-one jobs like a swimsuit made out of lace.
    â€œMaybe try them on for you while I’m there?”
    â€œWhy not?” Divine said, not quite able to believe his luck.
    â€œWhy not?” Lesley said, fixing him with her eyes. “For you?”
    â€œWell, I …”
    For a moment, voice lowered, she leaned towards him. “In your dreams,” she said. And without a second glance, she walked away.
    Gary had been working on the door the best part of two hours, more, if you included the time it had taken him to walk up the street to his mate Brian’s house and borrow a decent-sized screwdriver and a rasp. Michelle had finished a second lot of washing,