Cold Shoulder Read Free

places. When I look around here, it’s hard to believe what we came from.’ He slipped his arms around her. ‘And I’ll never forget how I got it. If it wasn’t for you…’
    She smiled, now brushing on a light blusher. Those days when he was studying day and night, when he worked at any odd job he could get, those days were a long, long time ago.
    ‘We’d have more time together as well.’
    Lorraine put down the brush. ‘If I was at home with an apron on and a casserole in the oven?’
    ‘I doubt if you’d ever be that, sweetheart, but you know we should think about it and also, maybe, about a holiday. When will you know about your next vacation so I can work it out with Donny?’
    She carefully outlined her lips, her pale blue eyes staring back at herself. ‘I’ll talk it over with Rooney.’
    The doorbell rang and Mike charged out. It was the pizza delivery. She should get a move on. She heard him on the phone, confirming with Rita what time she was to come over. Mike the methodical! Upwardly mobile Mike was so different nowadays, she seemed to be losing him.
    Lorraine stared at the blurred picture of Lubrinski. She touched his face with the tip of her forefinger. His face seemed to crease into a smile — but that was impossible, he’d never smile at her again. Lubrinski was dead; he had died in her arms. Sometimes she felt as if
she
was dead. Nothing seemed real any more; this apartment, all the new fangled equipment Mike filled it with, all the new furniture. Mike had organized the move down to the curtains. She’d liked their old place even if you did have to lug the strollers up and down three flights of stairs. She missed the neighbours. Sometimes Mike’s energy drained her and lately she was always tired. She never spoke to anyone in the building and didn’t even know who lived on her floor.
    The doorbell rang again and she could hear Mike welcoming the guests. Still she sat, unable to muster enough energy to join them. She pulled out the bottle from the bottom drawer of the dressing table. Just a few nips, that’s all she needed.
    Donny and Tina were chattering in the kitchen while Mike uncorked the wine. Tina Patterson looked as if she was heading out to a premiere rather than the local cinema. She kissed Lorraine on both cheeks and Donny gripped her tightly in a firm ‘trust me’ handshake. Mike ushered everyone into the dining area and proceeded to pour the wine. He was doing everything — seating his guests, bringing in big platters of pizza, apologizing for the informal dinner, explaining that Lorraine had only just got home from duty.
    She sat sipping her wine. She couldn’t look at the pizza: its bright colours made her feel like vomiting. They discussed the Coleridge case. Donny constantly gripped Mike’s shoulder in another ‘trust me’ gesture that irritated Lorraine, just as she found Tina’s delicate hands with their red-painted nails annoying. They made clicking noises on the plate as she picked up a minuscule slice of pizza, popping it into her collagen-enhanced lips. ‘To look at you, Lorraine, you’d never know you were a cop, it’s just amazing.’
    Lorraine forced a smile as Mike reached over and held her hand. ‘I’m so proud of my wife. You know, she’s been commended for bravery twice.’
    He sprang up from the table, went to the side cabinet and returned with two framed photographs. Lorraine in uniform with President Reagan and in a group picture of the year’s most decorated officers. ‘Lorraine caught the killer of that little girl, you remember the one that was found in a drainpipe? The caretaker had done it, she was the one that caught him.’
    Tina made the right noises, shaking her head and rolling her eyes — with admiration, Lorraine supposed. She drained her glass; she needed another drink. ‘I’ll put some coffee on,’ she said, leaving the table. She took out the vodka from the freezer and drank from the bottle. She had only just slipped it back