Murder... Now and Then Read Free Page A

twice – you could see the five o’clock shadow last time – and agonizing over which tie to wear. None of them, Judy had suggested, Lloyd’s taste in ties being something that she did her best to overlook. In the end, he wore one that she had bought him.
    Detective Sergeant Finch would be there too, watching out for would-be saboteurs; Judy had had to take a week’s leave due to her, and had thus escaped Cabinet Minister duty, for which she was truly grateful. She was going to enjoy her solitude, as she headed across the tiny entrance hall to a little piece of heaven.
    Lloyd’s devastated bathroom might not have represented paradise to many people, but it did to Judy. Despite the damp towels and the splashes, the abandoned shaving gear, the opened bottles and the cold bath water in whose depths lurked the now squidgy soap, Lloyd’s bathroom, unlike her own, had the inestimable advantage of efficient plumbing. By the time she had tidied up the mess, the water would be piping hot again, and she was going to make the most of it.
    Zelda had joined Catherine, keeping up a running commentary on the others present but Catherine wasn’t listening, and didn’t even pretend that she was, as she watched the door, and the big gates across the compound. Zelda had tried hard to calm her down, but even her comforting, gossipy, undemanding presence had done nothing to make Catherine feel any less afraid, and her heart was hammering as Victor Holyoak’s limousine drew up outside and its occupants got out. The glass doors, each with the discreet logo of a stylized oak tree, slid open automatically at their approach.
    Blood pounded in her ears as she watched the group of people move from the front door through to the reception area, then turned to look at Max, her eyes fixed on his face as he saw Victor Holyoak for the first time. She watched his mouth falling open in disbelief; felt a dull pain in her chest as the tension became unbearable. Zelda’s arm came round her as she asked what was wrong, but Catherine couldn’t speak, couldn’t even move, until Max finally tore his gaze away to look slowly back at her. The eye contact broke the spell, and she pulled free of Zelda, making for the rear of the building, pushing through the knots of people, running through the corridors to the fire exit. She could hear Zelda calling her name, then feet coming down the corridor.
    But it wasn’t Zelda’s high heels. It was Max. Max, running after her, catching her up. She felt him grab her wrist as she pushed down the panic bar, and they tumbled out into the cool dampness of the April morning.
    â€˜Oh, no, you don’t,’ he said, his voice just a whisper, as he dragged her round to face him. ‘What the hell’s going on, Catherine?’ He pushed her hard against the wall, knocking the breath from her body. ‘Answer me!’ he shouted.
    His face was white; he shook with anger. For the first time in her life, she was afraid of him, and she tried to struggle free from his one-fisted grip.
    He pulled her back. ‘ Don’t dare run away again,’ he said, ‘ No wonder you didn’t know how to tell me, you little—’ He slapped her face hard in lieu of a word bad enough to call her.
    She stared at him in shock. It was as if he had turned into someone else, not the man she had known and loved for fifteen years.
    â€˜Tell me! He shook her. ‘What have you done?’ His hand came down again and again, stinging against her face. ‘ Tell me!’ he demanded over and over with each slap.
    Catherine closed her eyes against the anger.
    â€˜God help me,’ Max shouted. ‘I’m getting the truth out of you if I have to beat you black and blue!’
    â€˜That’s what you think, mate,’ said a voice.
    Catherine opened her eyes to see a young man with fair curly hair striding towards them.
    â€˜Are you all right, love?’ he