Something Wicked Read Free

only known for a few months he wasn’t sure. There was something fascinating about her
confidence that bordered on recklessness. It was the complete opposite to his own nature and sometimes Andrew found himself simply watching her. There was nothing romantic or sinister but
he’d seen her talk people around to her own way of thinking without even trying. It was as if she did everything without getting out of first gear, as if life itself was something she could
bend to her own will. Even though she was naturally pretty, he didn’t think her appearance was part of it, she just had something about her that other people didn’t – certainly
something that
he
didn’t. Andrew could blend into a crowd and go unseen: a normal guy with a normal face, sandy-gingery hair, not too fat, not too thin, not tall, not short . . . just
there.
It was the way he’d always been and, in many ways, made him perfect for poking his nose into other people’s business. Unless they knew to look for him, people could walk
straight past, gaze into his eyes, and continue as if there’d been nobody there.
    Jenny was the antithesis. No one would forget her in a hurry – unless she was in unflattering clothes with a baseball cap covering half of her face. She was like a human chameleon, able to
become whatever she needed to be.
    ‘He’s turned onto the M57,’ Jenny said.
    ‘Where does that go?’
    ‘Huyton, Kirkby, Knowsley. You need to go right here.’
    Andrew checked his mirror and flicked the indicator. ‘When I tried following him last week, I was coming from the other way and lost him in Huyton.’
    ‘What do you think he’s getting up to there?’
    ‘Hopefully, that’s what we’ll find out. Probably the usual.’
    ‘You think he has a woman on the go?’
    ‘I imagine that’s what his wife is paying us to find out.’
    Jenny paused and, for once, Andrew knew what she was going to say next. ‘When I first started, you said that you didn’t do adultery cases.’
    ‘Strictly speaking, we don’t know what it is. His wife said her husband kept sneaking away from the house and office and that she didn’t know where he went. He could be
creeping out to go to Alton Towers for all we know.’
    Another pause.
    ‘He’s going the wrong way for that.’
    ‘I know.’
    ‘Still, that’d be a great reason to escape the house. Your wife thinks you’re having an affair but really you’re going on the rollercoasters in full suit and tie.’
Jenny returned her attention to the tablet. ‘You never did say why you don’t do adultery cases . . .’
    Fish, fish, fish.
    Andrew sighed inwardly, a sort of non-sigh that wasn’t for anyone’s benefit, including his own. ‘They’re just very boring. Someone’s sleeping with someone else.
Take a picture, bug a room, bribe a hotel worker. Anyone can do that.’
    Jenny didn’t look up from the tablet but continued fishing. ‘Good money, though . . .’
    ‘I’m sure it is . . .’
    Andrew didn’t give her the answer for that particular piece of angling. She was intelligent enough to notice that the money coming in barely matched what he was paying her, combined with
the rent on the office. Still, she was so used to getting her own way that he figured she could keep guessing about that particular enigma, at least for now. One day, she would no doubt talk him
into telling her the truth about where his money came from, probably by making him think it was his idea to tell her all along.
    ‘He’s got a nice car,’ Jenny went on.
    ‘That’s what I couldn’t figure out when I tried following him the last time. He just disappeared. One minute there was this brand-new grey thing in front of me, then he turned
off the road and he was gone.’
    ‘Stewart Deacon . . .’ Jenny rolled the man’s name around her mouth. ‘Stew-art. How much do you think he’s worth?’
    ‘It’s hard to know from his credit report and it’s difficult to figure out who owns what in regards to his