Doctor Who_ Rip Tide - Louise Cooper [37]
Steve had just turned the shower off when the flat 'phone rang. He heard Barry shout, 'I'll get it!' and listened idly as he wrapped one towel round his waist and started to dry his hair with another.
'It's for you!' Barry shouted.
'Haven't got time now — I'll call back!' Apart from the tiredness that he didn't seem able to shake off, Steve was feeling on top of the world. He hadn't seen Ruth for nearly a week, but tonight they were meeting up for a meal. He had promised himself that he would take her somewhere out of the village. Somewhere where they could be alone together without curious friends butting in. Somewhere atmospheric, romantic —
Barry's head appeared round the bathroom door and he said, 'You'd better take it, mate. It's Ruth.'
As he picked up the receiver Steve knew what she was going to say, and he was right. He put the 'phone down after a couple of minutes, and his face showed everything.
'She hasn't cried off ?' Barry said.
Steve nodded glumly. 'She can't make it.'
Barry shook his head. 'I tell you, mate, you're on a loser with that one. She's messing you around. Probably married with two kids, it?' you did but know. What's her excuse – work again?'
'Yeah.' It always was work, Steve reflected. Fair enough; Ruth was a journalist, and journalists sometimes had to drop everything and go if a news story came up. As a lifeboat crewman, used to emergencies, he of all people understood that. But it happened so often.
'If you had a pint for every date she's broken so far,' Barry observed, 'you could get very, very drunk.'
'I know, I know. You don't need to rub it in!' Then defensively he added, 'I think it must be some major story she's covering. She's probably working all hours on it; she sounded pretty exhausted. You know; voice shaky, that sort of thing.'
'What, like she was trying not to laugh at you for being so gullible?' Barry retorted cynically. 'Stevie, boy, you are a pillock!'
Steve went into his bedroom without answering. In the back of his mind, though, he wondered uncomfortably if Barry was right, and Ruth did have another life in which he played no part. She still wouldn't give him her 'phone number – he hadn't even been able to find out where she worked, for every time he asked, she changed the subject.
Trouble was, he was keen on her, and the fact that she was playing hard to get probably made him even keener. Ah, well. She had promised to see him on Friday. Just have to hope that 'work' didn't intervene again.
As he started to get dressed Barry called through the half-open door. 'Come for a couple at the Huer's, yeah? Better than sitting in moping.'
Steve didn't really feel like it, but... 'OK. I suppose so. Give me five minutes, and I'll be with you.' There was the sound of a drawer being opened, then: 'What the hell?'
'What the hell what?'
'How did this drawer get in such a mess? Have you been rummaging in
here?'
'Course I haven't!' Barry said indignantly.
'Well, I wouldn't have left it like this! And where's my pendant? The one Charlie made?'
'What, from the bit of wreckage? Haven't seen it, mate.'
'It was in this drawer, I know it was ... what the hell's going on?'
A connection clicked in Barry's memory and he said, 'Uh-oh. Nina ...'
'Nina?' Steve's face appeared round the door. 'What's she got to do
with it?'
Barry told him about Nina's earlier visit and her claim to have left something' in his room. 'I chucked her out,' he said. 'Didn't believe a word she was saying; you know how obvious it is when she's trying one of her stunts? But I went back to work soon afterwards. You don't think –'
'The window catch.' Grim-faced, Steve went to look. As he had suspected, the catch – which he and Barry always fastened when they were out – was unclipped.
'She must have forgotten to fix it