Murder Club - Mark Pearson [41]
‘Boss.’
Diane tossed back the remains of her drink and headed to the door. Delaney grinned at the barmaid. ‘Be an absolute darling, Lily. And give me a shot of Jameson’s, will you?’
The barmaid placed the shot glass in front of him and he looked at it for a long moment. A woman came up the bar and sat next to him. She had a tumble of auburn hair framing a heart-shaped face. Her eyes were big and blue. As she turned to Delaney, she had a smile on her face that could have melted frozen tundra.
‘Are you going to drink that whiskey or just look at it?’ she said.
‘I haven’t decided yet,’ Delaney replied.
‘Could go either way?’
‘Life’s a lot like that. Sometimes the small decisions help you make some big ones.’
‘And have you got a big decision to make?’
‘Seems like my life is full of big decisions,’ Delaney said and smiled back at her.
‘My name’s Kimberley Gold,’ she said.
‘Hello Kimberley, my name’s Jack Delaney.’
‘And don’t you shake a lady by the hand when you meet one?’
‘I’m married,’ he said and held his hand out.
Kimberley looked at his open hand for a moment and then slapped an envelope in it. ‘And you’re served, Jack Delaney!’ she said, got off her stool and walked out.
Jack watched her leave, then put the envelope on the bar counter and looked at his whiskey. Then he stood up, picked up the envelope and headed out himself. Leaving the whiskey untouched.
28.
KATE WALKER WAS seated at her desk drinking a cup of coffee and reading the morning paper when there was a quick knock on her door and Laura Chilvers stuck her head round.
‘Have you got a minute?’
‘Sure, come in.’
‘Thanks.’
Kate looked at her. ‘What’s up? You look terrible.’
‘I feel terrible.’
‘What’s happened?’
‘I’m not sure.’
She held her hands out – they were raw. Streaks of blood dried on her fingers, her knuckles puffy and swollen. Split.
‘Dear God, Laura, what’s happened? Have you been attacked?’
‘Like I said, I don’t know, Kate. I can’t remember.’
‘Let me clean that up for you.’
‘No!’ said Laura sharply and drew her hands back, clasping them together and holding them on her lap. ‘There’s more.’
‘Go on?’
‘I think I was raped.’
Kate looked for a moment too stunned to say anything, remembering the trauma she had gone through when she thought she had been raped. Only she hadn’t.
‘Oh my God, I’m sorry.’
‘The thing is, I can’t remember what happened last night. I’m okay up to a point and then it goes hazy.’
‘You think you might have been drugged?’
‘I’m not sure.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I was at a club. I had some drinks. Took some other stuff.’
‘Laura!’
‘Yeah, I know, I know. I should have known better! I’m a doctor. But if every doctor who took drugs was fired today, there would be queues at every health centre stretching for miles.’
‘I know – sorry. I wasn’t judging you.’
And Kate wasn’t. She recalled again the time she thought she had been raped. She had had a big argument with Jack and had got herself completely plastered at The Holly Bush in Hampstead. Drowned her sorrows, as they say, in a small pond of vodka. She had allowed herself to be chatted up by a smooth Delaney lookalike. Dark curly hair, handsome, full of charm. Except that was where the similarities ended. His charm was as false as the smile on a double-glazing salesman’s face. He was a children’s doctor and she thought she could trust him, only she couldn’t. She let him stay in her bed and was convinced he had raped her. Only he hadn’t, and was playing sick mind-games with her. Delaney had busted him on the nose, and she wished he had done more than that.
‘I know what it’s like to lose control, Laura,’ she said.
‘I had things … I don’t know, I couldn’t deal with them, Kate. I wanted to be in a different place. I was stupid.’
‘Whatever happened, it isn’t your fault.’
‘That’s just it, though. It is my fault. All of it. I deserve this.’
‘Don’t say that. Don’t ever say that.’
Laura wiped the sleeve of her overcoat across her eyes. ‘I need your help.’
‘Of course.’
‘You’ll need your rape-kit.’
29.
JACK DELANEY STOOD by the