The Collared Collection (9 page)

‘Yeah, yeah, Mum – give it a rest, will you? You’ve been through all this stuff a zillion times. Can we just go now, please?’ Sam was being a brat. Callie understood it was a defence mechanism, but they were all teetering on the edge and he was severely trying her patience. She was in two minds whether to verbally nail him to the wall …

She didn’t have to. Dominic shook Sam roughly by the arm. ‘Don’t be so cheeky to your mother, Sam! Who on earth do you think you are?’

Sam’s bottom lip flapped. This was a first – Prick sticking up for her against his beloved sons. Pre-Freckle Face, he’d have ridiculed her and told her to chill out in front of them, thus destroying any slim chance she had of maintaining discipline. She’d bought him chauvinist pig slippers one year for his birthday, but the sentiment was wasted on his severely inflated ego. Ginny’s eyebrows were eloquently raised – she’d noticed the change too, so Callie hadn’t imagined it.

‘Take your bags down to the car, I’ll be out in a second – and don’t play with the controls!’ He ruffled Alex’s fringe, simpering and trying to diffuse the awkwardness of the moment, only to be rewarded with a ‘drop dead’ scowl. ‘Oh, and send the lift back up, will you? We’re running a bit late.’

As they went through the door laden with new clobber, she noticed Grumpy sticking out of Sam’s (also new) rucksack and felt an excruciating stab of pain at their leaving – but she knew it had to be this way, for their sakes. Apart from any danger they might be in, Sam and Alex were being adversely affected by everything that had happened and needed some stability and ordinariness in their lives as an antidote. If Polly had to be a part of that equation, then so be it – Callie just hoped it wouldn’t be for too long.

Dominic squirmed. ‘Ginny, would you, err … mind if I had a moment or two in private with Callie?’

Her eyebrows shot up into her shaggy fringe. ‘Sure, no problem. I’ll go and do the washing up.’

Callie’s lips were dancing a nervous twitch, which she did her best to bend into a smile. ‘Thanks, I’ll be through in a minute.’

When they were alone he asked, ‘Any sign of Jasper yet?’

‘No; if you’ll pardon the pun, David and Sam grilled all the neighbours earlier today but no one has seen him. Sam hasn’t said anything, but I think he’s beginning to accept he may be lost.’

‘Dead, you mean?’

‘Of course dead! I’m afraid he was trapped in the house – though the firemen investigating the scene haven’t come across his remains, or at least they haven’t said as much.’

‘I see.’ He fiddled annoyingly with the change in his trouser pocket, making jingling noises. ‘Are you, err, going to be alright?’

‘Yes, I am – why the belated concern for my welfare, Nic?’

His eyes scanned the floor for an answer. ‘I don’t know, maybe it’s guilt. It’s been one disaster after another since I left.’

Don’t friggin’ kid yourself, she thought, ‘I’m sure the two aren’t connected – and you mustn’t lose any sleep over it. I have Ginny and David looking out for me, plus of course a parade of nice policemen.’ With the exception of Sally Stephens, she added for her own benefit.

‘That doesn’t stop me worrying about you …’ His face creased in a rather (she felt) patronising leer. ‘Obviously, I still care about you.’

‘Oh, obviously – that’s why you’re living with someone else. And a mere child to boot.’ She made to follow Ginny, but before she knew what was happening, he had her in a clinch, trying to plant kisses on her lips and pressing himself hard up against her.

Holy shit!

She ducked his lips and struggled to get free, her knee primed to connect with his balls. ‘Piss off, Nic! What
are
you doing?’

‘I still fancy you like mad, Callie. Being with a more mature woman does have its advantages, if you know what I mean.’ He winked, looking lecherous – and moronic.

‘Go fuck yourself. It was your decision to dump us like a pair of shitty underpants and start a new life with Freckle Face. What is it you want, two women at your beck and call to boost your already breathtakingly high levels of self-esteem?’

‘Trust you to be cranky when I’m simply paying you a compliment. PMT, is it?’

She desperately wanted to knock that sneer off his face with her fist – better still, a cast-iron frying pan. ‘You pathetic wanker! I suppose you got a big kick out of cheating on me with Polly, so now you want to cheat on her with me? All the spice gone out of your relationship has it, now everyone knows? Well if that’s the case, tough fucking bananas! I expect you’re familiar with the old expression about making beds and lying on them?’

Hearing raised voices, ‘Eddie’ burst through the door. ‘Everything alright, Mrs Ashton?’

Ginny gawped unashamedly out of the kitchen – trying unsuccessfully to disguise a fit of hysterics.

‘Yes, thanks, Eddie, my very strange estranged husband – the scumbag’s scumbag – is just leaving.’

Prick obliged – immediately, with bad grace and shrouded in a silence that screamed volumes.

Chapter Sixteen

Their personal Action Man clunked the heavy door shut behind Dominic. ‘Actually, it’s Mike, ma’am.’

‘Sorry, Mike, I forgot – and as I’m not the Queen and Mrs Ashton is so formal, please call me Callie.’ She pointed to the washer-up. ‘I’m just going to help Ginny tidy up around here.’

Mike gave a huge smile, his teeth super-white in contrast to his silky dark skin. ‘Yeah, I’ll wait outside.’

Callie grabbed a tea towel and started to dry some bits and pieces. ‘You’ll never guess what Prick is up to now?’ Though she forced a laugh, she didn’t think it was at all funny. He’d made her feel like she needed to bathe in disinfectant.

Ginny looked sly. ‘I have to confess I was eavesdropping … castration is far too good for that maggoty heap of faeces.’

‘My thoughts exactly – the nerve of the bastard! I’m beginning to wonder what I ever saw in him – you might have warned me …’

‘I did – you wouldn’t listen! I told you he was a scrote.’ She seemed to be coming to a decision, tapping her foot, ‘OK, belated confession time – I knew what a schmuck he was, because we went out on a date shortly after you began seeing him. So, he started as he meant to go on, by cheating on you.’

‘
What?
When?’ In all the years she was with Dominic, neither he nor Ginny had ever mentioned this. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Jeez, what a time to find out Ginny had test-driven another of the very few men in her life. She struggled to keep the hurt she felt under control.

‘I wasn’t exactly proud of myself and there was nothing to tell – we had a drink, went for a greasy hamburger, then he expected me to repay him a hundredfold with torrid doggy-style sex in the back of his clapped-out VW. He referred to it as his fuck truck – ha! Only in his wet dreams, I’m afraid. It was never going to be his lucky night and we didn’t repeat the experience – end of story.’

‘I still wish you’d told me …’

‘You’d just have got upset – like you are now. What would have been the point? I valued your friendship, not his, and the more time passed when I hadn’t told you, the more impossible it became to come clean.’

‘No wonder he was always jigging about like a canary on a red-hot perch when you were around; maybe he was afraid you’d rat on him.’

‘I think that was more because he hates my guts. Since you’ve been married, though, he hasn’t played around before this grand passion, has he?’

‘Not that I know of. When he was away on business trips, I never had any reason to doubt he was genuinely working … although since the advent of Freckle Face, I have wondered just how many women might have been between the sheets with him at all those happy-clappy sales conventions he went to.’

Ginny snorted. ‘Prick the super stud? Puhleeeese!’

‘And maybe if I hadn’t found out Freckles existed, the lying bastard would have carried on playing the role of the perfect family man at home with us, while keeping her as his bit of spice to poke on the side.’

‘Mmm … you never told me how you found out about her.’ Ginny folded her arms across her chest, looking uncannily reminiscent of Les Dawson in drag.

‘With hindsight, I suspect she was trying to force his hand – the conniving slag rang up when she knew he was out and told it to me straight.’

‘Bloody hell … the nerve of the gymslip brigade!’ The words ‘pot’ and ‘kettle’ strolled through Callie’s mind.

‘Well, if she hadn’t, I’d have remained in blissful ignorance – after today, I think she may have done me a great big favour. He’s finally been unmasked as a founder member of the If It Moves, Try and Screw It Society.’

‘Perhaps you should return the favour and give her a call? Anonymously, of course.’

‘It would serve her right … but in a way, I can’t help feeling sorry for her …’

‘For Christ’s sake, Callie! Will you wake up and smell the sodding chocolate?’

Callie sighed, feeling more despair than anger at the whole sorry episode. ‘Yeah, you’re right, I suppose. She’s just so achingly young and she should be out enjoying herself with people her own age, not stuck with a dull forty-five-year-old wanker who’s having a mid-life crisis. And now she’s got Alex and Sam thrown in, which she wouldn’t have bargained for. It’s quite a different matter, looking after them full-time to being an occasional Saturday surrogate.’

‘She should have thought about that before she wielded her axe and cut clean through your marriage.’

‘Mmm … even so …’

They finished the dishes and gave up on guessing which cupboards and drawers things should go in. ‘OK, everything’s neat and tidy here. Shall we hit the road?’

Ginny gave the draining board another wipe, ‘I’ll get my stuff – tell you what, we’ll collect Eddie and I’ll buy you both dinner on the way home.’

Did she never cook? They’d already eaten lunch al fresco. Ungratefully, she wondered if Ginny was trying to salve her conscience … oh for goodness’ sake, she told herself – it was all way too long ago to start worrying about now!

‘On two conditions …’

‘Name them.’

She counted off on her fingers, ‘One, nowhere posh – I’m hardly dressed for anything more upmarket than Fred’s Caff.’

‘I know the very place. Two?’

‘You resist the temptation to perform oral sex on Eddie … err, Mike, at the table.’

‘Oh, bloody hell, Callie – you’re no fun at all.’

There was a small hiccough in their plan; when they got down to Ginny’s car, they found all four tyres had been deflated – flat as a naan bread – but Mike was immediately able to demonstrate one of the perks of having a policeman as a sidekick by summoning a couple of mates to sort out the problem.

Then they were off.

Chapter Seventeen

Callie felt like a new woman. She had a job with a decent salary and a trace element of self-respect was beginning to seep back into her makeup.

Her first days at the illustrious chambers of Montague and Brewer – Ginny being the Montague, Anthony Brewer being long departed for Oz – had gone well, despite her nervous anticipation. All the partners and staff were welcoming, in spite of her dodgy reputation as a finder of dead bodies preceding her – and she scored maximum points in the That’s A Novelty category, by coming complete with her own policeman. She was beginning to feel at home.

Bernard was a bit of an anorak, but a very kind and patient anorak, who encouraged and helped her as she struggled to fathom what was required of her in the office and get to grips with the long-established routine that kept the place running smoothly. She’d come to accept that the computer wouldn’t bite her, even if she pressed the wrong buttons – and she hadn’t yet managed to crank it into self-destruct mode. To her eye, Bernard looked about due for retirement, with his snow-white thatch and moustache that resembled the bristles on a toothbrush, but he was in fact moving on to another law firm. That Friday was his last day – from then on, she’d be on her own and although he’d taught her well, she was very apprehensive.

She’d never before appreciated what a lot of clout Ginny had as Head of Chambers, with her stable of four other barristers and a pupil. Word was, she would be appointed Recorder before too much longer, and then in all likelihood she’d be elevated to the Bench. So, she’d probably be a judge by her mid to late forties, if the Lord Chancellor obliged – pretty impressive to Callie’s mind. And there was she, one step up from the toilet roll. Oh well, she told herself, that’s the way it goes – she was just a bit of a late starter on the career merry-go-round.

Currently accommodating two extra people – Callie and whoever her bodyguard was for the day – the office suite was crowded, and barrister’s clerk Ronan Murphy was hard to spot sometimes, a short, chubby man hidden behind teetering piles of briefs tied with crimson ribbon. But in a weak moment he’d volunteered to share his desk with the police presence. It was mostly Ronan who allocated her workload and she quickly came to realise Ginny actively disliked him – but she kept him on because he achieved excellent results, attracting lucrative work for the legal bods; she assumed his shameless Irish blarney was an asset in that respect. Personally, she thought he was quite a pleasant chap, always good for a laugh, and they’d struck up an easy working relationship.

Making swishing sounds in her silky white blouse, Ginny approached Callie’s desk after lunch and stooped to whisper, ‘Did you get a chance to wrap Bernard’s pressie?’

‘Yes – I nipped into the Ladies earlier and did it there. Everyone’s signed the card, except Simon Stirling – he’s on his way back from the Exeter Assizes, so I’ll get him to do it later.’

‘That’s great, thanks. And they all know when and where to meet for farewell drinks and the presentation?’

‘All organised.’

She tried to appear cool, tapped her highly-buffed fingernails on the desk. ‘Did you invite David along, as I suggested? Other halves are welcome …’

Nonchalance wasn’t really her thing and Callie knew it wasn’t David’s attendance she was interested in. She put her out of her misery. ‘Yes – and Mike is coming as well. I got David to ask him. Apparently, he was quite keen.’

A satisfied grin spread across her face. ‘Callie! That’s really made my day – see; you’re indispensable already. I always knew you would be.’