Ice (2 page)

Throwing the dish rag on the floor, he yelled, “What?”

With a sigh, Maggie picked up the towel. “Glenn, please don’t start.”

Snatching the green and white cloth from her hands, he wound it around his fist. Glaring at her, he said, “Have you forgotten that we have plans?”

“I’ll be home Friday night,” Maggie repeated, walking to the lounge.

“Tell them no,” he said, stomping after her.

“Glenn, I can’t do that, and you know it. It’s my job.”

“I want you to quit!”

“What?”

“You heard. Quit that bloody job. It’s not a career for a woman anyway!”

Up until that moment, Maggie had managed to keep her annoyance in check, but Glenn had just pushed the wrong button, and her Scottish temper flared.

“And what the hell are we supposed to live on—eh? Or have you miraculously solved all your business issues?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Maggie winced. For months, she had refused to allow her frustrations to show. Hiding behind false smiles, she had moved through endless nights and weekends with him by her side, hoping that things would get better. They hadn’t, and she had finally reached her breaking point.

“Fuck you, Maggie!” he yelled, throwing the towel in Maggie’s face. Grabbing his jacket, he stormed out of the house, slamming the door so hard that the glass rattled in the frame.

Sitting on the arm of the sofa, she shook her head and muttered, “Shit!”

They had met three years earlier when they had both been invited to a mutual friend’s wedding in St. Albans. With yet another failed relationship under her belt, Maggie had gone stag and Glenn, having not yet met the girl of dreams, had done the same. Seated together during the reception, they struck up a conversation, and before the evening was over, they had agreed to a date.

The son of a vicar, Glenn Shaw was as polite and well-mannered as they came. Having just started a small landscaping company on the outskirts of London, most of his time and energy was directed toward getting his business off the ground, but he always managed to find time for Maggie. Dutiful and attentive, he took her out to dinner, to the cinema, and for short walks in the park, and eventually, they became lovers.

Over the next two years, their relationship grew, albeit slowly. As Maggie worked her way up the law enforcement ladder, Glenn spent his days trying to keep his business afloat. Although he had a degree in horticulture, he had very little business sense, and it wasn’t long before he had made enough bad decisions, that his bank account began to suffer.

After weeks of hearing him moan about money troubles, Maggie graciously suggested that he move in with her until his business got back on track. Believing her offer to be only temporary, when Glenn showed up and announced that he had sold most of his belongings to pay the bills, Maggie’s heart sank. Even though they had been lovers for quite some time, Maggie always thought of Glenn as more like a friend with benefits rather than a man with which to build a life. In her attempt to do the right thing, she had tried to help a friend and ended up with a partner she didn’t want.

Taking a deep breath, Maggie walked into the kitchen and looked around. Thankful that Glenn’s idea of making dinner was simply heating up yesterday’s leftovers, she pulled the dried chicken from the oven, and debating only for a moment, dumped it into the rubbish bin. Turning off the cooker, she poured herself a small glass of wine, flicked off the kitchen light, and as she slowly climbed the stairs, a distant ache began to invade her brain.

As she expected, the bedroom was in shambles. Disregarding the mess, she removed her suit jacket, and hanging it in the wardrobe, she reached down and pulled out a small overnight bag. Gathering what clothes she would need for two days, she packed her toiletry case and placed everything neatly inside the carry-on before going into the bathroom and turning on the taps. As the water began to steam she stripped out of her clothes, and as she stepped under the hot spray of the shower, she let out a long, relaxing breath. Thirty minutes later, feeling better than she had in hours, she emerged from the bathroom, but as soon as she saw the state of the bedroom, her head began to pound again.

Throughout their courtship, Glenn had always been the perfect gentlemen, almost to the point of being old-fashioned, and as far as Maggie had been concerned, it had been a refreshing change. She enjoyed that he preferred taking her to quiet restaurants over noisy pubs for their dinner dates, and when he suggested visiting a neighborhood park for a walk, it hadn’t been because he had wanted to join the football game being played. From opening doors and pulling out chairs, to paying for dinner and chastely kissing her goodnight, Glenn Shaw seemed to be a man born a hundred years too late. Unfortunately, men born in the early nineteen hundreds also had other beliefs, and that fact became all too clear a few weeks after Glenn unpacked his clothes and hung them in her wardrobe.

Suddenly, he was content to stay at home so she could prepare him dinner, and whenever Maggie suggested that they go out to eat, he balked. Although not a sports fanatic, Maggie always enjoyed meeting her friends at a local pub during football season to enjoy a game and drink a few pints. It had been a way to unwind and to catch up with all of her mates, but Glenn didn’t want to unwind, and Glenn didn’t drink. A devout teetotaler, he loathed anything to do with alcohol and cigarettes, and even though they had visited a few pubs while they had dated, once he had moved in with Maggie, he no longer saw the need. While they continued to go for short walks in the park, the trips to the cinema also ended. No matter which movie Maggie would choose, he would find something about the film that he found appalling to the point that even trying to rent a video became impossible. However, of all the things that Maggie hadn’t known about Glenn, the one that absolutely floored her happened only a few days after he had placed his slippers under her bed. As far as Glenn Shaw was concerned, housework was women’s work.

As she stood in her disheveled bedroom, she shook her head at the mess, and with a sigh, went about picking it all up. Gathering the dirty clothes that he had left strewn all over the room, she tossed them on the floor of the closet and then straightened the bed. Fluffing her pillow, she wearily climbed under the duvet, and letting out a slow breath, she thought about the assignment she had been given. Protecting a witness for a few days wouldn’t be a problem, but knowing that she’d be working with Alex Blake again, caused Maggie’s blood pressure to rise.

Entering the police academy two years apart, they hadn’t met until they had both been assigned to a kidnapping case three years before. While Maggie had heard dozens of stories about the cocky, live-on-the-edge Detective Inspector, nothing could have prepared her for meeting Alexandra Blake. Tall, beautiful, and with short black hair that had a style all its own, Maggie’s first thought was that Blake looked more like a runway model than an Inspector. Even though she had felt dwarfed by both the woman’s height and her beauty, Maggie had been the consummate professional, and with a handshake, they had become partners on the case.

At first, they were like oil and water when it came to how they approached the case, but in only a few days Blake’s pig-headedness and Campbell’s professionalism began to compliment the other. When Blake would rant and rave, Campbell would calmly read through the facts, and then reeling Blake in, they’d discuss the case again. Methodically, they’d go over everything, and as they did, more clues were uncovered, more witnesses were found, and the powers-that-be were impressed.

Blake’s ability to walk the fine line between right and wrong grated on Maggie’s sensibilities throughout the assignment, but Maggie put her personal feelings aside. For fourteen days she worked the case like she had been taught, and surprisingly, things went rather smoothly, but on the fifteenth day, everything went to shit.

It hadn’t been her finest moment, and as Maggie stared at the ceiling and thought about that damp and dreary night so long ago, she blanched at the memory. She regretted the words that she had spoken, as well as the slap that had sent Blake to the ground, but Maggie had done what she had needed to do…at least that’s what she told herself.

With a sigh, she leaned over and switched off the light. With the help of two paracetamol, her headache had dulled, and closing her eyes, she prayed that tomorrow would be a better day.

***

Yanking a sweater from its hanger, Alex tossed it on the bed, and then stormed across the room toward her dresser. Snatching some underwear from a drawer, she balled them up, and one by one, hurled them at the bed.

Alex Blake had worked for the Met since the age of twenty-two. Born and raised in Surrey, she had grown up among the rich and famous, and before she had reached the age of eighteen, two modeling agencies had offered her contracts. Tall, slender, with eyes the color of cinnamon and cheekbones to die for, she could have easily graced the covers of numerous magazines without a care in the world, but Alex did care. She cared too much. Sitting around the breakfast table discussing the world with her parents, she learned of the wrongs and rights. She saw the grainy photographs in newspapers and read the words, and they horrified her. Alex Blake didn’t choose her career. It chose her. So turning her back on the glitz and glamour of monthly publications filled with makeup advertisements and emaciated models, after graduating university, Alex joined the Metropolitan Police Service.

It took her seven long years to reach the rank of Detective Inspector. While her sights had been set slightly higher, and she believed she would attain them in a shorter amount of time, something always stood in the way: her attitude.

Alex was a good cop. In fact, she was an excellent cop. When it came to aiding victims, Alex was as caring as a mother would be to her newborn, but when it came to the criminal element, she was not. Driven, stubborn, and willing to cross the line if need be, more than once, her desire to catch the felon overshadowed acceptable operating procedures. Her overzealousness resulted in formal reprimands being placed in her file on more than one occasion, and once, her inability to control her temper resulted in a two-week suspension. However, Alex had a saving grace, and she knew it. She had the uncanny ability to study a crime scene and memorize every single detail.

While her fellow officers would spend hours poring over photographs or return to the scene of the crime for just one more look, Alex could see it all in her head. A dustless spot on a table where once sat a picture frame, or bedroom slippers now under the bed instead of next to it, were sometimes missed in a photograph, but they were never missed in her mind’s eye. On occasion, her unorthodox methods would send shivers down the spines of some, but her drive and attention to detail had earned her the respect of not only her peers, but also her supervisors. They had learned to accept her quick temper and sharp tongue, and so had her friends.

Having spent the last few minutes watching Alex stomp around the bedroom mumbling expletives under her breath as she looked for clothes, Paige Harrison smiled. “Has your clothing done something to offend you in some way?”

Glancing over her shoulder at the statuesque blonde standing in the doorway, Alex growled, “I’ve got two bloody days until my holiday starts, and they’re sending me on a fucking babysitting trip!”

Before Paige had a chance to say a word, Alex’s tirade continued. “I’ve got enough bleeding paperwork on my desk to keep me busy for months, but does that matter? No! No, they think my time will be better spent traveling to bum-fuck nowhere just so someone’s nose doesn’t run!”

“I thought you liked your job?”

“I love my job!” Alex barked. “I love investigations. I love the hunt. I love catching the bad guy, but I don’t love babysitting. Hell, I don’t even like kids!”

Trying her best to lighten the mood, Paige joked, “Yeah, I can’t see you playing with dolls to pass the time, unless, of course, they’re the blow-up type.”

With a huff, Alex glared at her best friend. “For Christ's sake, Paige, it was just an analogy!”

Thinking back over the past fifteen years, Paige hid her grin as she mentally tried to count the number of times Alex had lost her temper. Deciding that she didn’t have enough fingers and toes to keep track, Paige leaned against the door frame and waited for Alex to calm down.

They had met at university, and before the first semester had ended, they became the best of friends, and prior to the second one ending, they had become lovers. Although their career choices differed, both were passionate about what they wanted from life, and it was that passion which ignited their lust for one another…at least for a little while.

Spending much of their time helping each other study or cram for tests, when their work was done for the night, they’d put down their books and talk about their dreams. Young and invincible, they rattled on for hours about what they wanted from life, before falling into bed and making love through the night.

At first, it was a perfect co-existence. They gave and took from one another exactly what they needed. They shared love, laughter and a few tears, but as one year passed and then another, things began to change. Focused on her career, Alex spent much of her free time studying police procedures and investigative techniques, and when she wasn’t reading, she was working out.

While the Metropolitan Police Service had its fair share of women, men were still in the majority. Believing that some would label her a member of the weaker sex, Alex decided to prove them wrong. Never considering herself a fitness freak, she nevertheless worked her body until it was honed. Between the miles she ran on a treadmill, the mountains she climbed on an elliptical, and the weights she lifted until she could bench press twice her own, she gave herself a rock-hard physique while still maintaining the curves that announced her gender.

At times, Paige joined her in the gym, trying her best to share Alex’s interests, but that became increasingly difficult by their third year in school. Majoring in business, Paige’s goal after graduation was to open a nightclub where the lesbian and gay community would feel welcome. Preferring to spend her free time visiting the numerous pubs and nightclubs in the city gathering ideas for her dream club, it was inevitable that their interests would eventually pull them apart.