Worlds Apart (12 page)

“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” Roo muttered under her breath.

Taylor walked faster. “What are you oh God-ing about?”

Roo caught up with him and grabbed his sleeve. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Taylor stopped. “No. What? And why did you want to see where the dog slept, for crying out loud?”

“She killed the dog.”

Taylor rolled his eyes.

“But she killed her husband first.”

Clung.
That was the sound of Taylor’s jaw hitting the ground.

Chapter Eight

Roo glared as Taylor laughed so hard he started to choke. “This isn’t Cluedo,” he spluttered. “Mrs. Frizzy Hair killed Mr. F in the garage with a candlestick.”

She didn’t know whether to kick him or thump him on the back.

“Get in the car,” he gasped for air.

Roo dropped into the passenger seat.

Taylor clipped his seat belt and was still laughing as he headed down the road. “You’re funny.”

“I’m serious. She killed her husband and hid his body in the freezer.”

“You’re funny and insane. Such an attractive combination. How the hell did you figure that out, Sherlock? I didn’t spot any bloody fingerprints or a blood-stained axe.”

“There was a padlock on the freezer. Who padlocks their freezer?”

“Maybe she didn’t want to risk her kids climbing inside.”

Roo hadn’t thought of that. “She had the setting on super-chill.”

Taylor sighed. “Because she’d just bought a load of stuff to freeze?”

Damn, she hadn’t thought of that either. “There were fresh scratches on the casing.”

“Clumsy kids?” He glanced at her.

“No, the dog could smell the body of the husband and kept scratching to get at it. So she had to get rid of the dog.”

“You do realize how crazy that sounds.”

Roo frowned.
No it doesn’t.
He could at least take her seriously. “His golf clubs were still in the garage. No man would walk out on his wife and leave his golf clubs behind.”

“She definitely did it then.”

“There’s no need to be sarcastic. Should we call the police?”

“No.” Taylor turned onto Thorpe Lane.

“Why not?”

“Because I’ll be a laughing stock when they find a freezer full of pizzas and lamb chops.”

“So you’re more worried about being the butt of jokes than solving a murder?”

“For Christ’s sake. They’d never get a search warrant. Drop it. You’re fantasizing.”

By the time Taylor had pulled up outside Sutton House, Roo was plotting but had her innocent face firmly in place.

“Thanks for driving over there, anyway,” she said. “I guess I overreacted. The dog will probably turn up. It
was
micro-chipped. So if anyone takes it to the vet or the police, they’ll be able to identify it.”

Taylor turned and stared at her, and Roo had the feeling he wasn’t taken in by her sudden reversal.

He sighed. “We can try and help the kid. Check with vets in the area, the local authority pound—both Bradford and Leeds. Contact the Kennel Club, the local breeders. Look online in chat rooms about the breed.”

Roo smiled. “You
do
care.”

“Twenty quid is twenty quid,” he said.

The smile on her face broadened. She knew he didn’t care about the money.

“Make us a coffee,” Taylor said. “See if there’s any cake. Niall bakes something most days.”

Taylor disappeared into the office and Roo headed for the kitchen. Her heart jumped into her throat when she saw Niall. Would he have kissed her if she hadn’t stamped on his foot and if Taylor hadn’t come back?

“The master wants coffee and cake,” she said. “He didn’t say please so I’m thinking I should take him milky with no sugar unless you have a bottle of arsenic handy.”

Niall’s mouth twitched. “Don’t make his mood any worse. You want coffee too?”

“Yes, please.”

“Date and walnut cake?”

“Good grief. You baked that as well? Yes please, and you owe me a brownie.”

Niall growled and came round the table. Roo yelped and fled the other way. Niall reversed direction and Roo laughed as they faced each other down the length of the table.

“Admit you cheated,” Niall said.

“Or?”

“You know what I promised.”

To spank her. Heat flared in Roo’s cheeks.

“Okay. I cheated.”

Niall smiled and pushed the plates across the table. “You’ll enjoy it.”

She wasn’t sure if he meant the cake or the spanking. Roo picked up the coffees with one hand, balanced the plates on top and fled. She was being an idiot. As Roosevelt said, “
Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.”
She needed this job and she wasn’t going to keep it long at this rate, flirting with two guys who lived together.

Outside in the hallway, Roo paused.
Two guys who lived together and one of them baked?
Were they gay? Was Niall’s flirting just a bit of fun? Disappointment settled over her like a heavy blanket. She went into the office and put the cake and coffee on Taylor’s desk. He was talking on the phone and nodded his thanks.

Gay. Roo sighed. Why were so many good-looking guys gay?

She made a list of the places Taylor had said to contact about the dog and then looked up their numbers and called them. Arthur hadn’t been handed in anywhere, but they all took details and promised to contact her if he was. Roo still had the sneaking suspicion the dog was dead.
Maybe he’s in the freezer with the husband?

When Taylor popped out of the room, she called Jason to find out where his father worked. Dorsey’s in Guiseley. But a call to them elicited no information other than the fact that the guy wasn’t at work. Roo decided she’d have to go in person as soon as she could manage.

At five thirty, Roo tidied her desk. “See you tomorrow,” she said to Taylor.

“I’ll give you a lift to the station.”

Bugger.
“Thanks, but there’s no need. I’ll be fine walking.”

“It’s no trouble.”

No, no, no. I don’t want to have to walk all the way back again.
“I’m looking forward to the exercise,” Roo said in a firm voice. “It will do me good.”

She picked up her bag, winced at the weight with the bottle of water inside and made for the door. “Bye.”

“You did well today. Thanks.”

Roo turned and smiled.

“Much better than I expected.”

She sighed and headed down the hallway. One foot outside the door and the rain started.
Crap.
She didn’t bother running down the drive. She was resigned to getting wet, but when she heard a car start up behind her, Roo groaned. Taylor pulled alongside, flung open the passenger door and she had no choice but to climb in.

“Thanks.”

As they pulled out of the drive, Roo cast a lingering look in the vague direction of her tent.

“Will it take you long to get home?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said in a glum voice.

“Pudsey, right?”

“Mmm.”

“Do you live on your own?”

“Yes.”

As Taylor approached the traffic lights in Ilkley, Roo spotted a fish and chip shop on her left and licked her lips.

“You can drop me here,” she said.

“I’ll take you to the station.”

Damn.

When he pulled up on the road next to the ticket office, Roo started to get out of the car and he caught her arm. “It’s throwing it down. Wait there.”

Christ, now what?
Taylor exited the car, took a large umbrella from the trunk and came round her to her side.

“I might as well walk you to the station. I can park here for thirty minutes.”

Choked with frustration, Roo nodded her thanks.

“I’ll wait while you get your ticket and walk you onto the platform.”

“It’s under cover. Thanks for the lift. See you tomorrow.”

She skipped into the building before he told her he’d stay and make sure she got on the right train. In fact why didn’t he come to Pudsey with her, see her to her door and make sure no murderous axe man waited inside? Roo lingered until she thought Taylor must have driven away and then came out of the ticket office. She almost expected to see him standing outside.

He wasn’t.

The rain seemed to be coming down even more heavily and Roo debated forking out for an umbrella, but having decided to make the monetary sacrifice, the only shops open didn’t sell them. She walked back toward the chip shop. If that was closed, she was going to slit her wrists.

It wasn’t.
Phew.

But Taylor was in there.
Bloody hell.
Roo retreated before he saw her and hurried back up the road to hide in a doorway. Once he’d driven off, she ran back to the shop.

“A large bag of chips, please,” she said.

“You can have fish as well,” said the white-coated assistant. “The guy who was just in paid for it. He said to tell you that you won’t find the dog in this weather.”

So that was why Taylor had lingered. He didn’t really care if she got wet or not. “Fish too, please,” she said. “And could I have a plastic bag?”

She sprinkled on salt, added vinegar, then more salt because the vinegar had washed the first lot off and her mouth watered. She put her purse and the bottle of water inside the plastic bag and went back to the doorway where she’d sheltered. Roo told herself not to eat too fast, but it was impossible not to. The chips were hot and crunchy and the fish in batter was delicious.

Roo hoped the rain might stop while she was eating but it didn’t. The weather had turned the skies prematurely dark, though not dark enough to keep her hidden if Taylor drove past. Roo headed back out into the downpour and walked out of town. After she’d crossed the river, she spotted a sign for a public swimming pool and had another light bulb moment.

Ten minutes later, Roo had stripped to her underwear and was drying her skirt and blouse under the hand drier in the changing room.

“Cute bikini,” a woman said. “Where did you get it?”

What?
“London.”

Roo looked down at her red-and-white-patterned bra and pants and smiled. Once her clothes were dry, she pushed them in a locker with her bag and went for a swim. She could shower, wash her hair, and if the gods were smiling, the rain would have stopped by the time she came out. If they weren’t, she’d put her blouse and skirt in the bag and walk back in her underwear.

Taylor couldn’t come up with another reason not to go back to Sutton Hall. He had to face Niall sooner or later. He’d intended to ask Roo to go for a meal and for some unaccountable reason had blathered on about getting her to the train. Since when was he nervous about asking women on dates?
When I worry about them saying no
.

After he’d left her at the station, he’d called Niall and asked if he wanted fish and chips, and as he’d glanced in the mirror behind the counter, Roo had reversed out of the shop. The sinking feeling in his stomach was hard to describe but he knew disappointment was part of it. She hadn’t wanted the lift to the station because she either didn’t like him or he made her feel awkward. Probably both. Or was the little minx planning to go and look for that damn dog? He wasn’t sure what annoyed him more.

Now he felt relieved he hadn’t asked her out for a meal. Taylor wasn’t sure his ego could take further rejection. He skidded to a halt outside Sutton Hall, grabbed the bag of fish and chips, locked the car and ran to the door through the rain.

Niall was in the kitchen, plates and beer waiting.

“Don’t say I never make an effort.” Taylor tossed the bag of food onto the table.

Actually, he rarely made an effort. Niall had some internet arrangement to get groceries delivered and did all the cooking and cleaning. Taylor was happy to let him. It was Niall who showed potential buyers around the house, not that there had been many. Maybe a price reduction was needed. He’d email his parents.

Taylor might not have wanted to come back here, but he’d quickly settled into a comfortable routine thanks to Niall, and it was also thanks to Niall that he’d managed to not let the memories of sixteen years ago overwhelm him. He’d begun to tell Niall about Stephanie, and when Niall said he already knew, Taylor had felt a sense of relief that he didn’t have to explain.

He took off his jacket and hung it over the back of a chair while Niall plated up the fish and chips.

“How was her first day?” Niall asked.

Taylor sat at the table and took a swig of beer. “Interesting. She seems to be whipping the files into order, but she’s a sucker for a hard-luck story. A boy called about a missing dog, and because I had a feeling she wouldn’t let it rest, I drove her to the kid’s house. Father’s gone off somewhere, probably with the dog, but Roo reckons the man’s wife has killed her husband and hidden his body in the freezer.”