Worlds Apart (24 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Roo and Jonas started when they heard the door slam.

“Damn, is that Taylor leaving?” Jonas jumped to his feet and rushed out of the office.

Roo’s shoulders slumped. At least Taylor hadn’t burst in and told her she was fired, but she needed to apologize. She ought to have registered the room had been left like that for a reason. Jonas came back a couple of minutes later holding his phone to his ear.

“Is there a fire somewhere?” he asked. “I wanted a word with you about… No, not yet… Still doing searches… Okay.” He glanced at Roo. “No problem.”

She smiled.
No problem?
That would be a first then.

Jonas put his phone back in his pocket. “Looks like it’s you and me for the rest of the day.” He picked a file off Taylor’s desk, took a sheet from it and copied it on the machine. “Amy Banks. Trying to trace her mother’s sister. Mother’s dying, so it’s urgent. See what you can do.” He ticked a few numbers on Roo’s sheet. “I’ll call those and you call the others. We’ll share what we get. Then we’ll have lunch.”

“Is it a race?” Roo asked.

“Only if I win.” He grinned and sat at Taylor’s desk.

Roo employed all the techniques Jonas had just shown her. Checking websites, databases and a few sites she suspected they weren’t really supposed to access. She liked doing this. It was a combination of a step-by-step approach but combined with a lateral curve. In other words, thinking outside the box helped because research often led up cul-de-sacs.

Just after she’d set the phone down from a call, it rang. “Good morning,” Roo said. “ICU Investigations.”

“Is Taylor there?”

“Not at the moment. Can I help you?”

“How about Jonas? It’s Simon Blake.”

“Hold on one moment, please. I’ll see if he’s in.” Roo pressed the receiver against her thigh. “Simon Blake?” she whispered.

Jonas nodded and picked up the phone on Taylor’s desk. “Simon, what’s up?”

Roo put her phone down and went back to what she was doing, though she couldn’t help but listen to Jonas.

“No, she left over a month ago,” Jonas said. “Well, yes, name’s Roo… No, I doubt she’s done this sort of thing before… Yeah, yeah… Yep, she’s gorgeous. Brains and beauty.”

Roo pulled a hideous face and Jonas snorted. “A total babe… Okay. What time? Text me the details and send a photo.”

Jonas put the phone down and stared at her.

Roo narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“Another PI firm could use a favor. Needs you, gorgeous.” He grinned at her.

“To do what?” Roo tried not to sound too excited.

“Decoy work.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Like Taylor and Niall did in Leeds?”

He nodded.

“You’ve already said I’ll do it, haven’t you?”

Jonas gave her a sheepish look.

“You’ll have to tell me what to do.”

“Wear a recorder in your bra and flirt.”

“What if I don’t wear a bra?”

His jaw dropped.

The phone went again and Roo grabbed it. “Good morning. ICU Investigations.”

“It’s Kim Singer,” a woman whispered.

Roo gulped. This was the woman whose husband hit her. Roo fumbled on her desk for the list of women’s refuges Taylor had given her.

“What’s happened?” Roo asked.

“I need you to come.”

“What, now?”

“No, this afternoon. Not before three in case he comes home for lunch.” She let out a sob. “I don’t know what to do. I need to talk to someone.”

“Give me your address.”

Roo wrote it down.

“Just you. No one else. Not a man.”

“Okay, okay.”

Roo put the phone down and looked across at Jonas who had his eyebrows raised.

“She called the other day. Her husband hits her. She wanted to hire a detective to watch the house and her for a week so she could prove she hadn’t been seeing anyone. Her husband came home while we were talking and she broke off. I wrote her number down, but Taylor said not to call her back.”

“With good reason.”

“She needs help. Taylor gave me the addresses of some hostels in case she called again.”

Jonas sighed. “But you didn’t give her the addresses, did you? She’s expecting you to go and see her.”

Roo nodded. “Please, Jonas. I’m doing you a favor. Would you take me to see her? She wants to speak to a woman. She lives in Skipton. That’s not far, is it? She said after three.”

“Ever ridden a bike?”

“A few times.”

“I’ve got leathers in the pannier that should fit you. What’s the address?”

That afternoon, Roo emerged from the bathroom wondering if she’d have to be cut out of the leather pants. She’d had to lie on the floor to pull up the zipper. The jacket was almost as bad. Her boobs were forced up and almost out there scenting the air. Her poor feet were going to freeze, but dressed in tight black leather and high heels she looked like some kick-ass vampire slayer. A slash of red lipstick and Roo hardly recognized herself.

Niall almost fell down the stairs when he saw her.

“Roo?” he blurted. “What the hell are you wearing?”

She bristled. “My dominatrix outfit.”

“You… Oh shit.”

Jonas came in through the front door and whistled. “Bloody hell. You look better in them than Elise, and she was a babe.”

Roo sighed.

“Where are you going?” Niall asked.

“To buy a whip.” Roo strode out and nearly went headlong down the steps. Darn it.

Jonas laughed and handed her a helmet and gloves. “We can talk to each other through the headset. Tell me if you think you’re going to fall off.”

“Can I hold on to you or would you prefer me not to?”

“I’ll be upset if you don’t.”

Roo fastened the helmet tightly, lifted her feet onto the foot pegs and tucked up behind him on the bike, her hands on his hips.

Even before they’d reached the end of the drive, Roo buzzed with excitement, but her feet tingled with cold.

“You okay?” Jonas asked.

“Fantastic. I’ve never had anything so impressive throbbing between my legs.”

He laughed. “Listen, I might as well run you through what you need to do in the club later.”

“Going to give me a lesson in how to flirt?”

“Nah, I think you’ve got that covered. One look at you and any guy’s tongue would hang out. Don’t give your real name. Roo’s too unusual. How about Candy Kane?”

“Fuckwit,” Roo muttered.

“That doesn’t have a good ring to it. Chastity Belt?”

She laughed. “No I’m going to be boring. Paige Turner.”

“Not sure you could ever be boring.”

Roo curled up her poor toes against the wind. The chill was creeping up her legs. By the time they reached Skipton, Roo had lost feeling below her waist. She climbed off the bike and almost fell over.

Jonas caught her and smiled. “You need boots for next time.”

Roo removed the gloves and helmet, and dragged her fingers through her hair. “Apart from frostbite in my extremities, that was fantastic. I wish I had a bike. Want to teach me to ride? Although I should add I can’t actually ride an ordinary bike.”

He laughed. “Then the answer is no. I’ll wait for you in case there’s trouble. I can see the front door from here.”

Roo left the helmet with him and walked up the path. She knocked, and when the door opened, Roo’s exhilaration evaporated in a flash.

“Kim?” she asked.

“Roo?” The woman spoke through puffy lips. She had a black eye and a cut on her cheek she’d tried to disguise with makeup.

Roo nodded. Kim pulled her inside and glanced down the street before she closed the door.

“Are you okay?” Roo asked.
Idiot question.

“I don’t know what to do.” She led Roo through an immaculate living room where two small, neatly dressed children sat on the carpet in front of the TV.
Oh hell.

The kitchen was just as pristine.

“He won’t believe I’m not seeing anyone,” she whispered. “I’ve tried everything to convince him. I thought if you could watch me, do a report, next time he accuses me I’d have proof I was telling the truth.”

Roo stared into Kim’s dark-circled eyes. “You know, I don’t think it would make any difference. He’d say you paid us to lie for you. He doesn’t want to believe you. He’s using it as an excuse to hit you. You have to leave him.”

“I can’t. I’ve got kids.” The woman glared. “And no, before you ask, Christopher’s never touched them. He doesn’t mean to touch me. He loses his temper. I get things wrong, make mistakes.”

Roo wished she hadn’t come, wished she hadn’t seen Kim’s face, Kim’s kids, Kim’s much-too-tidy house. She put her hand in her pocket and took out an ICU card. On the back, she’d written the name and address of a hostel in Headingly that took in women who feared for their safety. Kim put her hands behind her back.

“Put it somewhere safe. Just in case.” Roo waited. “Please.”

Kim snatched the card, opened a cupboard and put it in a jar marked
Vitamins
.

“Now will you watch me?” Kim asked.

Oh damn.

“I can pay. I’ve saved up.”

Roo swallowed hard. “Think about this, Kim. It can’t work. No one can watch you 24/7. Even if they did, your husband would—”

“Her husband would what?” a man’s voice asked behind her.

Kim’s cheek twitched. Roo spun round to find herself facing a good-looking guy in a pinstripe suit. He’d come in through the back door. She plastered a smile on her face.

“Her husband would need to give permission for his wife to attend,” Roo said and held out her hand. “I’m from the Fundamentalist Ewaja Christian Evangelical Spiritual Mutual Church.” Roo hoped that covered everything. “We’re trying to—”

“We’re not interested,” he snapped, ignoring her hand.

When he eyeballed her outfit, Roo blurted, “We’re very progressive.”

“Why did you invite her in?” He glared at his wife.

“I needed a drink of water. Your wife was kind enough—”

“Get out.”

“I’m so sorry to have bothered you. May the Lord shine upon you and your children. May you live in peace and harmony 24/7. That’s our motto.” Roo beamed at him and then gulped once she faced the other way.

He followed her to the door and she could feel him watching as she walked down the path.

Roo waved to Jonas. “I just need to go next door,” she called loudly. “Last one of my quota. Have you done the other side?”

He nodded. Roo knew Christopher was still watching. She walked up the path next door and rang the bell. Roo’s heart sank when an old lady answered. She’d been hoping no one was in.

“Hello, I’m a representative of the Fundamentalist Mutual Spiritual Ewaja Evangelical Mormon Church.”
Blast, that isn’t right.
“I wondered if you could spare me a few minutes of your time.”
Please say no.

“Come in, dear. I’d love to talk to you. The chiropodist’s just cancelled so I’m all yours.” She looked Roo up and down. “I’ll give you some advice about what young ladies should and shouldn’t wear.”

And didn’t that serve her right?

Taylor pushed open the door of his office, expecting to see Roo, and blinked. He reversed and went into the kitchen. No Niall. Taylor walked out into the back garden and headed for the walled section at the rear. As he stepped through the gate, the sun came out and Taylor looked up to see a small break in what had so far been an overcast day. Taylor followed the path of a ray of sunlight to where it reflected off the glass of the greenhouse. And Niall. Niall was in the greenhouse with no shirt, sweat trickling down his back over the tattoo, and Taylor gulped.

He moved toward the door and Niall turned before he’d even called out.

“Hi,” Niall said.

The moment Taylor stepped inside the glass house, the heat hit him and he backed out. “It’s like an oven in there. Where’s my aggravating PA?”

“Jonas took her out.”

“Any idea where?”

Niall shook his head.

“Did he take her on his bike?” Taylor asked.

“He put her in his ex’s leathers. She looked…amazing.”

Taylor paused for a moment, thinking about both Roo in leather and Niall’s reaction to it and whether Jonas had ideas about Roo.

“I’ll give Jonas a call.”

As he walked off, Niall called, “I made the carrot cake. Extra frosting.”

Taylor turned and smiled as he walked backward. “Good.”

He turned the right way round, pulled his phone from his pocket and called Jonas.

“Explain,” Taylor said.

“You’re not going to like it.”

No, Taylor didn’t think he would. And by the time Jonas had finished, Taylor found no satisfaction in being right. At least Roo wasn’t still in the wife-beater’s house.