Cut You Dead (Dr. Samantha Willerby Mystery #4) - A J Waines Page 0,46

branded?’

I gave him a grim nod.

Even though I wasn’t finding any answers, a surreal sense of serenity washed over me as I snuggled so close to Terry. We weren’t touching, but I could feel the heat of his arm as it almost brushed my bent leg. There was nothing awkward; it felt the most natural thing in the world.

‘You’ll find something. You always do.’ He held out his mug of cocoa and clinked it against mine.

I yawned, aware of the time. I needed to sleep, but my brain was still hurtling round and round like a Formula One racing car.

‘I can stay if you like,’ he suggested innocently. ‘If you’re still a bit jumpy?’

I wasn’t, but I didn’t want him to leave.

‘On the sofa, obviously,’ he said pointedly.

I knew this wasn’t the time to suggest my bed had plenty of room for two. The moment wasn’t sizzling enough and he was only there because of the incident. If we were ever to take a definitive step in that direction, I wanted it to be as the result of a spine-tingling passionate clinch between us. Not with me in my baggy pyjamas, my hair dragged back under an Alice band, smears of dried chocolate around my mouth. Besides, Terry was too much of a gentleman to use the situation to his own ends. He would never do anything that could be construed as ‘taking advantage’. It was likely to be pure wishful thinking on my part, in any case. He was probably just being ‘a good mate’.

‘I’d like that,’ I said, heading for the linen cupboard.

It was only once I’d snuggled under my duvet and turned out the light that I began to see flashes of the incident on the underground in my mind. I’d convinced myself that it had been a random lashing out or an accident, but now darker thoughts crept inside my head to torment me.

What if someone had targeted me deliberately?

35

‘You did an amazing job with the posters.’ Miranda had rung as I was tying the laces of my trainers, about to hit the streets again with my new running partner. ‘I’ve seen them everywhere. Flyers too. How did you manage to get them in The Crosskeys? The landlord is a tyrant. And the cinema?’

I paused, my mind a blank. The venues didn’t ring a bell. ‘Ah. That must have been Emily,’ I said. ‘She did most of them on her own.’

‘Never mind who did what – she said you were great. So, thank you.’

There was no irony in her voice, no grating edge, merely lustrous gratitude. It wasn’t like Miranda to be so effusive. Certainly not with me. I was touched, even though I didn’t fully deserve her appreciation. Emily had done the lion’s share.

‘How are you doing after last night?’ Emily asked, as I joined her by the flower stall at Clapham Junction.

‘The running or the fun and games in the underground?’

She laughed. ‘Both!’

‘I’m fine. A bit stiff from the run and pummelled after the fall, but no harm done.’

‘You’ll feel better after this.’

After powerwalking for a couple of blocks, we broke into a run and I found a solid rhythm straight away. This time, I had no stitches, no discomfort, not even a blister. According to Emily’s tracker, we covered two kilometres before we stopped for a water break.

‘Woah, that was exhilarating,’ she exclaimed. ‘You okay?’

Now we’d stopped, I realised how out of breath I was. ‘Not bad. Aware I’m holding you back. You’d go a lot faster – and much further, without me.’

She batted my comment away. ‘Na, I love running whatever speed we go. It makes a nice change to have a partner.’ The smile slipped from her features as we kept warm, jogging on the spot. She looked like she was about to say something important. ‘I was geared up to be an elite cyclist when I was younger. My coach had even talked about the Commonwealth Games, but I had a bad crash and my chances of contending at that level went up in smoke.’

The catch in her throat didn’t pass me by. ‘I’m so sorry. What happened?’

In the inky shadows away from the street lights, her expression became increasingly sombre. ‘I caught someone’s wheel during a race. It was a tight bend and there was oil on the road. The surgeon knew straight away my shoulder would never be the same again.’ She was close to tears, but didn’t hide them or apologise. ‘I’m not quite over it –