Hello My Angel - Sue Brown Page 0,43

about the rest of you? Aren’t you hungry?” Josh asked.

Rick pointed to a pile of wrappers on one of the tables. “We couldn’t wait for you to…stop working.”

They laughed at his grumbles. He didn’t like losing money to Gil.

Josh looked at Max. “Have you got access to the cameras at Blackfriars?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. We’ll call when we’re there. You might pick up something if we wander around.”

He saw the dark smudges under Max’s eyes. He thought the boy looked ill. “Why don’t you take a nap? We’ll be a while.”

“No, I’m fine,” Max said and yawned.

Gil rolled his eyes. “Go sleep. You’re dead on your feet.”

To Josh’s surprise, Max didn’t protest at Gil’s order. “The feed is on the station. Call me if you need me.”

Gil watched Max shuffle into one of the offices and shut the door. Josh smirked at him as he turned back to them.

“What?” Gil snapped.

“Nothing,” Josh lied. “Nothing at all.”

Chapter 12

It was an almost-perfect autumn morning. The temperature was crisp with a light frost, but the early morning sun promised a wonderful day. After weeks of rain it was a welcome change. Commuters were on their way to work but they kept their heads down and ignored the two men walking hand-in-hand towards the Thames. Josh felt that pang of guilt at enjoying this alone time with Cal when lives were at stake. He had to admit they were no nearer finding answers than before. Josh knew they were missing something; he just couldn’t work out what it was.

“Penny for them,” Cal said, squeezing his hand.

Josh heaved a sigh and leaned against him. He tilted his head to look at Cal. His man was still looking exhausted but there was a glint of something else. Maybe he was as pleased to be away from the office as Josh was.

“Just thinking,” he said.

Cal looked down at him quizzically. “About what?”

“Feeling guilty for enjoying the sunshine and some time alone with you. It’s been weeks of death and more death. Don’t you long for the days when it was just you and me flirting on the computer? No one trying to kill us. No bodies pulled out of the Thames.”

Cal gave a belly laugh and people looked over in their direction, seemingly surprised by frivolity this early in the morning. “You were the one sitting in the office, Angel. I was usually dodging bullets somewhere.”

“I don’t get you,” Josh said. “You had a cushy role in CDR. You could have put your feet up and drunk whiskey for the rest of your life. I don’t get why you let the agency take away your life. You started CDR to get away from that.”

“When you put it like that it does sound peculiar.” Cal nudged Josh with his shoulder. “I didn’t intend to spend so much time in the field. They needed my expertise and I agreed to go out there for a year.”

“I know that, but you ended up staying for five more years.”

They’d had this discussion many times, but Josh still didn’t understand Cal’s motives for staying with the agency, let alone his continuing loyalty. He’d confessed so many times that he’d regretted agreeing to return.

Cal huffed out a breath. “A lot of it was tied up with Sir Gideon. I felt I owed him. He was good family to me. My only family.”

Josh had a sudden urge to call his mom. It had been too long since they’d sat together and watched Downton Abbey. That made him remember something he’d been meaning to ask Cal for a long time and other things had gotten in the way.

“Why did Sir Gee only have middle aged women as his staff? He was the type of man I’d have thought preferred to deal with men or younger, more pliable women. The women I met didn’t let him get away with anything. And they were trained assassins. I’m amazed he slept at night without wondering if one of them was going to slit his throat.”

Cal flinched. Fuck! Between the ways Gideon and Chopper were executed he couldn’t have used a worse analogy.

“I’m sorry,” Josh said quickly.

“It’s okay,” Cal said, a wistful look on his face. “He was a peculiar man. I know you didn’t really understand why he insisted on the staff eating separately.”

“It’s a bit Downton Abbey,” Josh admitted.

“He was of his generation.”

Josh furrowed his brow. “He wasn’t born to it. You said he bought the house.”

Cal sighed, rubbing his eyes. “It’s just the way he was. He wanted to