Behind Dead Eyes (DC Ian Bradshaw #2) - Howard Linskey Page 0,101
case they were following in a car, and kept going till they were well clear. Only when Tom was convinced they were far enough from the scene with no one behind them did he turn into a well-lit pub car park to deal with the wound.
‘Let me see,’ urged Helen, concern in her voice, but after a moment’s scrutiny she told him, ‘I don’t think it’s as bad as it looks, thank God. You’ve got one cut on the side of your head and a whole bunch of little ones above your eye. I don’t think it needs stitches.’
He swivelled the rear-view mirror, took a quick glance at the cut and said, ‘I’ll be fine. My thick head took most of the impact.’
‘How can you joke about it?’ she asked. ‘You saw what they did back there.’
‘I’m just thanking my lucky stars we got out of there more or less in one piece.’
‘I suppose we were lucky,’ she admitted. Helen didn’t want to think about what would have happened to them both if they’d been trapped in her flat by that mob.
‘You got much in the house?’ he asked, and when she didn’t seem to understand he said, ‘You know, stuff.’
‘A few clothes …’ Her voice trailed off. She was relieved she didn’t have a lot for them to take. ‘But I don’t want to go back there.’
‘Don’t worry, we can phone the police.’
‘They never come,’ she said quickly, and he wondered how she knew that. Had there been other incidents at her home?
‘We can call Ian,’ he said, ‘he’ll sort it. There’ll be a phone in the pub but you’d better make the call.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t think they’d be too chuffed if I walked in there looking like this.’
‘Okay,’ she said, ‘I still don’t want to go back there though.’
‘You don’t have to,’ he told her firmly, ‘just call Ian and tell him what happened. He’ll get someone over there. And don’t worry. You’re staying with me tonight.’
Chapter Thirty-Four
‘I’m afraid the boiler is playing up again but it’s a warm house,’ he told her when they finally made it back to his home. Tom snicked the top off two bottles of beer, handed one to Helen and took a big swig from his.
‘Should you be drinking alcohol after a blow to the head?’
‘Probably not,’ he admitted cheerfully and he took an even bigger drink. Tom checked his answerphone and there was a message from Bradshaw. He had managed to get someone down to Helen’s house to secure it overnight. As expected, there was nobody at the scene to apprehend.
They sat in his lounge and relived the events of the evening. ‘Those articles of yours really upset someone,’ he said. ‘They may have looked like young thugs but you were targeted. They were let off their leash by Jimmy McCree.’
‘Or someone who asked him to do it.’
‘Is there anybody you haven’t fallen out with?’ he asked.
‘No one that matters.’ She drank her bottle of beer far more quickly than usual then said, ‘I’m really tired for some reason. Thanks for letting me use your spare bed.’
‘I don’t have a spare bed.’ And he was amused by the look of panic on her face. ‘Don’t worry, you can have mine. I’ll take the sofa.’
‘Have you got any blankets?’
‘Don’t need them,’ he said. ‘I’ll be fine. Haven’t you ever slept on a sofa after a party?’
‘No,’ she admitted.
‘I have,’ he said, ‘loads of times.’ Though not for years, he thought. ‘Go on. Get some sleep. Things always seem better in the morning.’
‘I feel terrible, taking your bed.’
‘It’s no bother.’
They said goodnight a little stiffly and Helen went up the stairs. She sat on the double bed in Tom’s room and was about to get undressed when she heard the stairs creak and the unmistakable sound of footsteps coming up them. She instinctively froze.
There was a soft knock on the door. ‘Yes,’ she said.
‘Can I come in?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ she repeated unsurely.
Tom opened the door and went to a chest of drawers, opened it and pulled out two T-shirts then handed one to her. ‘Thought you might need something to sleep in,’ he said, ‘and there’s clean towels in the airing cupboard.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Night-night pet.’ And he left her to it.
Helen immediately felt guilty because she had automatically assumed he was going to climb into bed with her, but she should have known Tom wasn’t like that. She felt even worse because of the slight thrill of anticipation that thought had given her.