only called round to arrange a meeting for tomorrow."
Giving up, Carol drove home. The flat was empty. Michael, she remembered, was out to dinner with some woman he'd met at a trade fair. She decided to give up on the world and go to bed. But first, she'd better leave a message on Tony's machine. If she turned up two mornings running without warning, he might start to get twitchy. The answering machine checked in after a couple of rings, but there was no outgoing message, just a series of clicks followed by the tone.
"Hi, Tony," she said.
"I don't know if your machine's working properly, so I don't know if you'll get this message. It's twenty past nine, and I'm about to have an early night. I'll be in the office first thing, working on the computer supplies stuff. Mr Brandon's called a case conference for tomorrow at three. If you want to get together before then, give me a call. I'll be in the HOLMES room if I'm not in the squad room."
Sitting down with Nelson on her lap and a stiff drink by her side, Carol thought about the job that lay ahead. The list of computer supplies companies who sold the peripherals and hardware Handy Andy would need to construct his own images was depressingly long. She had told Dave not to start work on it until she'd had a chance to check out the software company. Their list of customers would be shorter, and they would have the Discovery to cross-reference that list with.
Only if that came up blank would she set Dave's team loose on the dozens of numbers she'd painstakingly compiled that evening.
"We'll get there, Nelson," she told the cat.
"It just better be worth the trip."
The clatter of high heels on stone cut through the delirium of pain like a wire through cheese. So everyday a sound, translated by its location into a threat. He had no idea whether it was day or night, or how long had passed since he had been snatched from his life. Tony forced himself into alertness as the sound approached him from behind. She was coming downstairs. At the foot of the stairs, the clicking ended. He heard a low chuckle. Slowly, one step at a time, the footsteps crossed behind him. He could sense the scrutiny he was under.
She took her time, skirting round his trussed body until she moved into his line of vision. Tony was momentarily taken aback by the magnificence of her body. From the neck down, she could have been a model for a soft-porn magazine. She stood with legs apart, arms akimbo. She wore a loose red silk kimono, which fell open to reveal an extraordinary red leather basque with peephole nipples and a split crotch. Black stockings sheathed shapely, muscular legs which ended in black stilettoes. Even under the kimono, he could see the clear outline of strong, well-muscled arms and shoulders. From where he was hanging, she was as erotic as a kaolin poultice.
"Worked it out yet, Anthony?" she drawled, the warmth of suppressed laughter evident in her voice.
The stressing of his full name was the last turn in the Rubik's cube of his memory. His mind racing. Tony said, "I suppose a couple of paracetamol would be out of the question, Angelica?"
The low chuckle again.
"Glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humour."
"No, only my dignity. I wasn't expecting this, Angelica. Nothing in our phone conversations led me to imagine this is what you had in mind for me."
"You had no idea who I was, did you?" Angelica said, pride unmistakable in her tones.
"Yes and no. I didn't know you were the person who killed those men.
But I did know you were the woman for me. "
Angelica frowned, as if uncertain how to respond. She turned away and checked the cam corder
"You took long enough to get that far. Do you have any idea how many times you slammed the phone down on me?" Her voice was angry, not hurt.
Tony sensed the danger and tried to find emollient words.
"That was because I had a problem, not because of you."
"You had a problem with me," she said, moving over to the stone benches that ran along one wall. She picked up another cassette and walked back to the camera.
Tony tried again.
"Quite the opposite," he said.
"I've always had trouble with relationships with women. That's why I didn't know how to treat you in the beginning. But it got so much