embrace, Lena Forsyth and her stupid book were banished completely from her mind.
‘I’ve had dinner but there’s plenty left for you. Made that Sophie Dahl asparagus soup you like so much,’ she murmured. ‘And there’s some chilli as well. Just need to warm it up in the microwave.’
‘Ach, you spoil me, woman,’ Lorimer said, holding her still and stroking her hair gently. She felt his sigh against her body. Maybe he would tell her what had been happening in his world, maybe not. Maggie smiled to herself, leaning her head against her husband’s chest. He was home now and whatever lay outside could wait for tomorrow.
CHAPTER 17
Travelling by train at rush hour was not perhaps the most likely place to find love. It was certainly not what Barbara Knox was expecting to find that morning, looking through her copy of the Metro and glancing at her travelling companions. A middle-aged man directly across from her sat slumped in his corner next to the window, eyes half-closed, ears full of goodness only knew what sort of music from his iPod. Or was he listening to something work related? Barbara looked covertly at him again from the shelter of the sports pages. Nah, she told herself. Probably not music. Didn’t look the type, and wasn’t she always congratulating herself on being able to tell a person’s character from the little clues about their appearance? She smiled quietly to herself. Maybe that was an attribute she would bring to the team that Detective Superintendent Lorimer had asked her to join?
Barbara Knox felt a warm rush of pride as she remembered the article in the police magazine. The photo had been horrible, her face grinning out at the photographer from Pitt Street, but the feature itself had given her a glow of satisfaction as it outlined her short biography and the fact that she was to join this prestigious squad. And there would be new people there – people who might become friends, she thought, feeling a little wistful.
The squeal of brakes drowned out any further thought as the train slowed to a halt at one of the busier stations on the route into Glasgow, several of the passengers already on their feet, queuing to reach the doors. DC Barbara Knox gave a sigh and returned to her reading as the man with the MP3 player rose from his place and joined the others who were silently filing off the train. Barbara felt her coat being dragged slightly as he swept past so she rummaged into the pocket, her hand feeling her warrant card. She was pulling it out and trying to find an inside pocket in her jacket when more passengers began to enter the train. Mr MP3’s place was taken by an attractive dark-haired woman who sat down carefully as though she were taking special care not to disturb Barbara as she shuffled the card to a safer place. For the briefest of moments their eyes met and Barbara was surprised into giving one of her rare smiles. The other woman smiled back then turned away to look out of the window, as though suddenly shy of human contact.
But it was there, Barbara was sure of it, that little frisson of recognition, one girl to another. A surreptitious glance at the other woman’s ungloved fingers told Barbara what she had hoped to find out: no rings on the third finger of her left hand. Something caught at her throat as she continued to observe the woman and Barbara felt the familiar sense of excitement at anticipating a new conquest. She was undoubtedly a businesswoman; that much Barbara could tell from her thick black coat and expensive-looking leather boots, plus the well-groomed air that she had. It was classy, not overdone like one of these girls from the perfume counters, all blusher and false eyelashes, but subdued and elegant like the profile that was turned as if to let Barbara see just how exquisite she was.
The carriage was plunged into gloom as the train entered a tunnel and for a moment each woman gazed at the other in the reflection of the darkened window. This time the gaze was held and Barbara’s smile grew warmer.
As the train journeyed on through the approach to the city Barbara could see the woman’s smile still fixed on those reddened lips, lips that she suddenly yearned to kiss. She was, she was, she had to be, Barbara told herself, closing her eyes for a moment and imagining