The World According to Vince - Jane Harvey-Berrick Page 0,3
layers one at a time, until I was taken to meet my ‘client’ in an airless, windowless room, furnished with a table and two chairs bolted to the floor.
Vince swaggered into the room escorted by a woman police officer whose happy demeanor and flirty smile seemed at odds with the whole, bizarre situation.
The other surprising thing was that Vince wore a well-cut suit and crisp white shirt, both of which were now covered in dog hair and paw marks.
“Gracie!” shouted Vince, crushing me in a huge bear-hug. “You came!”
“Good luck with that one!” laughed the police officer, and she left the room, shaking her head.
“Hmpfh!” I groaned in a muffled voice, trying to free myself from Vince’s iron grip. “Put me down! Now!”
I’d learned that Vince responded best if you spoke to him like his dogs—with clear commands in short sentences.
He beamed at me. “You look nice. Your cheeks are all pink—it suits you.”
I ignored his comment, grit my teeth, then pulled out a notepad and pencil from my briefcase.
“Why don’t you start at the beginning?”
Vince
She’d come! Gracie had come! I couldn’t believe me fookin’ luck! I’d been certain she’d have phoned Rick and sent him instead. He was me best mate, but he weren’t no lawyer. And I’d got meself in a right pile of shite this time. Even with a couple of sexy birds arresting me, I hadn’t been able to talk my way out of this one.
But there she sat, in the middle of the night, cool as a cucumber, her soft hazel eyes trying to look annoyed. But she wasn’t fooling me.
Grace cared. I knew that she tried very hard to hide that fact at the firm of sharks where she worked, but she couldn’t hide it from her friends.
I reached across the table and held her hand.
“How are me dogs?”
She gave a small, reluctant smile as she tugged her hand free.
“Well, they’d all been very good—no accidents—but they were busting to go out. Tap came straight back in, but Zeus and Tyson had a good snuffle around outside. I, um, gave them a Milk-Bone each, I hope that’s okay? I wasn’t sure if they had allergies or anything. And I refilled the water bowl.”
She looked so worried and anxious that I wanted to kiss a smile right back onto her pretty lips, but I knew that would just earn me a slap—which wouldn’t be the first time. No one kissed Gracie without her permission.
“They’re good dogs,” I nodded. “How was Tap?”
All three were rescue dogs and I loved them, but Tap was special. I’d found her wandering around a building site when I’d been on a photoshoot in Dubai. Her back left leg had a huge, manky cut and I could tell that she was in a lot of pain. So I’d tempted her out with a few veggie crisps and took her to a local vet. He couldn’t save the leg and it took me four months to sort the paperwork to bring her home. She got nervous if I left her alone too long, but had the sweetest temperament. She liked to tap me with her front paw when she wanted a cuddle, which is how she got her name from. She was my special girl.
Gracie’s smile faded. “Tap was more anxious than the others. I felt really bad leaving her again. But I’ll drop in on my way to work in the morning and feed them—just tell me what they eat.”
I gave her a puzzled look. “That’s alright, Gracie, I’ll do that meself.”
She gave her trademark irritated stare.
“Vincent,” she said slowly and clearly like I was five years old. “Vincent, you’ve been charged with two felonies—there’s a very real chance that the prosecutor will push for prison time. The only place you’ll be going right now is to your arraignment, and they might not even post bail because you’re a Brit and potentially a flight risk. At the very least, you’ll have to surrender your passport.”
I leaned back in my chair, frowning. “So, the police are a bit upset with me?”
She rubbed her forehead. “Yes, Vincent. The police are upset with you. So is the director of the animal shelter.” She glared at me and tapped her pencil against her blank notepad. “Now then, just so tonight isn’t a complete waste of my time, why don’t you tell me exactly what happened when you left your apartment this evening? Don’t leave out anything.”