Catching the Ice Queen Page 11

  ‘I’d better go. You need to rest.’ She smiled, and stepped through the front door, clicking it quietly shut after her.

  Robin sank down and sat on the bottom of the stairs, her breathing ragged. ‘Bloody hell,’ she said.

  Chapter 11

  With so much on her mind Robin had half-assumed that she wouldn’t be able to sleep, but the concussion had other plans and she crashed out for ten straight hours. In the morning she lay in her bed and watched the sunlight on the ceiling, her permanent headache for once a mere background hum. Inevitably, her thoughts swivelled immediately to Lara and to the kiss that she could still feel on her lips like a brand. There was no doubt what her body thought about it: the chemistry of that moment was wildfire rushing through her veins. When they were together Robin knew that her willpower to resist the blonde Valkyrie was rapidly disappearing, but apart she had enough distance to recognise that this was not situation normal.

  She wouldn’t have thought that a covert relationship would be her style, God forbid being the secret lover of a senior officer. Am I crazy? she wondered, but even as she asked herself the question she knew that the moment to pull back had already passed, and it was now too late to retreat to safety. And truthfully she didn’t want to; she was hooked by the real woman who sheltered beneath that icy mask, the woman whose eyes crinkled with pleasure when they saw Robin, and whose hands were smooth and strong, and whose lips were the softest she’d ever known. She could imagine only too vividly what the rest of her body must be like – Robin shook herself, and went and had a cold shower.

  That afternoon she had an appointment with DS Hennessey, who had been charged with finding out what had derailed the operation to arrest Tony Philips. Walking through the police station doors she felt she’d been away for months, although it had only been a few days. It seemed strange, an alien place where she had no business anymore. There was no DS Bolton or DCI Goode as they were both still signed off sick, and when she raised a hand to Lydia on the forensic accounting team the woman merely stared. Maybe I really should get a new job, she thought.

  The interview didn’t last long, as Robin hadn’t been involved in any of the decision-making. She’d explained what she had seen, and as there were no follow up questions she rightly assumed that her viewpoint had tallied exactly with everyone else’s.

  ‘What do you think went wrong?’ Hennessey asked her.

  ‘Somebody tipped him off, and instead of doing a runner he decided to make a fight of it.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he nodded. ‘Still, he and his mates are now looking at some serious prison time for assault.’ At the price of a lot of broken bones and God knows what else, she thought, but didn’t say.

  Stepping back out into the bustle of the CID room Robin felt a tentative tap on her arm. She turned and saw Marti from admin standing at her side.

  ‘Hello, I thought I saw you,’ she smiled. ‘Are you alright? I heard you’d got concussion. That can be nasty.’

  Robin was touched that somebody had bothered to ask how she was. ‘It’s not too bad, docs think I should be right as rain in a few days.’

  ‘Good. Well, I won’t hold you up.’ Then the woman surprised her by saying: ‘Oh, by the way, did you ever get your flowers?’

  ‘What? What flowers?’

  ‘Interflora dropped off a huge bouquet for you yesterday. I assumed someone would have brought them round to your house.’ They moved towards the desk that Robin had been working at, and she could now see that a large and expensive bouquet was resting on the floor beside the chair.

  ‘Who on earth has sent me flowers?’ If it had been Lara then she’d have brought them last night, or perhaps that would have been too public? Well, she certainly wouldn’t have sent them to the office.

  Marti stooped down and picked up the arrangement, and Robin fished for the card.

  To the sexiest woman in the building, it read, from your admirer

  ‘Ooh! That sounds romantic!’ The little administrator clucked happily, unaware of the gloom that now swept over Robin. ‘Do you know who they’re from?’

  ‘Yeah,’ I wish I didn’t, but yeah. ‘Unfortunately it’s not somebody I want to be receiving presents from.’ She turned away from Marti’s disappointed face and looked for DS Hennessey. ‘Sarge,’ she called, ‘I think Sylvie Dean’s just sent me flowers.’

  It took several hours for the inevitable flap that followed to burn itself out. Robin was left feeling tired, depressed, and again under suspicion from colleagues, although fortunately the senior officers had accepted that she’d known nothing of the bouquet’s arrival.

  ‘Dean’s just doing it to jerk our chains,’ as DCI Meade had succinctly put it. And she succeeded, was Robin’s private response.

  She was too knackered to face the stairs (or, more honestly, she was too sensitive of the paranoid looks from any co-workers to use the stairs) and so pushed the button for the lift. She stepped in, still wrapped up in the unhappy turn of events, and only when the doors clicked shut did she realise that there was already somebody inside.

  ‘Hello, DC Sullivan,’ Lara Black smiled, prim and proper in her close-fitting dark uniform. Robin felt herself blush with excitement. We’re keeping this professional, are we? She tried to stop herself glancing up at the CCTV camera in the corner.

  ‘Good evening, ma’am.’ She was hyperaware of woman’s long, pale hands that last night – only last night! – had held her own. As if reading her mind, Lara casually stretched her fingers. Oh, you are bad. ‘Are you heading home now?’

  ‘Sadly no,’ the glint in those deep blue eyes was intoxicating, and Robin could feel her pulse begin to hammer. I just have to be near her and my body goes into overdrive. ‘I have a formal meeting with the Local Authority.’ And then, in the tiniest whisper that Robin almost couldn’t believe she heard, she said: ‘But I will be thinking about you.’

  Desire roared through Robin and she swallowed, and then the lift doors opened with a quiet ping and Lara Black stepped through and was gone. Talking a breath, Robin followed, just reaching the exit as Lara’s black Golf shot past. She walked slowly to her own car and climbed in, her head suddenly thumping as she tried to reconcile the dismal afternoon with that thirty second jolt of adrenaline – and other hormones. For a few minutes Robin just sat and watched the sour orange of the sodium lights fizzing in the damp seaside air, before giving herself a mental shake. She was finally moving out of Sue’s next week and needed to finish her packing. She had reached out a hand to turn on the ignition when her phone rang, ‘LB’ flashing up on the display.

  ‘Hello, Robin,’ God, that woman’s voice was so fucking sexy. ‘I thought I’d give you a call to say that I’m sorry we couldn’t really speak just now.’

  ‘That’s ok, I understand.’

  ‘I thought you looked a little downcast. Are you ok?’

  ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Turns out Sylvie Dean had sent me a big bunch of flowers, presumably to aid my recovery from the head injury dished out by one of her thugs.’ Robin laughed humourlessly. ‘You can imagine how that’s got the station’s tongues wagging.’

  ‘Bloody woman!’ Lara sounded really indignant, which made Robin smile. ‘She’s got a nerve!’ Jealous, much?

  ‘Anyway, it put a bit of a downer on coming back into the office, that’s all.’

  ‘Are you still thinking about leaving the force?’

  ‘Yeah, it’s starting to feel like a really good idea.’

  ‘But you…’ Suddenly the confident voice was hesitant, anxious. ‘You wouldn’t move away, would you? I mean, it’s obviously up to you but I’ve been looking forward to getting to know you much better.’

  ‘Me too.’ Robin pressed on, feeling daring. ‘Especially after last night.’

  ‘Especially after last night,’ Lara agreed, her voice deepening. She cleared her throat and continued in a lighter tone. ‘Anyway, I have to go into the meeting now and be charmed by balding councillo
rs who all think they are Don Juan.’

  Robin laughed. ‘Sounds horrible. Why not arrest a few? That’ll teach the rest of them to leave you alone.’

  ‘That’s a brilliant idea!’ Lara chuckled, ‘I’m sure that will go down a storm with the Chief Constable.’

  ‘Well, have a nice evening.’

  ‘You too. And Robin –‘

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Do you think you’d be free this weekend? I’ve got that surprise lined up for you.’

  ‘Really? You’ve actually arranged something? That’s so – amazing.’

  ‘I said I would. And I’ve been looking forward to it. Will you be around? And will you be feeling ok, do you think?’

  ‘You bet!’

  Lara laughed again. ‘Great! I’ll text you the details. But I have to go now, sorry.’

  ‘No problem, thanks for the call.’

  ‘You looked beautiful today, by the way.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Speak soon,’ and she was gone.

  Robin finally got the all-clear from the doctor late on Thursday afternoon, which lined up nicely for a full-day of extremely boring form-filling to satisfy the police’s occupational health department that she wasn’t about to drop dead, or – worse - sue them. Steeling herself slightly, she pushed open the doors to CID and went in search of DCI Goode, himself just back off the sick list.

  ‘Skull all good now, Tweets?’ he asked, his own arm still strapped tightly into a bright blue cast.

  ‘Good as it ever was, sir,’ they shared a rare smile. ‘Can I come back onto the Ice Queen enquiry?’

  Goode threw himself down into his sagging chair, which squeaked in protest. He regarded Robin thoughtfully. ‘Maybe. Although you’ve become a bit of a rock star on all these other cases. DCI Chatterjee was bending my ear about your hard work and intuition only the other day.’

  Robin gaped. ‘Seriously? I thought he barely knew what my name was.’

  ‘Eh, well, we all recognise a good copper when we see one.’

  She felt herself redden with pride. ‘Thanks, I really appreciate that.’

  ‘Well, don’t let it go to your head, or I’ll have to send a memo to DS Bolton to arrange some suitably humbling activities to put you back in your place.’ He considered a moment. ‘Although I’d have to be quick: his last day is next week.’

  ‘No! That soon?’

  Her boss shook his head. ‘Muriel’s not been doing so well.’ Robin’s heart sank at this news; she’d been hoping that the chemo had worked its toxic magic. ‘Bugger off now, Sullivan,’ the big man said at last, dragging over a huge pile of paperwork. ‘Go and have a good weekend and come back all singing and dancing on Monday.’

  ‘Right, will do, sir.’

  ‘And Robin – let your hair down a bit. Life’s too short, eh? Now get lost before I start coming out with any more platitudes.’

  She grinned, and closed the door quietly behind her.

  By nine o’clock on Saturday morning Robin had been up for hours. She just hadn’t been able to sleep ever since getting Lara’s text with the time, a postcode, and the enigmatic ‘wear something warm and sporty’. She’d opted for her cycling gear in the end, and now smoothed her fleecy top for the hundredth time as she waited at the beach-side car park her sat nav had decreed to be her final destination.

  A stiff wind was blowing off the sea, propelling huge white and grey clouds across the sky and whipping the waves up into peaks. This was a part of the coast that she hadn’t really explored, and she’d been surprised to see the bay’s crescent of yellow sand, unlike the mottled pebbles she had been expecting. She walked over to the little fence marking the edge of the dunes and looked out across the flat glinting expanse of low tide. A few hundred metres away a group of people appeared to be busy assembling wind surf rigs, and Robin watched with interest as they wrestled with what looked like sails in the gusty breeze. Behind her, she heard the crunch of tires on gravel and she turned to see Lara’s Golf pulling into the space next to her car.

  ‘I’m sorry I’m a bit late.’ Tall and clad in form-fitting leggings and jacket, the woman took Robin’s breath away. She couldn’t help a grin from bursting out onto her face and her heart thrilled to see an answering smile. The distance seemed to melt from between them and impulsively Robin pulled the taller woman into a hug. ‘Thank you for coming,’ said Lara into her ear.

  ‘Did you think I wouldn’t?’ Robin looked up at her in surprise. Nothing short of the apocalypse would have kept her away.

  Lara’s deep blue eyes flashed with that unexpected self-doubt. ‘Well, I didn’t want to presume.’

  Robin gently cupped her cheek. ‘Presume, presume hugely and with abandon. You want me to be somewhere and I’ll be there.’

  Surprise, delight, and then a sexy glint all took their turns in the steely gaze, culminating finally in a grin as Lara stepped back out of Robin’s arms and pointed out across the sand. ‘Come on,’ she said.

  They walked briskly over the green-spiked dunes and down onto the wide, flat beach. Despite Robin’s entreaties, the older woman refused to say another word but led them straight up to the group of people she’d watched at work – not on windsurfers, she now saw, but on kite buggies.

  A grizzled bloke with the craggy face of someone who was always outdoors greeted Lara with a smile and a handshake.

  ‘Nice to see you again, and your friend. I’m Dave.’

  ‘Er – I’m Robin,’ she said, shaking his hand in turn. ‘This looks amazing!’

  ‘Surprise, was it?’ He grinned at Lara’s embarrassed nod, and turned back to Robin. ‘Yep, they are the best fun! Have you done anything like this before?’ Quickly and efficiently he ran through a safety briefing and guide to steering, braking, and the dangers of rolling when cornering. And then Robin found herself buckling a crash helmet under her chin and sitting into the low buggy, its springy suspension dipping almost down to the sand as she adjusted her weight. Next to her, Lara was settling into her own cart with her usual grace, and grinned across.

  ‘Let’s fly!’ she said.

  Dave handed Robin the bar attached to the bucking sail and she was off. Her heart rushed into her mouth and the cool, salty air flooded her brain with exhilaration as she raced Lara down the beach. The packed sand rumbled smoothly under the wheels of the buggy and above her head the bright-banded kite soared against the blue and grey sky. At the end of the first run she was speechless with excitement, Lara laughing with unguarded joy at the sight of Robin’s dazed happiness. Then they were back in the buggies, adjusting for their opposite position relative to the kites, and flying across the open beach with startling speed. At each run Robin found herself more confident, stronger with her directions through her arms and legs, willing the little machine to run faster, faster until the sea was a greenish blur alongside her and she almost felt she was attached just to the kite and not to the ground at all.

  When Dave pulled her up and explained that her two hours was over, Robin didn’t believe him. Lara came across, grinning.

  ‘It can’t be two hours!’

  ‘It really is! We’ll have to come back another day.’

  ‘Yes!’

  Dave laughed at her enthusiastic reply and grinned at Lara as she handed over her helmet. ‘Sounds like your present was a success!’

  ‘It’s the best thing anyone has ever given me,’ said Robin, and impulsively threw her arm around her friend’s shoulders. ‘Thank you!’

  They walked slowly back up to the carpark, Robin’s legs now aching slightly from all the exercise.

  ‘Now you see why I had to wait for you to get over your concussion,’ Lara smiled.

  ‘It was worth it! Where has that been all my life? It makes cycling look tame.’

  ‘I know – I’ve always loved it.’ She flicked a glance across. ‘It was nice to be able to share it with somebody.’ Before her companion could reply Lara unlocked her car and grinned. ‘Now for present part two.’


  ‘What?’ Robin tried not to gaze at the sight of Lara’s smooth backside as she bent down and reached something out from the passenger seat. To her surprise she saw it was a big thermos. Lara unclipped the two cups and poured a thick, hot stream of chocolate into each one.

  ‘My granny’s recipe,’ she said, handing one across and smiling as Robin breathed in the wonderful scent and then took a gulp. ‘She was Belgian, so she knew her chocolate.’

  ‘Oh my God,’ Robin was almost speechless. ‘That is the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had.’ She drained the cup and ran her tongue around her mouth. Lara laughed happily, and Robin noticed her eyes lingering on her moistened lips before looking swiftly away. Don’t push her, she thought as she handed the cup back. ‘Your granny was Belgian? I would have thought she was Norwegian.’

  ‘My mother was Danish, so that’s where the blonde hair comes from.’ She replaced the thermos on the passenger seat and turned back.

  ‘The first time I saw you I thought you looked like a Norse goddess, come to slum it amongst us mere mortals.’

  ‘You’re hardly a mere mortal. The first time I saw you I couldn’t believe that such a stunning woman was just lurking amongst all those lumpen uniforms.’

  Robin flashed back to that embarrassing morning and blushed. ‘I was so mortified to be late.’

  ‘You were just making an entrance, that’s all.’ Lara reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind the other woman’s ear. ‘You certainly made an impact on me.’

  Robin felt her heart almost stop beating. Around them the cool sea breeze roared loudly in the empty car park. ‘I thought you hardly noticed me.’ Lara’s hand had fallen to rest on her shoulder, and now her own hands gently slid around the taller woman’s waist.

  ‘Didn’t notice you? I haven’t been able to take my eyes off you for months. You kept almost catching me staring.’

  ‘I can’t believe it! I thought, well, I thought you didn’t like me.’