Bitter Fruits: DI Erica Martin Book 1 (Erica Martin Thriller) by Alice Clark-Platts Read Free Book Online

slightly offputting. She had met Emily at the hockey club, where they had both qualified for Durham’s third team. Emily was bedazzled by this. ‘The
thirds
!’ she had exclaimed to me. ‘And I’m only a Fresher!’ Annabel was also a Fresher, at Keats. I had seen the two of them walking arm in arm around the hockey field like excitable rabbits, practically bouncing on their heels with joy at being allowed into this exclusive club.
    Annabel lived in a house with another girl called Cat and two mysterious boys who I never saw in person but who were represented throughout the house by the largest shoes I had ever seen outside of a circus. Annabel was delighted to have been placed in one of the houses Keats owned in the city of Durham itself, as opposed to rooms in the college building. ‘You can get more in with the living-out set,’ she had confusingly relayed when the three of us had gone for a drink at the pub at the bottom of her road. ‘Youknow, the second and third years,’ she had explained in response to my perplexed expression as to what this ‘living-out set’ consisted of.
    The pub was tiny, not much more than a single room with a burning log fire and a world-weary landlord who tolerated the money of the students but would never warm to them. I sat with my back to the fire. It was a Sunday night, always quiet in Durham, the clubs shut, the pubs closing early, everyone steeling themselves for the week ahead of more drinking and revelry. I had an essay due the following morning on
The Wings of a Dove
. I had laboured over it for the whole of the previous week and was now even more fed up to the back teeth of James. I had called Emily on the off chance she felt like a drink and she had invited me along to meet up with Annabel. I suspected this friendship was as much based on Emily’s good looks – and how Annabel could use those to her advantage in meeting the right type of people – as it was based on their love of hockey. Both girls drank vodka and soda – the most slimming drink, according to Emily. I had my usual Guinness. They were in raptures this evening about the possibility of a hockey social later on in the month.
    ‘It’ll probably be at The Sun,’ Annabel said knowingly.
    The Sun was a large pub in the middle of the city which had a boutique hotel attached to it. This wasthe favoured choice of residence for parents coming to stay in Durham in order to celebrate graduation, and the venue had a sort of panache for that reason.
    ‘The last social was held there, Shorty told me. It was
wild
,’ Annabel laughed.
    Emily sipped her drink. ‘Do we take dates?’ she asked. ‘Or is it just each man for himself? So to speak …’
    ‘The latter, I think,’ replied Annabel. ‘We can go together, no?’
    Emily nodded eagerly. ‘Of course.’ Then she looked at me, slightly uncomfortable. ‘Um, I hope …’
    ‘Oh, don’t mind me,’ I came to her rescue. ‘Couldn’t imagine anything worse than standing round all evening getting drunk with a bunch of hockey players.’
    This may have come out harsher than I intended, as both girls looked slightly uncertain as to whether my judgement painted them in a negative light.
    ‘What I mean is,’ I said somewhat more pleasantly, ‘I’m not offended in the slightest that you don’t want me as your date to this auspicious occasion. I will just wish you a great evening and look forward to the gossip.’ I appeared to be turning into some sort of camp agony aunt. I swallowed my pint loudly in an attempt to appear more manly. ‘Who wants another? My round.’
    They acquiesced, and the evening wore on. Thelandlord eventually rang the bell for time, and we three stood, hefting our thick coats on over our shoulders. As we walked out of the door, the wind bit into our faces, and the girls involuntarily turned towards me, to shelter. This was more like it, I thought, floating my hand behind their backs, guiding them down the street. We walked Annabel to