Cold Revenge (2015) by Alex Howard Read Free Book Online Page B

Momentarily, Hanlon wondered if the two of them had some kind of history together. It was that kind of look, enraged familiarity with a hint of carnality. Stephen took a mouthful of Peroni beer and shook his head. ‘What a bitch.’ he said quietly for Hanlon’s ears only. ‘The trading floor! Will you listen to the woman.’ He mimicked her voice. ‘Rustle up some food.’
    ‘You two don’t much like each other then,’ said Hanlon. He took another mouthful of beer and shook his head.
    ‘No,’ said Michaels, ‘I think she’s a snob. Maybe it’s because she’s a teacher at some exclusive girls’ school and she looks down her nose at me. I do, let’s not forget, work in a kitchen. I’m one of the hoi polloi.’ He laughed easily but there was an edge to it. ‘Let’s put it this way, Hannah was not the only sex-obsessed one around here. Or who reputedly swings both ways.’
    ‘Oh,’ said Hanlon. It was surprisingly easy to imagine Jessica McIntyre as sexually rapacious.
    They sat together in a companionable silence for a while and then Michaels asked her some easy-to-answer questions about her work, more out of politeness than interest. Hanlon asked him about his. He was in charge of supervising the banqueting and canteen chefs, and worked with the head chef on the fine-dining evenings. Hanlon wasn’t paying much attention either. Nothing about food, other than its dietary value, interested her. She particularly disliked cookery programmes and people who described themselves as ‘foodies’. She had her own descriptive words for them.
    She let him go on, until finally she got the chance to ask, ‘What do you think of Fuller?’
    ‘Well,’ said Michaels, ‘he’s good at his job and that’s the main thing, but I think he’s a creep personally and if I was a woman I wouldn’t want to be alone in the same room as him.’
    ‘Why’s that then?’ asked Hanlon, with feigned, lazy curiosity.
    Michaels said offhandedly, ‘Hannah mentioned once or twice that he belonged to some kind of weird bondage club that he went to on a Thursday evening. I don’t think it’s the kind of club that specializes in middle-age swingers. Hannah said it was hard-core. Jessica McIntyre may say it’s a load of old hooey but if you ask me, Fuller looks like just the sort of sad-sack pervert who’d be into that kind of thing. I mean, I’m all in favour of live and let live and God alone knows, I’ve met enough weirdos in kitchens in my time, but who cares what a chef gets up to, it’s not relevant, unless it becomes a hygiene issue, but I think there should be standards for teachers. It’s a position of responsibility and it’s open to abuse.’
    He drained the bottle of Peroni and stood up.
    ‘Not that anyone gives a monkey’s what I think, particularly not Dame Elizabeth. She’s full of the rights of man, but try getting a pay rise for you and your staff and it’s a different standard altogether.’ He grinned and shook his head ruefully. ‘Anyway,’ he said, ‘I’ll be off.’ He yawned. ‘I’ve got a canapé party for fifty members of the philosophy faculty to prepare for tomorrow, I’d better go.’
    Hanlon watched him walk out of the pub with a long-legged easy grace. His jacket was closely tailored and Hanlon could see that he had an excellent figure. She wondered why he disliked Fuller quite so much. Maybe it was simply a reaction to Jessica’s endorsement of the man but she felt there was more to it than that. There was a real undercurrent of hostility in his voice.
    She shook her head and gently ran a finger along the ridge of scar tissue under her thick hair. It was where she’d had the skin split open a few months ago when she’d been knocked unconscious. She found herself touching the healed wound whenever she was deep in thought. She had also managed to get her friend and partner Whiteside shot in the head and Enver Demirel nearly killed.
    She smiled bitterly to herself. At least during this