Evil for Evil by Aline Templeton Read Free Book Online Page A

extraordinary!’ she said at last. ‘I’m off-duty today – get DS MacNee down there to check it out, and report to me. I’m going to Glasgow but I should be back late afternoon and I’ll call in then. Doesn’t sound as if there’s much urgency about this one.’
     
    Eddie Tindall was always at his desk by seven-thirty in the office which was the hub of his extensive motor trade business, with branches right across the Midlands. Saturday was always a busy day, and his PA came in at nine.
    Marianne Price had been with him twenty years, a small, tough Scouser with a bright-red frizz of hair and a penchant for tight skirts and stilettos. She was competent, discreet and utterly loyal, though she’d made it plain her loyalty was sorely tried in relation to his second wife. Discouraged perhaps by chilly courtesy, Elena almost never came to the office and he was surprised now when Marianne announced she was there.
    ‘I’ll show her in, shall I?’ she said.
    Eddie jumped to his feet. ‘I’ll come. Didn’t know she knew nine o’clock even existed.’
    He laughed, and Marianne gave a thin smile as he hurried pasther. He felt, as he always did, a little thrill of pleasure when his wife appeared unexpectedly, but anything unusual was enough to make him worry too.
    Elena was standing in reception beside the red plastic bench seating and the coffee table covered with brochures and slightly dog-eared motor magazines, tall and elegant in a navy linen shift dress with a jade cashmere cardigan draped over her shoulders and lots of chunky gold costume jewellery. She looked exotic and seriously out of place.
    Eddie came over to kiss her. ‘Nice surprise. Got a busy day, doll?’
    She smiled at him. ‘Just a plan. Thought I’d take off for a bit of me-time, if that’s all right.’
    ‘Of course,’ he said instantly. ‘Need any money?’
    Elena shook her head. ‘I’m fine. You really are a sweetie, Eddie. I’ll be in touch.’
    ‘You do that, my love. Have a good time. Take care.’ He took her in his arms and she allowed herself to be kissed.
    As she left and Eddie headed back to his office, Marianne’s mouth twisted into a cat’s bum of disapproval. She hated seeing him jerked around by that little slut.
     
    Eddie didn’t settle straight back to work. He hadn’t asked where Elena was going – he never did. Not after that first time, when she had burst out that if their relationship was to continue, sometimes she just needed space, without accounting for herself to anyone. At first he’d wondered about a lover; if that was her price he’d put up with it, as long as she came back afterwards.
    But if he didn’t ask, he always knew. She probably hadn’t thought of it, bless her, but paying her credit card bill told him what she’d done – a stay at a spa hotel, a few days in London perhaps. The other expenses would be shopping or theatre or meals for one person. He’drelaxed long ago. If she needed to feel a free spirit, fine – just as long as he knew exactly where she was and what she was doing.
    But Eddie still craved reassurance. Now, he phoned to ask for the statement, but this time there was no reservation deposit. She didn’t usually go on spec. Frowning, he called up their joint bank account, but Elena only ever used it for ATM withdrawals – two hundred pounds every few days, the last two days ago. He clicked it off, disappointed. He’d just have to wait to follow her trail, then – it wouldn’t be long.
    But there was that niggle at the back of his mind: the way she had looked last night. He could always tell when she was stressing, even when he’d no idea why, and where Elena was concerned anything out of the ordinary set his nerves on edge.
     
    ‘Where?’ DS MacNee said. ‘Never heard of it.’
    He jotted down location and details from the officer in Kirkcudbright, put down the phone with a groan then checked on the huge Ordnance Survey map on one wall.
    He was alone in the CID room.