The Coercion Key by Catriona King Read Free Book Online

a lot. It was their drive. Intelligence and drive; it was a very sexy combination. He just wished he could find a woman with those qualities who wanted to live in Belfast, like John had managed to with Natalie.
    Craig wallowed in self-pity for a moment longer then kicked himself up the ass and surfed the channels until he found a football match to watch. As he stared at the screen half-dozing, the image of a woman’s face floated into his mind and he smiled, realising that he might already know the answer to his prayers.

Chapter Five
     
    Victoria Linton threw her briefcase in the corner of her large open-plan living room then rifled through her handbag for the padded envelope she’d opened earlier that day. She poured a large glass of Merlot and sat down on a leather couch with her laptop on her knee, turning the key over in her hand. She stared at it for a moment, wondering again who it was from. ‘I am from the past’, that was what the note had said. She snorted with laughter thinking of her exes throughout the years.
    It was far too cryptic for Nathan; he’d been a concrete thinker. Correction, a leaden thinker. Nathan had thought creativity was something that should be vaccinated against. And as far as Robin was concerned, the idea of doing something as romantic as sending a key would have brought him out in hives. She reached up and loosened her chignon, letting her dark curls fall down her back. What about Julian? She imagined her impoverished partner being able to afford a platinum key and dismissed the idea instantly. And Julian wasn’t in her past yet. As soon as the idea occurred to her she shuddered, pushing it away. Julian Mooney was staying in her life regardless of what her family would think.
    Victoria stopped speculating and took another gulp of wine. Whoever had sent it, the key would reveal them once she inserted the USB. She deposited her wine glass carefully on a side table, ensuring that she placed a coaster underneath, and pulled off the memory stick’s valuable outer casing, inserting it into her laptop. She watched while the computer scanned for viruses and when it was sure there were no contaminants she clicked to open the USB and reveal what lay inside.
    Her eyes fell on a file with the title ‘Your future’ and she felt a bubble of excitement rise. This was it. Someone who had worshipped her from a distance was about to declare their love and whisk her away from her mundane life. She’d daydreamed about it of course, just as every woman had, but it was actually happening to her because she was special. She had no idea just how special. As Victoria Linton clicked open the file she had no idea that her life was about to change for good.
    ***
    Tuesday, 4 a.m.
     
    Craig was woken by the sound of a mobile phone ringing somewhere in his dream. As his dream was set in Rome during July he wasn’t amused to wake up and find he was actually in a freezing spring in Belfast. He grabbed the handset grumpily and banged it on.
    “Yes?”
    Craig’s voice was hoarse and if he sounded angry it was because he was. He’d glimpsed the time on the screen as he’d answered. Four a.m. someone had better have a damn good reason for phoning him in the middle of the night. It was John Winter and he had.
    “There’s been another one, Marc. In the next block along the river to yours.”
    Craig was confused. One minute ago he’d been in Rome, strolling through the Piazza Navona with an attractive blonde on his arm, and now this. Either the booze had finally got to him or there’d been another death. He sat up quickly, throwing his feet onto his bedroom’s wooden floor, then he raked his hair ruthlessly, trying to wake himself up.
    “OK. Give me that again, John. What, who and where?”
    “Another death; apparently suicide. A barrister called Victoria Linton. She lives in Stranmillis Quay.”
    He was right. It was the next block along. Craig dragged a jumper and his jeans from a nearby chair and pulled