The Payback by Simon Kernick Read Free Book Online Page B

gesture.
    He’d followed her into the kitchen, put his arms round her waist, and pulled her to him.
    They’d kissed. Hard. The first kiss she’d experienced since a fumbled one-night stand in Costa Rica the previous summer. And though she’d pulled away and protested, the weakness in her tone was obvious, because he’d kissed her again, and this time she hadn’t pulled away. They’d made love on her living-room floor, and it had been everything lovemaking should be: intense, passionate, noisy.
    Afterwards, she’d felt horrendously guilty. She’d never met Penny’s family but knew full well what damage she must be inflicting on his relationship with his wife, even if he had been the instigator. And the thing was, she couldn’t even blame the booze. She’d done it all of her own accord.
    She’d tried to draw a line under what had happened. Told him that it couldn’t happen again. Yet it had. On far too many occasions. So many that it had soon become the reason for their meetings, and the ongoing investigation into Paul Wise had taken a back seat, something that nagged at her even more. She reallyliked Nick Penny, far more than she’d expected. Although he was in turmoil in his personal life, he wasn’t needy, could still make her laugh, and remained driven by his convictions. But she knew it couldn’t last and that one day, probably sooner rather than later, it would end in tears and recriminations. So she’d called it off. He’d begged her to reconsider, but she’d been adamant. It had to end. For the good of both of them, and the good of their case against Wise. Eventually he had accepted the inevitable, and promised to call her only when he had further information.
    They’d spoken only once since then, the previous Thursday. He’d told her he missed her and asked if she’d reconsider her decision, but had seemed fine enough when she’d said no. There had been no sign of any deep depression that might have ended in suicide. As she’d told DS Weale, Nick just didn’t seem to be that kind of guy. There had still been too much life in him, even given the knocks he’d taken, for him ever to have considered ending it all. It was one of the reasons she’d found him so attractive.
    And now he was dead. Just another name in a growing list of dead people who’d become close to Tina. Her partner in CID, DI Simon Barron, stabbed to death more than six years ago now. Then her lover, John Gallan, an apparent suicide that she knew was the work of one of Paul Wise’s henchmen. Back then, people at work had started calling her the Black Widow – a moniker that would probably have faded if it hadn’t been for the death a few years after that of her boss in CMIT, DCI Dougie MacLeod. He’d been murdered during a case Tina had been heavily involved in, and once again she’d become the Black Widow, this time in the media. God knows what everyone would make of this latest death.
    She knew it would take all her self-discipline not to fall off the wagon this time. Given that she had a high-profile history withthe media, her relationship with Nick was almost certainly going to be made public, which would mean lurid headlines; the wrath of Nick’s wife; embarrassment and wisecracks at work. The next few days were going to be tough.
    To try to head things off as best she could, Tina had called the station as soon as she’d finished with Weale and spoken to her new DCI, Bob Levine. Levine was a solid enough copper, and was regarded fairly neutrally by those under him, but like a lot of the older male police officers he’d always been wary of her, and Tina knew that he’d have preferred it if she hadn’t been part of his squad. She’d told him what had happened, not leaving out any details, knowing that they’d come to light anyway, and unsurprisingly, he’d been furious. Not so much with the fact that she’d had an affair with Nick, but more with the fact that she’d remained involved in an unofficial attempt