Chapter Six
APRIL 2007
"So, where are you going now?"
I felt an arm sling around my shoulders and looked over to see Paul walking casually next to me, sunglasses on and his ever present smirk stretched across his face. Although he could pull it off, he really needed to shave.
"Where do you think? I'm going to my car, and driving home. Everybody's doing it," I replied sarcastically.
He slowed the pace by tensing his arm. "What do you think?"
"About what?"
"The task force, babe. Is it all you've ever wanted?"
I had never had more fun in my life, but I wasn't about to tell him that. I ducked out from under his arm and leant up against the car, searching for the keys in my bag. "It was fine. What I expected. You want me to kiss your shoes or something now, in thanks? Is that it?"
He had that look I knew well, and I knew what he was going to say before he said it. I gave him a warning look, which he ignored. He leant in a little.
"You could kiss something other than my shoes, I wouldn't mind."
Ignoring his words, I said, "Give my greetings to your girlfriend, Maria," and sat in the car, slamming the door.
"Marcia," he mouthed through the rolled-up window.
I started the engine. Clutching the steering wheel with one hand, I waggled my fingers at him and sped away.
Dominic was late, this time. The place we had chosen to meet at was a cute Japanese restaurant, and they had some tables outside lining the side of the street. I chose one of these and settled in, ordering something to drink and perusing the menu.
I was just starting to seriously consider calling Dominic when I saw him walking down the road towards me. He looked a little agitated, if the expression on his face was anything to go by. He kept rubbing the top of his head. He smiled when he saw me sitting there, and I raised a little to kiss him on the cheek when he arrived.
"How are you?" he asked as he sat down. He grabbed the menu from in front of me.
I smiled. "I'm good." If I had of had a normal job, I would have been able to tell him about my day. But my job wasn't normal. Besides, of all the conversations we've ever had, work very rarely came up. He didn't seem to be a big fan of his job, because he never seemed to mention it. "Bad day?"
He was rubbing his hand over his mouth, and he glanced at me over the top of the menu. "That obvious?"
"Immensely."
He sighed and leant back in his chair, his hands going to the top of his head. He always kept his hair cut really short so he didn't have to mess with it. Unlike Paul, he didn't really care about the way he looked much, and he only looked in the mirror in the morning to shave and make sure there wasn't any toothpaste around his mouth.
"It's nothing really big; I just have a company being difficult." Dominic was a contractor, the middle man that made things happen.
"Will everything be okay?"
Dominic just nodded, and flagged down the waiter.
We had met each other at this particular restaurant, both victims of friends that never show up on time. We'd been waiting for tables, and started talking to pass the time. He'd left with my number; something about him had drawn me to him. He was so assured of who he was but didn't have the overpowering arrogance that came with it like Paul did. We'd been dating casually for about two months, and it was comfortable. But I was comfortable with comfortable, at least for now.
Though I had to admit, ever since I'd gotten my new job topics of conversation had been harder and harder to come by.
Dominic was debating with the waiter over one of the specials when my phone rang. It was Paul.
I saw Dominic's eyes dart down to my phone and he finished with the waiter, screwing up his face.
"What does he want?"
I bit my lip and shrugged. "I have no idea, I won't be a moment."
He looked like he was about to object but I stood up, taking the phone with me and walking to the corner.
"What's up?" I said once I'd answered.
Paul sounded like he was shuffling papers around. "Just giving you a heads up, we'll have a new case soon."
I toed a pebble on the pavement with one of my heels. "You had to call me now just to tell me that?"
"It's huge. Like I said, just giving you the heads up."
"Erm. Thanks." I hung up, feeling like I had just wasted two minutes of my life. I returned to the table. Dominic looked even more annoyed than he had a few moments ago.
"What's wrong?" I asked, even though "what's up your ass?" would have been more suitable for this occasion.
"It's like he knows you are with me or something. Shit."
I frowned and put my phone back in my bag. "Calm down, Dom. It was just about work."
He was fiddling with the cutlery in front of him, not making eye contact. "He just always seems to interrupt us."
I was about to object, then I thought about it. Dominic was right—the last three times I had been with him, Paul had called during every single one of them. I hadn't paid it any mind, but obviously Dominic had.
"Look-" the waiter then arrived, and set our drinks down. I kept silent until she left, then continued. "Paul has always been a part of my life. He's a giant pain in my ass, but we work together now so I can't really avoid him."
"I just don't like him." The one time Dominic and Paul had met, it had gone about as well as all my previous boyfriends had gone meeting Paul.
Not very well at all.
"Not too many people do."
"You do."
I took a sip of my drink and gave Dominic a yeah-yeah-right look. "Not really."
Dominic raised his eyebrows. I rolled my eyes.
"Like I said, I grew up with him. I've developed a resistance to him, just like Egyptians do with the Nile when they drink it from birth. Or something. Anyway, why are we talking about Paul?"
He shrugged. I tried to change the subject, but Dominic's mood had been broken, and the rest of our dinner was stilted. We were just about to order dessert when my phone rang again.
"Oh, just answer it," Dominic said, sounding like a petulant child.
So I did.
"Susannah Simon?" came a crisp voice I didn't fully recognise from the other end.
"Yes?"
"We need you to come in."
I frowned. "Pardon?"
There was a frosty silence. "Miss Simon, part of your agreement to join this task force was to be available at all times. I trust you remember."
Ah. Nicola. I should have known.
"I'll be right there," I settled for saying, just so I could escape her wrath. I hadn't seen her smile once since I had started at the task force.
Having to leave only pissed Dominic off even more. I didn't know what to do to make the situation better, so I simply left.
"Ah, Miss Simon, glad you could join us," Nicola said stiffly as I settled into place. I looked around at the faces of every other person in my sector of the force. I gulped. "Next time I call you, make sure you don't take thirty minutes to show up."
I wanted a hole to just open up beneath me, but it didn't happen, so I took out my laptop and pretended to look interested at the blank screen.
"Earlier this afternoon," Derek announced, as Nicola sat down, "we were given a new case the police have hit a dead end on: the brutal murder of Amelia Watkins, discovered decapitated in a field on the outskirts of the city." I frowned, a memory tickling the back of my mind. Amelia Watkins. That name meant something to me. "Sixteen, red hair, blue eyes, five foot six…and lived on a farm, if this report is anything to go by."
Suddenly it clicked. "This case is only two months old."
Derek raised his eyes. "You know this woman?" he asked. I shook my head.
"No. I wrote this report. The police were following a lead at the time."
Derek shook his head, and gestured to Nicola to pass around the folders sitting in front of her. "Dead end, literally. The only person they could connect as a suspect had already been declared dead for four months."
Tony, who had been sitting quietly next to Derek, took over. "It's our turn. The police have run out of leads, but we haven't exercised all our avenues. See if you can discover something they may have overlooked—we want to crack this as soon as possible."
I could feel Paul's eyes on me from across the table. He had his eyebrow raised, and was looking at me expectantly. Obviously this was the case he called me about…but why had he?
It became apparent I wasn't going to find out that night, either. He took off as soon as the meeting was over, before most of us had even left the building.
"That's it?" I exclaimed to Vicki as we walked into the car park for the second time that day. "That's what they called us in so late to tell us? They couldn't wait a night?"
"That's how things are done around here," she answered, as if she could think of nothing better to do with her time than spend it at work after hours. "They prefer to get to the bottom of things straight away. Anyway, I'm going back to my Charmed marathon. What about you?"
Salvage my current relationship. "Probably sleep."
But by the time I got home, I wasn't in the mood for salvaging or sleeping. I was strangely energised. I sat on the couch and searched Amelia Watkins through the news database, trying to come up with information I could actually use, like articles or police reports. The results I did come up with, like fan pages for some American actress, or multi-million dollar heiress didn't help much, but I wasn't swayed. There were still plenty of other options for a person like me.
A chill ran down my spine that had nothing to do with the temperature. It meant something else entirely.
Paul had always been the one who had been able to manipulate ghosts. He'd call for them, and they would appear. Infuriatingly, they very rarely did the same for me.
I gauged my chances and called her name. Ninety percent of the time, victims of a murder hung around in this dimension, waiting for 'judgement day', or so they say. Was Amelia one of them?
I was given my answer when, a few seconds later, a short red head appeared behind me, next to the couch.
She narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"
I smiled politely. "Hi. My name is Suze, and I need your help."
