Blood Falls by Tom Bale Page B

your behalf.’
    ‘I know that,’ Leon snapped. ‘But I got this journalist on me like a second skin.’
    ‘Of course, long-term his article could exacerbate the situation,’ Fenton cut in. ‘If it raises your profile, she might be encouraged to shout all the louder.’
    Leon prised the debris of the crisps from his molars while he translated Fenton’s words into English. Eventually he signalled his agreement with a grunt. ‘Good point.’
    ‘Then she has to be removed,’ Cadwell said. ‘It’s that simple.’
    ‘Hardly simple,’ Glenn said, indignant on Leon’s behalf.
    Cadwell shrugged, like it was beneath him to respond to anything Glenn said. He addressed Leon: ‘Your friends on the force can turn a blind eye, can’t they?’
    Something about his tone got Leon’s hackles up. ‘They won’t have to, if we’re smart about it.’ He opened a bag of salt-and-vinegar and stuffed a handful of crisps in his mouth. Aware that Cadwell was wincing at the noise, he crunched as loudly as he could, mouth wide open, spraying fragments into the air. ‘If we do it, we need to move fast.’
    ‘Agreed,’ Fenton said. The others nodded.
    ‘Tonight.’ Leon swallowed, smacked his lips together. ‘And I wanna talk to her first.’

Twenty
    OVER A FRESH round of tea and coffee, Joe asked more about Alise’s life. Did she have any kind of support network in London?
    ‘Only my boyfriend,’ she said, with a derisive snort. ‘He works for same company, in IT development. We had been two years together, we talked of marriage. Then Kamila goes missing and Jason is not worried. He thinks Kamila is spoilt bitch.’
    ‘What was her opinion of him?’
    ‘Huh. She always tell me I can get a better man. She is right. When police are here, talking to Leon, I call him, and Jason is like …’ She mimed a yawn while making a yak yak motion with her fingers. ‘So I dump him.’
    ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
    ‘Better to find out now he is a prick, instead of marrying him first.’
    The bluntness of her response made Joe laugh; after half a second Alise joined in.
    ‘And you?’ she said. ‘You are new to this town?’
    ‘I’m staying with a friend. She runs the Dolphin B&B.’
    Alise grimaced. ‘When they find out why I’m here, none of these places would give me a room. They know I am blaming Leon. In their eyes I am his enemy, so they want nothing to do with me.’
    This is Leon’s town . Although Ellie had subsequently downplayed the statement, Joe was inclined to believe it had been atruthful response, before she’d thought to worry about speaking out of turn.
    He surveyed the cafe again. The two women had just departed, the nosier one treating Joe to a haughty glare on the way out. The bikers remained engrossed in one another. The waitress was behind the counter, wrapping a cake in cling film.
    ‘Not everybody’s like that, surely?’
    Alise waved dismissively at the window. ‘Some days it can look beautiful, but this is not a nice town. No one cares. No one will help.’
    Then a long, calculated pause. Joe knew what was coming. He couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t blame her for saying it.
    ‘But you care. Will you help me?’
    He knew he should refuse outright, but it shamed him that he had stood and watched while Cadwell grabbed her by the throat. Now, during this conversation, he’d shifted into professional mode, assembling the raw material of the case as if preparing to investigate it. That was no doubt how it would seem to Alise – raising expectations that he couldn’t fulfil.
    So, for now, he avoided giving an answer, diverting her with another question.
    ‘What do you know about the first man your sister met? The one who took her to the Cotswolds?’
    ‘I know his name, but nothing more. You think we should talk to him?’
    ‘Was he interviewed by the police?’
    ‘No, I … did not mention him.’ She blushed, suddenly haunted by guilt. ‘Did I get this wrong?’
    ‘Not at all. I’m sure he