Time To Play by KA Richardson (best book club books of all time TXT) 📗

to listen to reason. But while his mother was ill, his father certainly was not. It didn’t matter how many times Connor broached the subject of a home; the answer was always the same.

Sighing, he said, ‘I’ve gotta get to work, Dad. I’ll see you soon, OK?’

He saw his dad nod once, then Connor turned and left the room. He planted a kiss on his mother’s forehead as he walked past, and with his shoulders drooping, he made his way to the car.

Life sucks.

Sunderland City Police HQ – 3 November

‘Damn and blasted file boxes in this day and age. I thought everything was supposed to be computerised,’ grumbled Ali as he carried three boxes, all balanced precariously one on top of the next. ‘Trust the maintenance men to take the lift offline today of all bloody days.’ He couldn’t even see over the top box, and made his way cautiously up the stairs, keeping his left shoulder to the wall to keep him steady.

He made it to the top of the stairs without incident and used his hip to wedge open the door to the corridor. A little wobbly, he managed to navigate through, though the top box was threatening to make the long jump to the carpeted floor. Feeling it start to slip, Ali jolted his body to the opposite side, hoping to right the balance. He had no way of seeing Marlo heading down the corridor, or the mobile phone in her hand that held her attention.

The sudden impact was swift, and the top box fell to the ground with a clatter, spreading case files and crime scene photos across the carpet. The middle box teetered as Ali peered over the top and saw Marlo on the floor.

‘Shit, Marlo, are you OK?’ He put the other two boxes down and held out a hand to help her up.

‘Jesus, why don’t you watch where you’re going you clumsy—’ Ali watched as her cheeks grew pink and her blue eyes sparkled, initially angry but then easing off.

‘Sorry, I erm, wasn’t watching where I was going.’ He pulled his hand back as she hauled herself to her knees, ignoring him, and started scooping up his files. ‘I don’t know what order they were in, but I’m sure you can put them right. That’s everything I think.’

He grinned at her, somewhat amused as she haphazardly plonked everything inside the box and picked it up to hand it to him.

‘Actually, would you mind carrying it to the Major Incident Team office? I’d rather not have any more accidents.’ She nodded, and Ali turned and picked up the other two boxes. Making general conversation, he added, ‘They’re files from a murder a few months back. We’ve had an enquiry from Hertfordshire Police about a rape with similar MO in their area. Might be the same guy.’

His face took on a pained expression, but Marlo was in front of him and didn’t notice. ‘Ah, the one that got away. Bit of a mess that.’ She pushed open the office door and held it for him to pass through.

Ali saw her shoulders tense as she said the second sentence and intuitively knew she hadn’t meant it to sound so flippant. Even so, his reply was curt. ‘Just put the box on the table.’

Without saying a word, Marlo put the box down and turned to leave. Ali felt like an idiot. Her lips were pursed as she strode past him into the corridor.

‘First-class jerk,’ he muttered to himself as he watched her walk back into the corridor. He could almost hear his mother’s voice in his head, echoes of a conversation they’d had some weeks ago.

‘Ye need to learn not to take everything to heart. Ye’ll ne’er find a girl if you dinnut start accepting that not everything’s gunna go yer way, son. Ye’re more like yer father than ye know. He held it all in, too, overreacted at wee things. His shoulders would’ve taken the weight of the world. As would yers. Let things go.’

It had pleased him that she thought he was like his dad, even if she’d meant the comments as a negative trait.

‘It’s why ye’re single,’ she’d said. ‘Women know when men are hiding somethin’. What happened up here wasnae’ yer fault.’

‘Nope, not going there, Mum. Get out of my head.’ Ali purposefully put his mother’s words to the back of his mind and turned his attention back to the file boxes. He had a job to do, and brooding wouldn’t get it done.

Sunderland City Police HQ – 3 November

Marlo had paused outside the MIT office door, listening as Ali had called her a jerk. She tried not to feel hurt. Maybe Connor was right; maybe Ali was a tosser. Or maybe it’s you. You did almost call him a clumsy oaf. He’s not exactly gunna thank you for it, is he?

Huffing to herself, she made her way to the nearest stairs, and headed back down to the car park. Time to get back to the office. She still had her statement to finish up from the incident the day before. The rumour mill had already spread the word that it wasn’t thought to be murder. Grant’s ex-girlfriend had reported that he’d been to her house, got into an argument with her current boyfriend then smashed a window before running off through the woods opposite. The woods led straight to the River Wear, and it had been dark. The post-mortem had been scheduled for that afternoon, so no doubt the dive team would hear the outcome through the grapevine.

As she drove back to the dive centre, she let her mind wander to the training exercise that morning. The water had been brisk, and there was low visibility due to the weather churning the seabed which had been an issue. She hadn’t even been able to see her hand in