Web of Lies by Sally Rigby (classic novels for teens txt) 📗

‘Half a cider, please.’

‘Half a cider and two pints of stout,’ he asked the guy behind the bar. He turned to Rob. ‘I take it you haven’t changed in your choice of beer.’

‘No. Nor you, by the looks of things.’

‘Are we going to eat?’ she asked.

Seb laughed. ‘What you need to know about Birdie is she’s obsessed with food. Wherever we go, she has to eat. And if you’re the person with her, you’ll most likely to be the one paying.’

‘I couldn’t help forgetting my purse this morning,’ she said.

‘And the other times?’ he asked, handing her the menu.

‘I’m a lowly DC, hanging out with the higher-ups, so you’ve got no chance of making me feel guilty. I’ll have fish and chips,’ she said.

‘Another thing you need to know is a salad would die alone on her plate.’

She elbowed him in the ribs. ‘If you’ve quite finished, I don’t recall ever seeing your plate covered in lettuce leaves. You’re not giving a very good impression of me here. What if I decide to apply for a job at the Met and Rob here is on the interview panel, how’s that going to look?’

‘I believe he’ll see for himself what you’re like, without any input from me.’

‘You two sound like an old married couple,’ Rob said.

‘Don’t even go there,’ she said, grimacing.

‘Lunch is on me. Why don’t you two go and get a table and I’ll order? Fish and chips all round?’ Seb said, looking at Rob.

‘Yep, that works for me. There’s a table over there. Come on, Birdie,’ Rob said, pointing towards the back of the pub.

They left Seb at the bar, and sat at the round table Rob had spotted. The pub was typically Victorian with an open fire. It was large, and busy. She wanted to know more about Seb while he wasn’t there and decided to take a chance by asking Rob.

‘So how do you know Seb?’ she asked even though she knew the answer.

‘We trained together, and we’ve been friends ever since.’

‘And what do you think of his background? Weird someone like that being on the force.’

‘A man can’t help his family. He’s a good guy, and he has a special talent, which no doubt you’ve come across.’

She tilted her head to one side. ‘Talent. What talent?’

‘You haven’t seen it in action.’ He gave a belly laugh. ‘You’re in for a treat in that case.’

‘Tell me.’

He did a zip motion across his lips. ‘Not up to me.’

‘Oh, you mean his HSAM,’ she said suddenly remembering.

‘The very thing. You seem rather underwhelmed by it. Maybe you haven’t seen him at his best.’

‘He rattled off some bank transactions without having them in front of him.’

‘That he can do in his sleep. He can be much more impressive when the circumstances demand.’

Interesting.

‘Okay, what else can you tell me? Is he married? Or has he been married? Or does he have a girlfriend …’

‘Birdie, stop. He’s my friend and I’m not going to start blabbing to you. Ask Seb yourself if you want to know anything.’

‘Know what?’

Shit. She hadn’t seen Seb walk over to the table. Oh well, no point in lying.

‘I was pumping Rob for info about you, but he won’t tell.’ She stuck out her bottom lip.

‘Thanks,’ Seb said, grinning at his friend. ‘You’re more than welcome to ask me anything you like. I won’t guarantee to answer though.’

‘I’ll remember that. Except it’s much more fun when you find out from someone else, and you get the true stuff,’ she said, smirking.

‘What do you want to know?’

‘Nothing,’ she said, waving a hand. She couldn’t ask now, without appearing like a nosy parker.

‘Tell me more about the case and Witherspoon’s death,’ Rob said.

‘My cousin Sarah, who I mentioned, isn’t convinced by the suicide verdict and believes that he was forced to write his suicide note. She said he left clues in there that only she would recognise.’

‘If it’s not suicide, it most likely would be murder. What are your views so far?’ Rob asked.

‘I’m not yet convinced by her view. Yes, there are some inconsistencies but they can be explained. We’ll see where the investigation takes us.’

‘Are you enjoying the case?’

‘I am, but that doesn’t mean I want to become a PI if that’s what you’re suggesting.’

‘Why not? I’m sure you’d be really good at it with your memory,’ Rob said.

‘I haven’t yet decided what I’m going to do next.’

‘I suppose it won’t hurt to wait a while longer if you’ve got enough money to keep you going.’

‘I can manage for the time being.’

‘Lucky you have a family who can help out,’ she quipped. He arched an eyebrow. ‘Sorry, that was out of order.’

She kept quiet after that and enjoyed listening to the banter between Seb and Rob during which she got to see a more relaxed and jokey side of him.

After lunch they said their goodbyes and went across London to catch the train. Was he annoyed with her for nosing into his life, and then what she’d said about his family? It was difficult to tell. She didn’t want to bring it up in case he’d forgotten.

‘What’s puzzling me the most is, if Donald was murdered, then what was the motive? Surely it can’t be because he’d stopped making payments to clients because as soon as he was dead, they’d definitely not get their money. It doesn’t make sense,’ Birdie said.

‘I agree, which points to it not being murder and was, in fact, suicide.’

‘But that doesn’t sit right either based on what we know from Sarah. Maybe he borrowed money from loan sharks and couldn’t pay it back so they came after him.’

‘That’s also a possibility, except they don’t usually kill because then they wouldn’t get their money back either. If anything, they might have threatened the family but Sarah hasn’t mentioned it and I’m sure she would have.’

‘What about his children, could they have been involved?’

‘They have twin boys who are both at university. I don’t want to interview them because they’re