The Silent Suspect by Nell Pattison (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud .TXT) 📗

that Roy hadn’t been arrested and said they’d often seen people going in and out of the gym late at night when it was supposed to be closed.

There was no reference to violence of any kind, though. I didn’t imagine someone like him could go from no criminal record to murder, but whatever search terms I tried, there wasn’t anything to suggest he’d so much as had a parking ticket. Pulling up a photo of him from the gym’s website, I tried a reverse image search, but it only brought me references to Worx. It had been a long shot. If I was going to be visiting the gym in person I wanted to have as much information about Roy as possible before I went.

As soon as I walked in I realised I was out of my depth. This wasn’t the sort of gym I was expecting, the sort with rows of identical cross-trainers and rowing machines, and a small free weights section in the corner. This was completely different. The centre of the room was dominated by a red and black boxing ring, two men sparring while a couple of others stood at the edge shouting advice. There were several punch bags and rows of boxing gloves on one side of the room, while two of the other sides were taken up with weights and ropes hanging from the ceiling. Glancing around, I couldn’t see another woman in the room, and I immediately wanted to turn around and run.

A huge, muscled man wearing a tank top with ‘WORX’ in capital letters across the front saw me and began heading in my direction. I barely had a moment to make a decision, and I froze. As he approached me, I could see a couple of men in other parts of the room stop what they were doing and turn to stare at me. I’d never felt more out of place anywhere in my life; even if I’d been an exercise fanatic I don’t think I would have felt welcome, but as it was I wondered if this was the last mistake I’d make. The threat in the air was palpable and I knew if one of those men turned on me I wouldn’t be able to get myself out. Why hadn’t Sasha warned me about what it was like? I thought about the things Sasha had been keeping from me and instantly regretted putting myself in danger for someone who hadn’t even been honest with me.

‘You Paige?’ the huge bloke asked me when he was within earshot.

I nodded, unsure if I could make my voice work or if it would come out at a strangely high pitch. I was also regretting using my real name when I signed up for a trial session online.

‘You here for a look around?’ He looked me up and down, clearly wondering what the hell a woman like me would be interested in this gym for. ‘You know the Best Western’s got a gym, right? Got a pool and sauna and everything. Might be more your thing.’

Part of me wanted to agree with him, but then there was the part that refused to be spoken to as if I was a silly little girl who’d wandered into a man’s world. If he wanted to intimidate me he was doing a good job, but I was damned if I’d let it show.

‘I don’t really like saunas,’ I replied coolly. ‘If I’m going to sweat I want some muscles to show for it.’

He raised his eyebrows and inclined his head slightly, though clearly wasn’t fooled by my bravado. Another scan of my body made me feel uncomfortable, but I tried not to flinch. He was obviously wondering where the hell my muscles were.

‘Right, well, I can show you around,’ he said with a slight shrug. I knew he thought I was wasting his time, but I had to keep up the pretence if I wanted to speak to Roy.

‘You wanna get changed, have a workout now?’ he asked, with a suggestive leer.

‘No, I’ll just have a look round first,’ I said, gritting my teeth to stop my disgust from showing on my face.

He shrugged. ‘Suit yourself.’

As he led me over to the other side of the room, I glanced around to check if I could see Roy. I’d studied his photograph on the website so I thought I’d recognise him if I saw him, but there was no sign of him. I spotted a door in the far corner marked ‘Private’, and I assumed it led to Roy’s office and the staff area.

For ten minutes, the huge guy pointed out different bits of equipment and explained the day-to-day rules for members. He didn’t make any effort to hide his boredom, throwing the odd expletive at his mates on the other side of the room when they heckled him.

Wanting to get out of there, I decided to try a different tactic.

‘Is Roy in today?’ I asked. The guy frowned at me.

‘Why do you want to know?’

‘I just wondered if I could see him.’

There was a pause while he looked at me, then looked over his shoulder at the door to the office.

‘Nah, you can’t see him. Does he know you?’

I shook my head. ‘No, but we have a mutual friend.’

‘Who would that be?’ he asked with a sneer.

‘Lukas Nowak.’

A look of understanding passed across the guy’s face and he laughed, though there was no humour in it. ‘That why you’re here, to argue Lukas’s case for him?’ Another harsh laugh. ‘Roy wants his money and he’s going to get it, one way or another. He doesn’t give a shit that Lukas has got himself banged up. He can hide in there for as long as he likes, but he’s still got a debt to pay. Now, if that’s all …’ He pointed towards the door, still smirking.

I stood frozen to the spot for a moment, until he made a move towards me and I flinched. He laughed, and