Amber by Heather Burnside (great novels of all time .TXT) 📗

Men who preferred a younger woman were willing to pay handsomely for the privilege and, now that Loretta had no choice but to put a stop to it, she panicked over how she would cope financially.

As she puzzled over what to do, Loretta started to prepare their evening meal, chopping veg haphazardly in between taking gulps of wine. But her hands were still shaking, and she knew it would take at least a couple of glasses till she was feeling calm again.

Nathan dashed back into the kitchen but before he had a chance to speak, Loretta rebuked him again. She was so agitated that she couldn’t seem to help herself. ‘For God’s sake, Nathan! Can you just leave me to get on with it please?’

Nathan adopted a sulky expression and trudged out of the kitchen. Loretta stabbed angrily at a red pepper and caught her finger. ‘Ouch!’ she yelled as her blood spilt onto the pepper, adding a moist sheen to the crimson veg.

She gripped her finger, trying to stem the blood flow, then dashed to the tap and rinsed both the cut and the pepper. She didn’t have any plasters in the house, so she grabbed some kitchen towel and held it over her finger till the bleeding stopped.

Loretta was so absorbed in tending to her wound that her troubles were temporarily forgotten. But they soon returned and with them an idea had entered her subconscious. After a few glasses of wine, Loretta had started to see things differently and had thought of a way in which she could make even more money. She smiled as she topped up her wine and mulled the idea over in her mind. Yes, she thought, it could be the answer to all her problems.

50

January 2016

After Sapphire’s warning, Amber had managed to avoid Kev. She didn’t know whether he had turned up at her patch while she had been with a client, but she was glad she hadn’t seen him.

It was the night after she had seen Sapphire, and Amber was once again on the beat. The weather was chilly and, as she stood there, Amber was shivering so much that her teeth were chattering. She didn’t know whether it was because of the cold or whether it was fear as well. She was now more anxious than ever, knowing it was probably Kev who had killed Cora.

Before she had set off from home, Amber had received a text from him:

Hi babe, what time you at work tonight?

She ignored it. There was no way she was telling him when she was at work; she didn’t want him turning up and inviting her back to his. But, on her way to work, she received another one:

Well?

The last text was followed by a phone call from him, which she’d also ignored and, by the time she arrived at work, Amber was becoming flustered. She kept a nervous look out for Kev’s car, dreading the moment when she spotted it. He was bound to know something was wrong, but she was frightened that if she spoke to him, she’d make it even more obvious. How could she act normal towards him, knowing what he had done?

It wasn’t long before a car dropped off one of the other girls, a tall peroxide blonde who spotted Amber and made her way towards her. Amber recognised her, having seen her on the beat many times before. She was one of the girls who had given her what Amber had thought of as admiring glances when she saw Kev drop her off at work. But she had her own friends and didn’t usually come over to chat.

The girl came straight to the point. ‘Hi. Kev’s been looking for you.’

‘What did he want?’

‘He didn’t say but he looked well pissed off. I’d tread carefully if I were you.’

‘Thanks for the warning,’ said Amber.

She expected the girl to return to her spot, but it seemed she wanted to talk some more. ‘You been seeing him long?’

‘A few months. Why?’

‘You know about his rep then,’ said the girl.

Amber didn’t want to give anything away to someone who she hardly knew. ‘Yeah, I’ve heard stuff, but he’s OK once you get to know him.’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you.’

‘What do you mean?’ asked Amber.

The girl hesitated and it seemed to Amber that she was already regretting saying too much. ‘Nothing. And don’t tell him I gave you the tip-off. Just watch your back, that’s all.’

Before Amber had chance to say anything, she was making her way back to her own patch. Amber knew she could have shouted after her, but it was unlikely she’d tell her more. For some reason, the girl was just as wary of Kev as she was.

She heard her phone ping for the second time since she had been talking to the girl, so she switched it on and looked at the screen. There were two messages from Kev, the second only a minute after the first:

Where the fuck are you?

You’re fuckin’ annoying me now, Amber.

The aggressive words startled her, and she was about to put the phone away when it pinged again. Another text from Kev:

Why aren’t you answering your phone?

Amber was relieved when a client pulled up. After negotiating the fee with him, she got inside his car. The sound of her phone ringing made her jump and she took it out and looked at the screen to see who was calling. It was Kev again. She could feel her heart pounding and deliberated over whether to answer it or not. In the end, knowing he wouldn’t stop until he’d made contact, she hit the call-receive button.

‘Where the fuck have you been, Amber?’ Kev blasted down the line. ‘I’ve been fuckin’ texting you all night!’

She smiled half-heartedly at the client whose eyes kept straying from the road to her and then back again. ‘I was going to call you back, but it’s been full on. In fact, I’m just with a client now.’

She