Death at Rainbow Cottage by Jo Allen (book club books txt) 📗

and Detective Superintendent Faye Scanlon, who she’d last seen in her previous job in another force, stopped in the middle of what she’d been saying and lasered her former girlfriend with a look that would have shrivelled a daisy.

‘Ashleigh.’ Utterly unaware of the complicated relationship in which he was, by default, now involved, Jude stepped aside to let her join the conversation. ‘Did you have a good holiday?’

The confusion over flights had been so all-consuming she hadn’t texted him with every twist and turn in her convoluted journey. Despite her confusion, she struggled to keep back a smile. He could seem stiff and austere to the outsider but those close to him knew better — and these days no-one was closer to Jude than Ashleigh herself. ‘The holiday was fine. It was the travelling that was grim. Sorry I didn’t call in. I’ve only just got back from the airport, and I haven’t slept for two days, but I made it.’

‘Your dedication does you credit.’ Faye, her look designed to chill in bottle-green skirt suit, crisp mint-coloured shirt and with a necklace of beaten copper solid as a breastplate, scowled at her, took off her glasses and turned them over in her fingers. Gimlet-sharp grey eyes, the same colour as Jude’s but fifteen degrees colder, looked Ashleigh up and down and denied any acquaintance, but Ashleigh could read the message in her eyes. What the hell are you doing here? ‘Nevertheless, I can’t help thinking you might have been better off staying at home and making sure you were fit to work.’

It had been a mistake ever getting into bed with Faye Scanlon. Sufficiently self-aware to understand that for her it had been an act of self-destruction committed in the death throes of her marriage, Ashleigh had no idea what had possessed Faye. The older woman’s marriage and career had been outwardly stable and yet she’d risked – and quickly regretted – an adulterous office affair.

And now here she was, a new arrival on Ashleigh’s turf, looking as confident as if she’d been there for years. Too tired to grasp the implications, Ashleigh took the cowardly option and turned instead to Jude. ‘I knew you’d be busy so I thought I’d better get in.’

‘We can certainly use you today.’ He softened his usual sardonic expression with a smile that she had to fight not to return. The last thing she needed was Faye Scanlon jumping to conclusions, worst of all the right ones.

To avoid temptation, she looked beyond the sharp edge of his jaw to a health and safety notice on the wall behind him. ‘Has something happened?’

‘You don’t watch the local news?’ Faye carped at her from the side lines.

‘Of course, but I haven’t had a chance.’

‘There was a particularly nasty homicide in Temple Sowerby yesterday,’ Jude said, soothing her as if she were a probationer. ‘We’ll get to that soon enough. In the meantime, let me introduce you. This is our new Super, Faye Scanlon. Faye, this is DS Ashleigh O’Halloran.’

Ashleigh waited for Faye to acknowledge that they knew one another but Faye, still twirling her glasses in irritation, passed up the opportunity for a second time in a minute, allowing her nothing more than the briefest of nods before flicking Ashleigh’s questioning look aside it the briefest shake of her chestnut head.

So that was how it was going to be. ‘Lovely to meet you, Ma’am.’ Shuffling backwards, Ashleigh tried to cover her confusion but Jude would have spotted there was something amiss. If he asked her in public she’d blame it on jet lag and explain later. Faye needn’t think she had any control over Ashleigh’s past, no matter how strongly she might choose to exert it over her own.

‘It’s a pleasure, Ashleigh.’ A fractional pause. ‘You’d better call me Faye. I don’t think we need to follow any unnecessary formalities in the office.’

At least familiarity wouldn’t trip her up. Ashleigh nodded in reply, planning her getaway. ‘Jude. I’ll just get a coffee and head up to the office. Fill myself in on the details. Okay?’

‘I’ll come along with you. I was heading that way myself.’

‘I’ll see you later. Good to meet you.’ Faye’s voice was already drifting from down the corridor.

Ashleigh’s jet lag headache intensified. A boiling, bubbling tension reared up inside her, stretching her composure, already worn thin by her travels, to its limits. She flung open the door to the canteen more sharply than she’d intended, and allowed Jude in first. She’d have to tell him, but this was neither the time nor the place, and in any case discretion won out. By whatever twist of fate Faye was now Jude’s boss as well as hers. ‘Nobody told me we were getting a new Superintendent.’

‘There was an announcement about it just after you went off. Thought you might have come across her, but no?’

She avoided the question. ‘And she was in post in three weeks? That’s pretty sharp.’

‘If she’s the right person and was available to start immediately, why not? The post had to be filled.’ He led the way up to the counter. ‘Two coffees,’ he said to the girl on duty. ‘You’d better make it a triple espresso for Ashleigh. She’s had a rough weekend.’

‘You’re mighty cheerful today,’ the girl said, busying herself with the machine. ‘You’ve lost that sultry snarl. Shame. Oh, I probably shouldn’t say that, should I, or someone will have me for harassment? That would never do. Or maybe it would — early retirement and two months’ gardening leave on full pay. Can I harass you a bit more?’

‘Harass away.’ Cheerfully, Jude pushed one of the coffees to Ashleigh and settled up. ‘It doesn’t bother me.’

He and the girl behind the counter might think it was funny, and Ashleigh herself had joked about the Faye’s predecessor and his unfortunate and ultimately career-ending attitude to his