All the fight suddenly went from Helen and she subsided into Lindsay’s arms. “Sensible move,” Stella said approvingly. “By morning, there won’t be anything left to tie us to the blue films or to the missing grant. In fact, if you do call in the cops, the only thing they’ll be able to investigate is the misappropriation of the EU grant. And let’s face it, Helen, the person who could rip that money off easier than anyone else is the person it was intended for. All you had to do was tell me and Guy that the EU had blown you out, and you could have pocketed the readies no trouble. But for me to do that . . . Well, it’d be complicated, wouldn’t it?”

“Let’s get out of here, Helen,” Lindsay said, steering Helen towards the door. Somehow they made it out of the building without giving way to the fury that bubbled inside them both. Out in the car park, Helen turned back and stared up at the lighted skylight above Stella’s office.

“I can’t believe we were so stupid,” she said bitterly. “We let them get away with it.”

“We were scuppered as soon as they found us in there,” Lindsay said, furiously kicking the tire of Stella’s Fiat. “You’d only ever have nailed her with the element of surprise on your side.”

“I just can’t believe Guy was involved with her seedy, scummy little scheme.”

“When sex walks into a relationship, sense walks out,” Lindsay said, squatting down by Stella’s car with her Swiss Army knife in hand. She uncapped the valve on the nearest tire and opened it up with the tip of the blade, taking childish satisfaction in the hiss of escaping air. Methodically she worked round the wheels, letting the air out of each tire while Helen paced the car park, ranting.

“Let’s go,” Lindsay said when she’d finished. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out the way you wanted.”

“It’s worse than when we started. At least then I didn’t know what her dark secret was. Now I’m implicated.”

“I let you down.”

Helen shook her head. “No. It’s my fault. I underestimated the bitch. Now I’m completely boxed into a corner. I want out and I want revenge, but what can I do?”

“Yeah, well, it’s not over till the fat lady sings,” Lindsay said grimly. “There’s got to be a way to screw them like they’ve screwed you. And I’m the very person to find it.”

Chapter 13

Chapter 13