She tutted and shook her head. ‘Archibald, do not trouble yourself with speech, you are tired from your long stressful day. Your work is so important and you are always so busy, you must relax. Here, let me massage your neck.’ Gently, she began stroking the nape of his neck, pushing his head down a little as she did. She saw his eyelids flutter and close.

‘Let me help you out of this waistcoat, Archibald, you still look a little hot.’ She slipped her hand onto the silk material and pushed her fingers between the buttons. She could feel his heart pounding. She undid the buttons slowly then looked at him again.

‘Ann, I must go. I am so sorry.’ He stood up but she tugged his sleeve down firmly so he landed back on the seat with a thump. She leant over him so that she could feel his hot breath. Slowly, she leant in to kiss him and as he closed his eyes again, she knew she had him. She smiled in anticipation of the conquest.

CHAPTER 44

Chapter 44

2015

When her phone rang, she ran to the table from the window where she sat, waiting.

‘Martha?’

‘Who? Not unless I’ve had a sex change, Fi.’ An Aussie voice chuckled at the other end. ‘It’s Ross from The Pier.’

‘Oh, hi, Ross, sorry, bit of an emergency going on here, not quite with it.’ She explained about her dad being rushed to hospital.

‘Christ, sorry, d’you want me to phone back later?’

‘Please, I’m waiting for Martha to call.’

‘No worries, had some news about Debs that might interest you but not a problem.’

‘Hang on,’ Fi said, glancing up at the clock. The match was due to finish in five minutes. ‘Got a couple of minutes, fill me in please?’

‘Okay, here’s the thing. The police have just left. They were after Debs and…’

‘Why were the police after her?’

‘Turns out she’s a conman, well, conwoman. Fiddled the books when she worked here that first time and they reckon it might even have been her who set fire to the place just as they were onto her.’

Fiona gasped. ‘She tried to pin that on Pete!’

‘Doesn’t surprise me. Anyway, she was never found out. Then the boss has been saying for the past few weeks how nothing was adding up in the tills at the end of the night and so she talked about it to Debs and me last night. We get in this morning and Debs is gone, taken all her crazy music from the kitchen and those weird sandals she left there. And the police said she’s done it before.’

‘So how come they didn’t find her?’

‘Changes her name, her hair, sometimes she looks like a respectable librarian, always gets away with it. She’s originally from Orkney, name’s Morag Quigley.’