Dying to Meet You (13 page)

‘Lunch? My treat?’

‘Bribery will get you nowhere. ’

He grinned. ‘As if I would.
Mel—’ He tightened his lips, it was not going to come out right. ‘Will you listen to me for Christ’s sake? You’re putting yourself in real danger here. If we had an inkling of the killer’s identity we’d know what move to make next. But we don’t. This is such a bloody awful time with everything and everyone trying to make sense of it. There’s so much going on this week with the Carnival celebrations coming up. Our killer could get away with another murder. And you are crazy to offer an open invitation to him.’

She giggled. ‘You sound like my father, Nick Farmer.’

‘Yeah. Okay and I feel like putting you over my knee and spanking you,’ he said. ‘Then I’d sweep you up in my arms and never let you go till I persuaded you to drop this damn foolish, dangerous idea of yours.’

She laughed. ‘Really! And what if I tell you that I feel much more than that. I’d like to kiss your lips till you stop lecturing me. And return them with equal fervour.
Now, how about that?’

He chuckled. ‘You’re direct I must say. I never knew anyone quite like you before. But I’d like to try you out.’

‘Vice versa. But…’ She checked her watch and shook her head. ‘It’s a shame but I have to get back and I’m sure that you do too. I promise that I will let you know what I’m doing. Before I do it.’

He caught hold of her hand and squeezed it tight in his. ‘You’d better do just that.’

‘I’m not going anywhere tonight. I shall be at home with Jack once I finish work. But I do expect to hear from the Virgo man because I put in my own advert this week.’

‘You did what?’

‘It reads ‘A LOVING CANCER WOMAN LOOKING FOR A CARING VIRGO MAN’. Let’s see if he’ll answer it and take the bait.’

He swore under his breath. ‘Why didn’t you tell me this before? If you get an answer don’t make any dumb moves on it without telling me. Do you hear?’ he said releasing her hand reluctantly.

‘I shan’t.’

‘I hope you mean it. I’m crazy about you, woman,’ he said catching her hand again and kissing it.

She smiled. ‘Gee - I never thought to melt the stony heart of DI Farmer. I must be dreaming,’ she said with an uncertain shaky laugh. ‘Don’t go too soft on me will you. I’ll need you as my knight errant if I get into danger.’

He groaned loudly. ‘Thanks for reminding me.
By the way we brought Connell in for questioning. Linda spoke to him originally in the Casino. But she got nothing from him.’

‘So where’s Connell now?’

‘We had to let him go. We didn’t have enough on him. Although he seems to fit with his past history of suspected sexual harassment. And he admits seeing Ellie Cooper on the pier but never spoke to her personally. Or so he says.’

Thirty-Seven

Mel’s date was put into the evening paper. One amongst many in the Astrological date line. Sylvie who had volunteered to help Mel was ready to man her phone to answer if the Virgo man got in touch.

‘You must phone me to let me know what he says to you and take down everything verbatim. You will not be seeing him, Sylvie. You are not to give him your name. Promise me you will just listen and say you will meet him when he’s given you all the necessary details we need. You are young and sound it,’ she said patting her on the shoulder. ‘But I’m the one who is meeting him so I need to be forewarned. Take note of everything he says and tell me what he sounds like.’

Sylvie blinked and nodded. ‘Of course. I’ll do everything you’ve said.’

‘Okay then. We’ll talk again if and when you hear anything from the Virgo man. Thanks.’

*

That evening Mel got strong vibes that she was being watched. She looked out of her window several times and noticed someone
was sitting in the driver’s seat in the escort parked just across the road. She waiting a few minutes then looked out through the front window again and knew definitely that there was someone in the car under the lighted street lamp. Had she got a stalker? Or was it the man she was trying to flush out?

In the end she couldn’t stand it any longer and walked out of the house across the road to the car and banged hard on the window.
The man inside rolled it down.

‘Nick Farmer! You bastard! Haven’t you got anything else to do other than to send me up shit-street?’

She didn’t know else how to cover up the immense relief that she felt at seeing him grinning back at her. She nearly collapsed with relief.

‘Can you do with a beer? If you fancy one come on in the house.’

‘I could do with a coffee, thanks.’

‘Sorry if I’ve spoilt your evening,’ he said looking round the kitchen appreciatively.

‘Why are you doing this to me, Farmer?’

He grinned generously. ‘Several reasons. If you don’t know the main reason you’re not the instinctive investigator that I thought you were. Did you or did you not tell me you intended to date this Virgo man, Mel Goring?’

She put on the kettle and turned round to face him her hands held on her hips. ‘So? Haven’t you got enough to do?’

‘I can’t concentrate on the case in hand while I think of you putting yourself into the front
line,’ he said pulling out a kitchen chair and discovering a large furry, tawny mass curled up on it. ‘Hey! Is this your fill in for a watch dog?’

‘No
- it’s Beazy, my Maine coon cat. One of the last presents Colin was able to give me.’

‘It’s more like a floor mop.’ He chuckled. ‘I
bet you my cat Squib could match yours for size. Would you mind switching on the TV please?’

‘Why? Are you bored with my company already?’

‘It’s time for Crimewatch. Our Chief, Peterson, is appearing on it to ask for help on our latest case. She’s asking if anyone remembers seeing Ellie Cooper on the Harling Pier. We’ve videoed a reconstruction with one of her friends Janet playing her role.’

‘Wow! I wish her luck then. Here you are.
It looks like we’re just in time to catch it.’

They watched the reconstruction taking place on the still sunny pier. Mel watching it felt her tummy squeeze in tight. Was the killer watching too?

Peterson said to the watching TV audience, ‘We know that Ellie Cooper was meeting someone on a blind date. Did anyone see this young girl in the company of a man that evening? Or any time later in the vicinity of the Victoria Park? If so please come forward.’

After
wards Mel said quietly, ‘How much alike were the two girls? Did they manage to match up the dresses?’

‘Both blondes. This girl lived next door to Ellie, knew her from school as well and volunteered to help because she’d met Ellie that evening on the pier and saw the dress she was wearing.
The shop in town where she purchased it came forward with a matching dress. And the flower in her hair. Must have been hard for her, poor kid.’

‘Do you think this might put him off from attacking another victim?’

Nick shook his head. ‘I doubt it. Whatever is driving him to do it will still persist. It’s in his head.’ He took his mug of coffee from her. ‘Jack is in bed, is he?’

She nodded.
‘Yes - his Gramps took charge of him today. And they built a super huge sandcastle on the beach. Our photographer Bill took a photo of it for our paper before the tide took it over. So our Jack has had a very busy day. Fell asleep as I towelled him down after his bath. You can come and see him if you want to?’

He smiled. ‘Yeah.
Okay...’

She looked impressed by this. ‘You can see him when he is at his best. Sound asleep. He says he wants to be in the police force like his Auntie Linda and he would be asking you far too many questions if he knew you were here.’

They opened the bedroom door. Jack looked like her, Farmer thought as he saw the small copper red head resting on the pillow.

Mel
covered a yawn with her hand smiled and said, ‘Sorry, I was up early this morning. I bet you’ve had a pretty long day too. Look - please don’t worry about me. I shall be okay. I’m sure of it. Forewarned is forearmed - I shan’t get myself into any difficult situation. And that’s a promise. ’

‘You’d better remember that. Don’t do anything without letting me know about it. I’ll hold you to it.’

‘I won’t,’ she said crossing her fingers behind her back.

He caught her quickly by the door landing a kiss on her lips more in luck than good judgment.

‘Mel...’ His arms went round her firm and binding. ‘I feel you want this as much as I do. It’s right for us, don’t you think?’

‘Nick
... We can’t.’

He grinned wryly. ‘If you say so.’

‘I do...’ She shook her head slowly and sighed. ‘I think you’d better go now, or I might want to do something I’ll be more than sorry for in the morning. Another time perhaps.’ She smiled back at him mischievously.

His eyes were serious and he reached out swiftly and cupped her face gently with his hands.
‘Okay.’ He kissed her again this time more gently. ‘That was so you won’t forget me. I’d rather not rush things. Another time like you promised?

‘I’ll look forward to it.’

She watched him drive off and wished she’d delayed his departure till morning as they had both wanted. But she knew it would have been a fatal move for her part. She would have given in to the feelings that had held her in ferment for the last few days and she couldn’t do that, not if she wanted to carry out her plans to catch this killer.

Her phone rang. It was Sylvie.

‘He rang me, Mel! He rang!’ she squeaked. ‘To say he’d like us to meet! Er, I mean you of course!’

‘What else did he say? What did he sound like?’

‘He said I was to wear a pink rose and carry - oh sorry you must wear a pink rose and carry the
Observer
under your arm and meet him by the old Park bandstand.’

‘So what did he sound like? Young or old?’

‘The call was a bit distorted like there was a lot of music going on around him. Sounded like he used the phone from a disco perhaps. Or at home with the telly on. He sounded okay though.’

‘You didn’t give anything away about yourself or me, did you?’

‘No, I was careful. He asked my name. I said Tracey - it was the first name that came into my head.’

‘So
I’m Tracey. Okay. You can fill me in properly in the morning.’

Thirty-Eight

‘So how did it go on Crimewatch - good do you think?’ Peterson asked, coming into the hotel room.

‘Pretty good.’ Richard said switching on the kettle. ‘Coffee?’ She nodded. ‘You’ll have to hope that the public kept their eyes open on Sunday night while it’s still fresh in their minds.’

‘I know...’

‘The meeting took place in a crowded entertainment area, don’t forget. There’s rather too much going on around them. I don’t hold out a great deal of hope with it for you. Sorry.’

‘Thanks. Anything else to add to that?’ she said taking off her jacket hanging it up in the wardrobe.

‘You said that the girl who took Ellie Cooper’s part actually saw her that night and spoke to her before she met the man.’

‘That’s right.’

‘But she never saw Ellie with anyone afterwards at all. Sounds like she didn’t want her friends to meet him. He might have avoided meeting her if he saw her with friends.’

‘We’ve got to catch this monster before he kills again.’ She sighed heavily. ‘So far he’s got away with it.’

‘Come on. Something can come from doing this. It could put the killer on hold. He may realise you’ll be onto him quicker than he thinks.’

She threw her head back and groaned. ‘You have more hope than me then.’

Thirty-Nine

‘I want some volunteers for tomorrow night in the Victoria Park. Just to keep an eye out for any young woman who might be meeting up with an Astro date,’ Peterson said to her team in the incident room. ‘How about it? Most of you married ones might be going there anyway with your families. I want the uniform singles and the rest of you to concentrate on looking out for any young women on their own or girls looking as if they might be in trouble from seven onwards till the display finishes at ten or thereabouts.’

Farmer looked at Trask. ‘You’ll be going anyway, won’t you?’

‘Yeah. What about Mel Goring? Will you be seeing her? I suppose she’ll be taking her little boy?’

Farmer didn’t look any too happy. ‘Maybe. I can’t say.’

‘What’s wrong?’ Trask grinned. ‘Fallen out already, have you?’

Farmer frowned. ‘I’ve not spoken to her about it. Busy I suppose like the rest of us.’

Trask smiled. ‘That’s not like you. Don’t let your chance go with her.’

*

Farmer found Mel waiting for him outside his flat when he got back from parking his car in the back street garage.

She grinned at
him. ‘Can you offer a hard working girl a drink?’