Knockout! A Passionate Police Romance (19 page)

“Metropolitan Police on assignment to Interpol I believe.” He said, shaking his head in disbelief. His deep brown eyes searched into her, willing her to deny it.

“Freddie - I was about to tell you everything... my love... please.” She reached out to touch his face. Abruptly he stood up and moved away, leaving her kneeling stupidly on the floor.

His manner was coldly calm. Tears poured down her cheeks. The contrast in their demeanors served to separate her even more from him - from the possibility of explaining to him. If only he would shout or yell. She knew about anger and aggression.

His handsome anguished face stared at her. She sensed a thaw - if only she could get him to listen. She sat down on the sofa and silently questioned his eyes. He answered in a raised voice.

“Tell me - when was I going to know... when I was in jail and you had your next promotion. Would you have fed me some wedding cake through the bars?”

“It’s just not like that.”

He made a powerful dismissive sweep of his hand.

“Are you trained to have sex with suspects to solve difficult cases?”

“Freddie - I love you... we met by chance... I was afraid you would never want me if you knew I was a cop. Please believe me... please.”

She watched him as he paced the saloon. She was acting submissively, as much as anything out of instinct as a police officer. Every word from an angry man is one less ratchet click of tension. She was a proud professional and she loved him. She would let him talk - for now.

“You were selling boats. You must have been following me with a cover story all planned out. Is Leyton Marine just a police front? I cannot believe a man like your father played along. I really thought you guys were for real.”

“I am for real and you had better believe that you need me. You are sitting at the table with a mob of killers.”

“Did they give you a script Anna? How many lies have there been? If you don’t sell boats - who the hell was that little Italian with all those Chinese guys in the hotel in Lyon? I wanted to marry you... I loved you.” He stammered.

She let her eyes hold his. He was grabbing at random episodes in their story and not focusing. He was still the same man and she the same woman. He was right to feel betrayed. She could not let his pride destroy their love. For the first time in their relationship she could come out fighting. The big stone of the dishonesty had been lifted from her heart.

“We love each other Freddie. We came together in a crazy way...but we did come together. Are you telling me that you didn’t want me... if you hadn’t wanted me no police tactic could have made you.”

“So the Detective Inspector marries the crook and has his babies... How would that play at Scotland Yard?”

She reflected for a moment, looking at his strong face set in a mask of pain and anger. She had let him have his say. Now she would answer.

“Well - are you a crook? If you are then that’s fine with me - I’ll be a crook’s woman if that’s what you want. The Law and the Police can go to hell.” She yelled, moving towards him. “Are you a crook? Are you?” Are you going to throw this fight and take a big wedge from these mobsters? You know what happened to that referee when he wanted to talk to the FBI. I guess you think they wouldn’t kill you... Huh... maybe you don’t know so much. Maybe you should read some of my files or spend a bit of time in the morgue.”

He looked at her as she stood in front of him. A woman so beautiful that she made him ache. A woman with whom he had made love. A woman who had grown to maturity on the streets of South London- who had fronted out violent and desperate criminals and got up the next day to do it all again and again. Her breasts rose and fell as she breathed hard. Whatever became of their lives he could respect her. And desire her. She had at least the strength and defiance of any man he had met in the ring.

“I love you Freddie - right or wrong I love you and yes, I’ll have your babies - but in a world that isn’t run by low life gangsters. Is that the world you want?”

Despite everything, despite the breaking of her heart, she rejoiced in the freedom to open up and be her true self. She knew he was hearing her words and when the anger had gone he would listen. She clung to that hope as he fired back.

“What I wanted was a woman who told me the truth - not some cynical bitch who would screw her way to promotion.”

“Screw! How dare you? We made love Freddie - we made a little corner out of this stinking world and filled it with love and you know that!”

His eyes were as dark as storm clouds. His words hurt deeply yet she kept calm. He clenched and unclenched his huge strong hands in frustration and bewilderment.

“I won’t bullshit you Freddie - I was put on your case because I had already met you. I didn’t know who you were... I didn’t call you for a date. Once the ball was rolling and I was in love with you I couldn’t stop because I knew you wouldn’t trust me. When you think it through you’ll see... please.”

And now she could no longer stop the tears. She slumped down on the sofa and let herself cry out the terrible void of emptiness inside her.

She saw him turn and walk to the stairway.

“This is over Anna. I can’t ever believe what you say. Even if everything you say is true it’s useless if I can’t believe it. If some punk hadn’t put a note on my website I would have married a cop who was out to lock me up.”

Her tears hardened to a sudden anger.

“Who says I was going to lock you up. All I was interested in was the truth about your life. I had to stomach all your little jibes about being a little rich girl. I couldn’t blame you for that cos that’s all you knew.

“Well what are you then?” He threw back viciously, his handsome face anguished and vulnerable in an expression that made her long to reach out to him.

“I was a spoiled little rich girl who left it all behind to find my own way. You may think you’re Mister tough guy but I’ve seen more bloody violence than you’ll ever imagine. I am Detective Inspector Anna Leyton that’s what I am and who I am. And I love you with all my heart right or wrong. If you can’t see that or have any compassion then you may as well go because you are not the man I believe in.”

She was breathing hard, halfway between rage and sorrow. She had said all she could say. He let out a long sigh.

“I loved you and I can’t just stop loving you. If I could it would be me who was the fake.”

In his eyes she could see his sincerity. The gloves were off and she would not hold back

“Fake... If you are not a fake tell me what the hell is going on?”

She searched his face for the truth. He turned away. She sensed he was on the back foot, wondering how to answer.

“You know nothing of my affairs Anna.”

“Then maybe I should. This Scappaticci - this Tondelli - these guys are mobsters. They fix gambling and kill people who get in the way of their greed.”

“Really,” he exclaimed sarcastically “it’s a terrible world Inspector - the police should do something!”

“Don’t be tricky Freddie. I love you but I’m never gonna crawl to these creatures even if you will.”

For a fraction of a second she saw a storm of cold dangerous anger flash across his face that almost made her look away but she maintained a hard questioning stare.”

“You just don’t know anything Anna and now you never will. You are... you were my perfect beautiful woman who is not from my world of compromises, gutters and palaces.”

“Huh - nice poetry Freddie, but it’s crap.”

“Ok - it’s all crap. The woman I worshipped and believed in was setting me up and just using me. What makes you better than those crooks?”

She shook her head sadly.

“I think deep down you know that’s not me but I don’t know how I can ask you to believe it.” She croaked as the bitter sorrow of the situation began to seep into her.

“I can’t believe anything - it’s over.” He snapped coldly.

There was something she had to know. Something that could possibly be a matter of life or death.

“Just tell me how you found out.” She begged.

“The website - some jerk put on some fan mail.”

He looked at the screen of his mobile and read aloud - “Freddie - your black haired Cher ami is on your case. On the pillow tonight is with Interpol by breakfast. When you whisper her name don’t forget to call her Inspector.”

Her mind hurtled through corridors of questions. The answer was there and she knew it. The informant was too clever for their own good.

His eyes, once again revealing a kindness, were fixed on hers.

“Luckily our gambling friends have not read it. Mom checks everything for spam and trash before it goes out. I have closed down the site for now. I didn’t want...”

“You didn’t want them to kill me!” She spat.

He nodded.

“If you’re just a girlfriend then you’re safe. A cop - well- who knows what these guys would do?”

“So you know who they are and what they represent.”

“Of course I do Anna,” he slammed back at her, “you should scurry back to Scotland Yard while you can.”

For one last time she came to him and reached out to soothe his tortured face. She felt the warmth of his skin. This would be the last time she could ever touch him. The thought let go the tears that were massing like troops at the border. He pushed her hand away.

“I’ll get my things.” He said icily as he turned away.

She did not look up as she heard him come out of the bedroom and go to the bottom of the stair that would take him up on deck and away from her forever.

“I loved you and I will always love you.” She said hopelessly.

“Love is about truth Anna. You cannot love a shadow. Loving a shadow is what we call grief.” He answered with an obvious catch in his voice.

His words re-opened the gates of her sorrow. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed uncontrollably. Ever since they had met it was going to end this way. She had always known it.

She heard Lucienne talking on the deck and climbed the stairway. She was walking with Freddie towards the car park. She watched as she placed a hand on his shoulder as he got into his car. Then he gunned the Mercedes and was gone.

Lucienne walked slowly back along the pontoon to the boat. The two women embraced.

“He is very bitter and confused. I told him you were about to tell him. Let it all settle Anna - he loves you, even an old woman can see that.”

It was comforting to hug Lucienne. She had known her since she was a girl and in many ways she was closer than her own mother.

“What can I do?” She sobbed.

“C’est la vie - crois moi - time will solve it. Let it go for today. Love is a fact like the Eiffel Tower. It is there and just because you are not in Paris it does not mean it fell down.”

Anna almost smiled as she kissed her on both cheeks. She thought of the Eiffel tower... so far far away. But standing.

The Mercedes swallowed the autoroute back to Paris. By the time he swept past the solitary fact of the Eiffel tower his anger had dissipated and his one companion was his loneliness. At the penthouse he lay on the bed, breathing in the perfume of her absence. The most beautiful woman he had ever known was now no more than an empty space in his heart. Someone would pay for this - and he knew exactly where to start.

###

She lay awake on the soft bed of the luxurious suite on the Nereus. The gleaming walnut and the sparkling chandeliers seemed to mock her with their irrelevant self satisfied perfection. If there was not love - what was the use of splendor? Mechanically she showered and gasped to see his silk ring robe still lying on the floor. She pulled it to her face and lost herself once again in his scent. At least she had this memento of their love and their union. Finally she fell into an exhausted sleep, wrapped in the flavor and passion of his absence.

It was dawn when she awoke. Footsteps on the deck above - and the tread of town shoes!

A tread that came down the stairs. Her heart pounded. Now she needed to call upon everything she had learned. She pulled the gown around her.

The door opened and a broad silhouette filled the space. She knew at once who it was.

“This had better be important.” She spat with a measured insolence.

The figure entered and closed the door with a sinister click. She would later confess to terror but for now she had a job to do.

She flicked on the light. Male, white, 5 feet 9 inches, business suit. The killer -Tondelli.

He sat down at the foot of the bed.

He took in her appearance and nodded as if with approval. She returned the examination - pock marked face, wide gapped stained teeth, merciless reptilian eyes.

Above the background radiation of fear screamed a question - did he know who she was? The next few seconds would tell.

“Pretty lady - such an English Rose.” Came a mocking gruff response.

“What d’ya want?” She fired back.

He turned and placed his hand on the bed just a few threatening inches from her knee. He leered with sick smile: