Faithfully: Chase & Halshaw #1 Read Online Free PDF Page B

please?”
    “I’d rather not, Inspector. But it has nothing whatsoever to
do with the break-in at Amy’s, I assure you.”
    “I’m afraid I’ll have to be the judge of that,” said Chase,
gently.
    Bryn Lewis buried his balding head in his pudgy hands. Chase
drained the last of his coffee and waited expectantly. Eventually Lewis looked
up, his face flushed. “It was from my mistress,” he replied, in little more
than a whisper.
    “That’s OK,” sighed the detective, with a faint sense of
disappointment. “I’ve no interest in whether or not you’re faithful to your
wife.”
    “But I am faithful to my wife,” Lewis insisted.
    “I don’t follow.”
    “The woman who sent the text is my Mistress, Inspector. I am
her servant. Her slave. Her plaything...”
    “I understand,” Chase interjected quickly. “Do you have a
phone number for her? I need to verify your story.”
    “Of course, Inspector. Give me your card. I’ll ask her if
she will deign to contact you.”
    Chase handed over a business card. “Oh, one other thing.
What’s her name, your, er, Mistress?”
    “My Lady Perdita,” replied Lewis, in an awed whisper.
    *
    “Yesterday morning went well, I thought,” declared Dave
Kelmarsh, as he tucked into his brimming plate of Chicken Tikka Masala.
    Amy toyed with the homemade salad in her Tupperware box.
“Bloody shambles,” she retorted. “Hilton and Usher, fighting their corners as
usual. They don’t give a stuff about the benefits to their own companies, never
mind the Group.”
    “You can’t really blame them, though. After the back office
consolidation they don’t have much of an empire left, other than their
operational systems. Now Bryn’s going to take that away from them as well.”
    “Business isn’t a charity, Dave!”
    He shrugged. “Your presentation went well, though.”
    “Yes, I suppose it did,” she sighed.
    “That’s good, isn’t it?”
    “Yes, Dave, it’s good. But...”
    Dave put down his knife and fork and leant forward,
concerned. “What’s wrong, Amy?” he asked.
    “You must have heard about my break-in by now, surely.”
    “Oh yeah! Sorry. That must have taken the shine off it a
bit.”
    “Yeah. I was up most of Monday night with the police. I
could barely keep my eyes open yesterday morning.”
    “What happened? The break-in, I mean.”
    “They only got into my bedroom, thank God.”
    “Did they take much?”
    “Some money and jewellery, that’s all.”
    “All?”
    She shook her head. “No, that’s not all. They smeared dog
shit all over my bed.”
    He frowned. “Sorry, Amy. It’s a bit noisy in here. I thought
you said...”
    “Yeah!” she shouted. “Some fucking sicko broke into my flat
and smeared dog shit all over my fucking bed!”
    Several people at adjacent tables turned and stared, but her
shout was largely drowned in the hubbub of the cafeteria.
    “God, I’m sorry, Amy,” Dave said. He reached for her, but
faltered, and picked up his cutlery instead. “So why didn’t you take the day
off yesterday?”
    “Didn’t want to miss the meeting,” replied Amy, in a flat
voice. “I’d worked bloody hard on that presentation and I was damned if anyone
else was going to deliver it. No offence, of course...”
    “Of course not.” He took a large forkful of curry and chewed
thoughtfully. “Anything I can do to help?”
    “Give me something to smile about, Dave. Tell me a dirty
joke. Show me pictures of your kids. Anything.”
    “Thought you’d never ask,” he grinned, pulling out his
iPhone. “Here you go,” he said, handing it across. “It was Emily’s first day at
school last week, and I took some pictures of her when she came home.”
    “Let’s have a look.” The photos showed a pretty, dark haired
little girl, faultlessly turned out in grey gymslip and white blouse, beaming
proudly at the camera.
    “Aw!” she smiled. “That was at the end of the day, was it?”
    “Yes. Why?”
    Amy’s smile softened. “Oh,