The Other Woman’s House Read Online Free PDF Page B

hassle they’d had and all the cash they’d handed over, that would be even harder. The worst thing was having to talk about the lack of a baby endlessly, when it bored Gibbs so much and he wasn’t allowed to say that it did. He didn’t care any more. He’d agreed that a baby was a nice idea when he’d thought it would be straightforward, but if it wasn’tstraightforward, if it was a never-ending nightmare, as it was proving to be, then why bother? What was so special about his or Debbie’s genes that they needed to be passed on?
    Olivia plonked herself down next to him. ‘He’s left the bottles on the bar in case we want a top-up, said we can settle up in the morning. What a lovely man!’
    Earlier, Gibbs had wished she would stop gushing and lower her voice. Now that they were the only people left, it didn’t matter. The music had stopped more than an hour ago. The wall-candles had been put out at the same time, and the bright overhead lights switched on. There was a morning-after feel to the hotel bar, even though, as far as Gibbs was concerned, it was still the night before.
    â€˜So, are you going to tell me, then?’ he asked.
    â€˜Tell you what?’
    â€˜Where they are. Waterhouse and Charlie.’ If Olivia knew, Gibbs figured, then he had a right to know too. As the two witnesses, they ought to have equal access to all relevant information.
    â€˜If I wouldn’t tell you at ten o’clock, or eleven, or midnight, or one, why would I tell you now?’
    â€˜You’ve had more to drink. Your defences are down.’
    Olivia raised an eyebrow and laughed. ‘My defences are never down. The downer they seem, the upper they are. If that makes sense.’ She leaned forward.
Cleavage alert
. ‘Why do you call him Waterhouse?’
    â€˜It’s his name.’
    â€˜Why don’t you call him Simon?’
    â€˜Dunno. We call each other by our surnames: Gibbs, Waterhouse. Sellers. We all do.’
    â€˜Sam Kombothekra doesn’t,’ said Olivia. ‘He calls you Chris– I’ve heard him. He calls Simon Simon. And Simon calls him Sam, but you don’t – you still call him Stepford. That was your original nickname for him and you’re sticking with it.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘You fear change.’
    Gibbs wondered what had happened to the inebriated airhead he’d been drinking with a few minutes ago. Obviously she wasn’t as far gone as he’d thought. ‘It’s a good nickname,’ he told her. ‘He’ll always be Stepford to me.’ He’d go to bed after this drink, bottle on the bar or no bottle on the bar. A woman like Olivia Zailer couldn’t possibly be interested in anything he had to say. Knowing that made it hard to talk to her.
    â€˜Aren’t you surprised that I know who calls who what, and I don’t even work with you?’
    â€˜Not really.’
    â€˜Hm.’ She sounded dissatisfied. ‘Why do you think Simon chose you and not Sam? To be a witness.’
    Gibbs was careful not to give himself away by looking as if it mattered to him. ‘Your guess is as good as mine,’ he said.
    â€˜It’s obvious why he didn’t choose Colin Sellers, a dedicated adulterer,’ said Olivia. ‘Simon’d think it was a jinx on his and Charlie’s marriage to have a lowly fornicator involved in the proceedings.’
    â€˜That’s stupid,’ said Gibbs. ‘It’s up to Sellers what he does.’ The Fornicator,
starring DC Colin Sellers. DC Colin Sellers is back in
Fornicator II. Gibbs smiled. A whole new world of piss-taking possibilities had just opened up. He wished he’d thought of it himself.
    â€˜With Colin out of the picture, Simon’s options were you or Sam,’ said Olivia. ‘At first I wondered whether he didn’t want Sam because Sam’s chatty. He knew he and Charlie would be jetting off