Legacy of Lies by Jane A. Adams Page B

officer on scene. Hand resting on Napoleon’s head, Naomi now made her way over to where Alec stood.
    â€˜You feeling better, love?’ the other officer asked her. ‘I still think you should get checked out by the doc.’
    â€˜Thanks. I’m OK,’ Naomi told him. ‘Have they done much damage inside?’
    â€˜Right mess, I’m afraid,’ he told her. ‘I’m DS Fine, by the way. We didn’t get a chance for proper introductions earlier.’
    Naomi held out her hand. ‘Pleased to meet you,’ she said as he shook it, aware that this was all just a little bit surreal. His handshake was firm and the hands slightly calloused. She remembered the man who had put his hand around the door frame and grabbed her own.
    â€˜I bit him,’ Naomi said. ‘I bit hard, I think I might have drawn blood. There might be trace on the door frame.’
    â€˜Trace?’ Fine was clearly surprised by her technical use of the term.
    â€˜Naomi was a DI,’ Alec explained. ‘Until …’
    â€˜I had an accident,’ she said.
    â€˜I’m sorry.’
    She smiled. ‘Life happens. Look, I’m ready to make a statement now.’
    â€˜Sure you’re up to it?’
    â€˜Best now, while it’s still fresh.’
    â€˜I’ll get someone to drive you both to Epworth.’
    â€˜I’ll drive us,’ Alec told him. ‘I think we’d better find ourselves a hotel, too. Can I get some clothes and such together?’
    â€˜He … they … didn’t go into the bedroom,’ Naomi said. ‘The man that came upstairs stood outside the study door and turned the knob, then he was called back downstairs. I shouted at him that I’d called the police. I think they knew they’d better leave.’
    â€˜Right. OK. Alec, DC Roland over there has laid out our path, so you’d best let him show you where you can go. We’ll secure the place before we leave and someone will hang on here until SOCO arrives.’
    â€˜Thanks,’ Alec said. ‘Could you help Naomi and Napoleon to my car and I’ll be as quick as I can.’
    Sitting in the front seat of a familiar vehicle, selecting her favourite channel on the radio and allowing Rachmaninov to soothe her nerves, Naomi closed her eyes as she still always did when trying to shut out extraneous thoughts.
    She replayed the time from when she had first heard banging on the door right through to when the police arrived. It hadn’t, she realized, been that long. Ten, fifteen minutes, perhaps from start to end, but it had seemed like an eternity.
    Napoleon woofed a greeting as Alec dumped their luggage in the boot and then got into the car. He took Naomi’s hand and squeezed.
    â€˜It’s a right mess,’ he said. ‘But you’re all right. That’s what matters.’
    â€˜You know,’ she said, ‘they must have been looking for something. Rupert owing money might be true, but I don’t think that was the important thing. They wanted to get inside the house and I’m sure they saw you leave. I think they might have assumed I’d gone with you and were just checking things out by banging on the door.’
    â€˜Speculation,’ Alec said. ‘You can’t know that.’
    â€˜No, I can’t and I’ll just stick to the facts in the statement. I know the drill. There was a strange thing though, Alec. The man who came to the front door. He got so angry so quickly that it was almost unnatural. It was as if he’d already worked himself up and what I did just tipped him over.’
    â€˜Whatever the truth of the matter,’ Alec said, ‘we won’t be going back to Fallowfields for a little while, I don’t think.’
    â€˜But we won’t be going back home either, will we? Just as well you booked more time than you thought you’d need.’ Just as well there was nothing dramatic happening