No aftershave, only unscented aftershave balm.
In the bathroom, his toothbrush on the side was the most personal thing in there. The shampoo and showergel were hotel miniatures. The bathroom cabinet were empty.
If this was his home, he didn’t spend much time here.
Bored, I toed off my shoes and slumped down in the middle of his bed. I stared up at the ceiling, imagining him lying in exactly the same place and I glanced across at the bedside table. With a grin, I curled up onto my knees and crawled over to the side, on the hunt for something – anything at all.
I expected a few condoms at the very least. Maybe a packet of tissues. But the only thing in it was a copy of the Bible. This really might as well have been a hotel.
The other bedside table was the same.
“I give up. Maxim Toropov, you really are a ghost.”
CHAPTER 17
Elizabeth
I woke up blearily, to the sound of my phone ringing. In the dark of Maxim’s bedroom, the bright screen illuminated the ceiling, and I scrabbled for it, sleep making my limbs heavy.
“Hello?” I rubbed at my eyes, sitting up as I answered.
“Oh thank God.”
“Cassie? Wha-time is it?”
“Sorry I woke you up kid. Your house is all over the news. I thought-”
“What?” A shock of cold went through me. Maxim wasn’t back yet. Surely no one could have figured out what I’d done already.
“Shit, kid. It’s gone up like a tinderbox. I thought you were charcoal when you didn’t come in tonight.”
“What? No- I…” I didn’t even feel the sob coming until it was out of my mouth, cutting me off. There had been a fire? All my things. Everything I’d ever owned was there. Everything that had been Mum’s. I bit down hard on the lump in my throat, huffing out a breath and forcing myself to calm down. I wasn’t going to go to pieces.
I was on my feet in an instant, stalking towards Maxim’s living room on a hunt for the remote control.
“Elizabeth shit. I’m sorry.”
“I’m fine.”
“Yeah, I know, kid. You always are, but you don’t have to be. Where are you? You want me to come get you?”
I looked around on instinct, my brain slow to formulate an answer. “I – no I’m fine. I’m with a friend.”
“A friend, huh?” Cassie knew me too well. I’ve bitched and moaned about the girls at school who’ve always seen something in me that doesn’t fit in. The ones who got the short end of my temper before I learned to cool it down. She listened through me losing my best friend because I started lying to her to cover for what Pierce was doing, stopped being able to come out with her to the movies, shopping – all those things that used to be normal before my time off had to bring in money.
“Yeah.” I chewed my lip and flipped on the TV, muting the sound instantly. “I’ve met someone.”
The news was up on the screen, and my heart clenched in my chest at the sight of the high flames lapping out of the windows of what used to be my home. Was Pierce’s body in there, slowly being burnt to ashes? Wouldn’t they find the bullets even after it all burned through? What if they put the fire out too soon?
“Someone?”
“Someone I trust.”
She lets out a soft hum. “Good. I’m glad. About time. I hope you let him take care of you.”
The camera panned across to the crowd of my neighbours out on the street, no doubt ripped out of their beds by the fire alarms. They’d assembled in a little crowd, oozing irritation at not being allowed back inside. And I realise that in the middle of all that, Maxim was standing there, head down, hands in his pockets. His jacket was different and his gun were nowhere to be seen.
“Cassie I don’t think I’m going to be at work for a bit.”
There was a solid silence on the other end of the line and for a minute I thought the connection had cut out.
“Are you in trouble?”
“No. Not right now. But, Cassie I might be.” What happened if they caught him? What happened if he talked? I didn’t like knowing he was in the middle of that crowd, no doubt being kept there to make a statement.
What had he been up to all this time? Torching the place couldn’t have taken that long.
She let out a solid breath. “Shit, Elizabeth. What did you do? No – don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”
“If anyone asks. Can you-”
“Don’t say it. I’m your boss. What do I know about what you get up to? You didn’t even show up for your shift.”
“Thank you Cassie.”
“You owe me Harrington. You pay me back by making sure you’re safe.”