Chapter Sixteen
T illy had never wanted to meld into someone more. She pressed her body against Sophie’s and reveled in the taste of her, the feel of her, not caring that she couldn’t breathe. Sophie’s hands clasped the back of her neck, pulling her even deeper in.
She backed her against the wall, not wanting this to ever stop, not wanting to be alone ever again, just wanting this to go on and on forever.
Only after a long, long time, did she finally pull away, tilt her forehead against Sophie’s, and take a deep breath. “Thank you.” It was all she could think of to say.
“You’re welcome, I guess?” Sophie said. In the shadows Tilly could see a small smile on her mouth, her lips swollen.
“I’ve wanted to do that since the first time I saw you,” Tilly admitted.
Sophie laughed. “Me too.”
“I thought you weren’t interested,” said Tilly. “You turned me down, and I thought I needed to forget all about you. And then I got this investigation and thought maybe it’s for the best, maybe I shouldn’t have any distractions. And now this.”
Sophie turned her head a little. “What investigation is that?” she asked, perhaps not as casually as she’d meant to.
“Some stolen cars,” Tilly said with a shrug. “Someone or someones are stealing cars in the area. I’m looking into it. That’s all.” She moved her hands, stroked back her hair, moved an inch away from Sophie. “It’s not a murder or anything, but… But it’s my first real case and it’s a good opportunity.”
Sophie was sliding away from her now, moving so that she was standing properly, not backed up against the wall. The lights from the entrance hall gleamed in through the windows in the door, catching in her dark hair. “Tilly.”
It was just one word, but it sounded so ominous. “Yeah?” Tilly asked cautiously. If this was it, she promised herself, if Sophie was calling things off now, she’d be fine with it. Hurt, but fine. She could do this. She’d had that kiss and what right did she have to expect more?
“I have to tell you something.”
Tilly bared her teeth in a grimace. “Oh god, are you married? Dating?” Her heart plunged. She hadn’t even asked if Sophie was single. Hadn’t suspected a thing. Christ, she should really be more careful.
“It’s not that.”
“What is it then?” Her heart was beating fast now, her mouth getting dry. What could be worse than being married? The tone of Sophie’s voice told her this was going to be something bad.
“Um, my name,” Sophie said.
“I know your name. It’s Sophie.” Tilly was confused. “It’s a beautiful name. Do you not like it?”
“Not my first name. My full name.” Sophie was looking out toward the entrance now, looking like she was wishing she could run away. She took a deep breath. “It’s Sophie Farmer.”
It took a second. A second of seeing the light gleam in Sophie’s hair, a second of tasting that kiss, a second of slow thought, until… “You… you what?”
Sophie turned back. “Sophie Farmer,” she repeated.
Tilly shook her head. “No.”
“Yes.”
“But… You should have told me, you should have said something.” Tilly backed up further, as though physically distancing herself could make everything un-happen. “You… you’re… But I can’t, and…”
“It’s alright,” Sophie said calmly. “It’s alright. I can see that you’re angry.”
“Angry?” Tilly said, feeling the beat of it inside her. “Angry? I can’t even…” She took a breath and another breath, trying to make some sense out of all this.
Sophie was a Farmer. As in the Farmers that she was pretty sure had something to do with the car theft ring. And she’d… she’d kissed her. Another very shaky breath. Then Tilly did the only thing she could think of doing.
“I can’t be here,” she said. “I can’t be this close to you.” And she walked out without looking back.
THE HOUSE WAS quiet went she got back. She’d gotten into the habit of coming in through the front, rather than using her own door. It felt strange to feel such silence in this house, and she thought she was alone until she heard a rustle of papers from the living room.
Out of politeness more than anything, she stuck her head around the door. Mila was sitting on the floor, the coffee table covered with papers, a calculator in her hand. She looked up in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I’m not supposed to be here,” Tilly said. She was still in shock, she supposed, still not able to believe that Sophie hadn’t told her before, that she hadn’t figured it out herself, that she’d practically thrown herself at the daughter of what could be Whitebridge’s biggest crime family.
“Oh dear,” Mila said. “You look like you’ve had quite the day.” She put her calculator down. “How about a drink?”
“A drink?” Tilly said, like she’d barely heard of the word.
Mila laughed. “Sit down on that couch right there. Max has taken the kids to see a film. They won’t be back for ages. I’ll be right with you.”
Tilly did as she was told. How could she have kissed Sophie? How could she not have known? How could she have potentially compromised her investigation like that? But it wasn’t her fault, was it? Not that that would wash in any kind of internal investigation. She couldn’t prove that she hadn’t known who Sophie was.
But then, maybe Sophie knew nothing about anything. Or perhaps she knew everything, and she was just stringing Tilly along, trying to find out how the investigation was going. Maybe this was all a set-up.
Tilly blinked away hot tears. She wasn’t going to cry over this. She just wasn’t.
“Here,” Mila said, coming back in and handing her a glass. “Drink that.” She clinked her glass against Tilly’s and then sat back down on the carpet in front of the coffee table. “Want to talk about it?”
“I don’t think I can,” Tilly said.
Mila blew a raspberry. “Course you can. You can do whatever you like. Would it help if I agreed to be sworn to secrecy? I won’t tell Max, if that’s what you’re worried about.” She considered this for a second. “I mean, as long as he doesn’t need to know, that is.”
Tilly looked at her glass, it was filled with a dark-colored liquid that smelled suspiciously sweet. Glancing over at Mila, she could see that her glass was a much lighter color, something else entirely. “What is this?”
“Gin and Dubonnet,” Mila said, pulling a face. “It’s too strong for me, but Max likes it when he’s had a long day. And you can tell me things if you need to. There’s no need to keep things bottled up.”
Tilly sipped at the drink. It was strong. But it was sweet and sticky and quite satisfying at the same time. “I think I might be involved in a conflict of interest,” she said.
Mila raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound at all like you, at least from what I know about you.”
“It wasn’t an intentional one,” said Tilly firmly. She sighed and tried a different tack. She wasn’t sure how much she wanted to say. “How do you do it?” she asked.
“Do what?”
“Stay with Max. When he’s a policeman and you’re not, and you live in this town too and… And just how does it work?”
“Well, I’m not exactly a criminal mastermind,” Mila laughed. “It’s not like Max has to arrest me once a month.”
“Isn’t it hard though?”
“Of course it is,” Mila said. She was looking down at the papers as she said this and Tilly could see that they were the bank papers she’d seen Mila with before. “But there are advantages. Besides, neither of us wanted to move away from here. This is where I was born, where I want to bring up my children.”
“But what if, say, your business partner was a criminal?”
“Ant?” said Mila. “She wouldn’t hurt a fly. Anyway, she’s far too busy for committing crimes. Plus, her favorite crime is murder, so that’s the one she’d want to do and I don’t think she’s got the stomach for it, to be honest.”
“Murder?” Tilly asked.
“We run a crime bookshop,” said Mila. “And Ant knows a lot about crime. Maybe even more than Max does.”
“Okay, but hypothetically, that would be a conflict of interest, wouldn’t it?”
“I suppose,” said Mila. “But I don’t think it would really reflect on me. I mean, Max knows who I am, what I wouldn’t do. I think it would just be one of those things. This is a small town, Tilly. It’s impossible to avoid everyone just because they might be involved in something unsavory. Max has a pint with Old Dave at the pub all the time.”
“The one that had his driving license taken away?” Tilly asked.
“That’s the one,” agreed Mila. She bit her lip, then looked at Tilly. “Is this about Sophie Farmer?”
Tilly spluttered on her drink, almost choked, then managed to swallow. “What?”
“Sorry,” said Mila, holding up her hands. “It’s absolutely none of my business. But…” She blushed. “But like I said, it’s a small town. Billy was in the bookshop yesterday and mentioned something about the two of you making eyes at each other and I just thought… Nothing, never mind.”
With a sigh, Tilly nodded sadly. “It is.”
“She doesn’t like you back?” asked Mila gently.
“No, no, that’s not the problem.” The admission made Tilly’s heart give a quick extra beat. No, she was sure Sophie liked her back.
“So the problem is that she’s a Farmer.”
Tilly nodded.
“She’s a good girl,” said Mila. “Never been in any kind of trouble that I know of, and I would know. That brother of hers can be a handful, and Paul went off the rails a bit when his wife died, not that you can really blame him for that. Sophie’s fine though, she’s a hard worker, went away to college but came back to take care of her dad and that Gio.”
“But I think they might be involved in this car theft ring,” said Tilly slowly. “I’ve got no proof, but I think it’s heading that way.”
Mila shrugged. “I’d be surprised,” she said. “But on the whole, even if they were, I doubt Sophie would know anything about it. The way those two protect her, I don’t think they’d tell her anything, even if they were involved.”
“Be that as it may,” Tilly said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to get involved. I’ve got my career to think of, after all.” She took another hearty mouthful of her drink. “I think I might go and take a bath.”
“Go on then,” said Mila. “Have a good think. Baths always help with that sort of thing.”
But Tilly didn’t think there was that much more to think about.