CHAPTER 25 #2
He folded his hands together.
“It was him, wasn't it?”
Angus said nothing.
“You gave up Drew and Kyle, then why won't you give up DeShaun?”
“Sasha, I haven't said either way. What I'm telling you is I'm only willing to provide you with more in exchange for whatever you know.”
I steeled my teeth in silence.
“Come on, Sasha, you run that club from top to bottom.
You've had your fair share of run-ins with everyone from Joe McDonald to DeShaun Wilkesboro, and along the way you've rubbed the likes of Kyle Guernsey and Drew Heseltine the wrong way doing it, you must know something on all of them. Tell me their dirt.”
“Their dirt?”
“Yes, Sasha, sell one of them out, and I'll tell you who leaked me the information about the bid.”
I involuntarily flared my nostrils.
“You can walk out of here and know for sure whether it was DeShaun.”
I thought hard.
“Do it, Sasha.”
I ran my mind around in circles.
“Tell me.”
Until I arrived at my conclusion.
“Well?” he asked.
I stood up from the table, realising just how vulnerable I'd let myself become. “The truth is, Angus, I haven't a fucking thing on any of them.”
I stalked the terraced streets of Broxburgh, my mobile in one hand and my purse in the other, waiting to be picked up.
We're having time apart. Okay, we split up. Happy now? I can't trust him... And I can't love a man I don't trust. Had I just contributed to the next gossip piece in the local rag?
My mobile vibrated with a text.
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered.
DAVID MAYNE – Hey, it's been a while. How are you? I heard you and DeShaun Wilkesboro split up x
I looked away as my lift home pulled up next to me.
“Hi, Sasha,” he said, smiling at me. “We may have to stop meeting like this.”
I shut the door of his car tight. “I just met with Angus Hamilton. I need to tell you everything he told me.”
He parked outside my house and shut off the engine.
“I need you to find the source of that tip about Kyle bricking my window.”
“I can't promise anything at such short notice. The fact it was anonymous makes it difficult in the extreme, but that being said this is what I do... And I do it well.”
“If it's true, Kyle must've been against me from the beginning, especially given he brought Drew in and Drew's been organising the protests.”
“I'm still searching for financial links between Mr Heseltine and the takeover bid.”
“Look for a link to Kyle too.”
Dex nodded, peering over his steering wheel to my front door.
“I'm trying to remember what was written in the note,” I said.
“What note?” he asked.
“The one that came through the window with the brick-”
“Tell me you kept it.”
“Of course, it's inside.”
“Get it for me now, Sasha.”
I took off my seat belt, dashed inside to the kitchen and retrieved the note.
Dex took it from me the moment I sat down. “What a sick fuck,” he said, shaking his head as he read it.
“It's not much to go on, though, is it? He just accuses me of polluting children's minds and warns-”
“Sasha, it may be all we need to prove his involvement... Can you get your hands on a sample of his handwriting?”
“Sure, he has to do his fair share of paperwork-”
“Where?”
“At the ground.”
Dex started the engine. “Buckle up, we're going to Lady Macbeth Park.”
I unlocked the door to Kyle's office, then led Dex inside, reaching my hand to flick the light switch.
He grabbed my wrist. “Don't,” he said. “We've no idea who could be watching.”
I nodded, then waited for him to let go.
Dex stroked my skin.
I was distracted by his touch, not expecting his fortysomething fingers to feel so reassuring. Or so soft. I bit my lower lip.
“His handwriting,” Dex said.
“Yes,” I said quickly, and walked to Kyle's desk.
Dex turned on the torch on his phone to help me see.
I found a few lines scribbled about training on a piece of paper and passed it to him. “Will this do?”
Dex glanced at it. “Should do.” He pulled out the note from the brick to compare the two.
“Well?”
He ran his forefinger under words on each page, checking between them.
“Was it really him?”
Dex grimaced. “The person who wrote the note has tried to write differently to their normal handwriting.
You can tell by the first few words, where perhaps they've used their left hand if they're right-handed or vice versa. But after that their habitual nature has kicked in. See how the m and the n are written in the word minds in the second sentence on the note?”
“Yeah.”
“Then look how Kyle has written the m and n in Milne on his training page.”
I gasped. “They're the same!”
“Indeed,” Dex said, slipping his phone into his pocket and folding his arms. “We don't need to be experts to see it.”
“So, it really was Kyle who threw a brick through my window?!?”
“I'm afraid so, Sasha.”
“The fucking bastard!” I perched my ass on the edge of Kyle's desk. “Is there really nobody I can trust at this fucking club?”
Dex unfolded his arms.
“You have to let me know if you find out anything about DeShaun leaking information, confidential, personal or otherwise, about me or the club.”
“I will,” he said. “I take it Angus Hamilton didn't reveal his source?”
I shook my head.
“Then DeShaun's still-”
“I finished things with him.”
“I see.”
I breathed deeply in as Dex stretched his hand out and made contact with my bare legs.
“Dex, c'mon...”
He guided them apart.
“You're married.”
“Am I indeed?” he asked, nodding to his ringless wedding finger. “Don't deny the chemistry between us, Sasha.”
I said nothing.
“We both want this.” Dex slipped his hand up the inside of my thigh. “Don't we?”
I still said nothing.
His fingertips disappeared under my skirt.