CHAPTER 36
I nervously paced the corridor outside my office, the end of my skirt sliding higher up my thighs with every step until I was forced to drag it down again.
I didn't want to look this way for my next meeting, but after the behaviour of DeShaun's girlfriend the night before I was determined to outdo her.
And only a micro skirt tiny enough to give him a glimpse of his favourite pair of my panties could do it.
The phone on my desk rang.
I cut into my office from outside to answer. “Hello?” I said.
“Ms Liu, it's me,” the receptionist said. “I have a Detective Constable McIvor here to see you. Should I send him to your office?”
“No!” I paused to compose myself. “No, that's not necessary. I'll come meet him at the front door.”
“Yes, Ms Liu.”
I hung up the phone, stretched my skirt down my thighs, then headed out of my office.
“Morning, Ms Liu,” said Dr Mustafa, passing me in the corridor.
“I'll be back up to see you later, doctor,” I said. “I've just some business to attend to first.”
“No rush.”
I walked onwards, until I could see the policeman and I felt the palpitations begin again.
He was alone.
I heard every click of my stilettos echo louder than the one before, and felt every vibration from my heel to my head as my thoughts spun out of control. “DC McIvor,” I said, feigning a smile.
“Ms Liu,” he replied, his tone flat, his hands dug in his pockets and his shoulders haunched.
“How can I help you?”
“I'm just here with an update for you on the crime scene.”
“Uh-huh.”
“We removed the body two days ago...”
“Yes.”
“And now we've finished analysing the area.”
“I see.”
“We don't believe there's more evidence to collect, so we can clear the area and return it to Broxburgh FC's authority.”
I nodded. “This means Saturday's match can go ahead as planned, then?”
“Not my department, Ms Liu, but I'd imagine so.”
I nervously fixed my skirt. “And are you any closer to identifying it?”
DC McIvor looked at me in silence for several suspenseful seconds, as if he wasn't going to answer my question at all. “We have a team working on it.”
“It must be old... Like, really old.”
He arched an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”
“Well, how long ago was the old stand built?” I said, pondering my thoughts aloud. “Decades, I'd say. So it must've been down there for years.”
“The corpse has been deceased for approximately eighteen months, Ms Liu.”
I gasped, then clasped my palm across my mouth.
“We're awaiting the results of further tests,” he said.
“How could that be? The builders only came in to get started recently. It doesn't make any sense.”
The detective cleared his throat. “I think it's best you leave the police work to us, Ms Liu.”
I nodded.
“No need for you to involve any private investigators on this one.”
I glared at him, taking that shot particularly personally. “I think I know your sister, DC McIvor.”
He gave the faintest of nods.
“And your brother-in-law.”
He said nothing.
I felt awkward in the silence, and surrendered to the temptation to break it. “She doesn't speak to me anymore.”
DC McIvor opened the front door to the car park. “I wonder why,” he remarked.
I knew sarcasm when I heard it. “Let me know if there's anything you need, constable.”
“It's Detective Constable, Ms Liu... We'll be in touch.”
I closed the door behind him and turned.
The receptionist was looking at me.
I stared at her.
“Ms Liu?” she asked.
“Good news,” I insisted, beginning my march back up the corridor and no longer caring how high my skirt rode. “The second leg can go ahead. Can you let the SFA know ASAP?”
“Of course.”
The tie was only half over, with Twin Knox Town leading 1-0 from the first leg, and everything still to play for.
But something had to be done about DeShaun.
I knocked on the door to the physio's room.
“Come in,” Hilary said.
I gently pushed it open and greeted them with a smile.
“Afternoon, Ms Liu,” Dr Mustafa said, stood with his back to the window. “I thought I'd best be here for this as well.”
I nodded. “Where's-”
The door swung open behind me.
“DeShaun?” I said quietly, and stepped aside to let him by.
He grunted.
“Pop up on the table for me,” Hilary told him.
“What the hell's this all about?” DeShaun asked, looking between the three of us. “Y'all staging an intervention or some shit?”
I nervously giggled, hoping it'd release some of the tension.
“No, DeShaun,” Dr Mustafa insisted. “I think we all need to be here to agree on what we're going to do next.”
Hilary straightened, then stretched, his legs on the table. “About your future,” they said.
“Sasha, we had a deal, you promised me a transfer at the end of the season.”
Hilary's shoulders tensed.
Dr Mustafa pursed his lips.
I'd hoped DeShaun understood such an agreement between us was supposed to be confidential.
He glanced at my thighs for a split-second.
“DeShaun,” I started, stepping towards the table, “I won't make you do anything you don't want to for this club, but we need you for the second leg on Saturday... On the pitch, playing. If we can find a solution here today, between the four of us, we should at least discuss the possibilities.”
He slapped his leg. “I'm fucked,” he snapped. “My ankle's gone, isn't it, doc?”
Dr Mustafa stepped away from the window. “It's not gone, DeShaun, but it's not the same. At your age, you may have to accept that.”
Hilary worked their fingers into his flesh. “You're playing in immense pain.”
DeShaun nodded.
“The bruising caused complications we didn't foresee,” Dr Mustafa added. “But it wasn't a fracture to your ankle, DeShaun. It shouldn't be career-threatening.”
“But your career is on the cards,” I said, feeling my breasts heave as I inhaled. “Which is why I won't demand you do anything.”
He looked at me for a long time. “What's she talking about?”
Hilary continued to work their magic on his flesh.
Dr Mustafa leaned down to inspect the ankle.
“Why's no one answering me?” DeShaun demanded.
Hilary withdrew their hands to allow Dr Mustafa a better glance.
“Just wait, DeShaun,” I said softly, staring into his eyes and pleading silently with him to be patient. And to trust me.
“This is bullshit,” he said. “Doc, level with me, what da fuck's going on?”
Dr Mustafa scrunched his face up and sighed. He looked Hilary in their eye. “I can't be a part of this, I'm sorry.”
“Be a part of what, doc?”
Dr Mustafa turned to DeShaun. “These two want to give you injections to play through the pain on Saturday.”
Hilary said nothing.
“It'd be your decision, DeShaun,” I said quickly.
Hilary turned their back to him and glared at me.
“I cannot in good conscience recommend it, DeShaun,” the doctor continued. “Not when I see how swollen your ankle is today, and knowing how few minutes you were on the pitch last night.”
“He's been involved in a lot of games recently,” I said.
“As a sub,” Hilary added, staring daggers into my eyes.
“Wait, wait, wait,” DeShaun said, sitting up. “Let me get this straight, okay, you and you,” he was pointing to Hilary and I, “reckon some injections are gonna block out the pain long enough so I can play a proper part in the match?”
I nodded. “You could start the match, DeShaun.”
“And you're against it?” he asked, looking at the doctor.
“I fear the consequences could be devastating,” Dr Mustafa said. “It's very, very risky.”
“But I could come through it okay?” DeShaun asked.
Dr Mustafa nodded.
“Hilary,” DeShaun said. “Turn around. Look at me. I need to see your face.”
I watched Hilary turn to him.
DeShaun stared at them for a long time. “Will you give me the injections if I tell you to?”
Hilary hesitated, then conceded a nod. “I will.”
“And you won't?” he asked the doctor.
Dr Mustafa shook his head.
DeShaun looked at his ankle for several seconds. “Then we do it,” he said firmly.
“DeShaun-”
“Doc, I've made my decision.”
“But your career, your transfer-”
“We've no choice. I'm the player. I'm the manager. This is my decision. Whether this is my last game or not, I want to go out there on Saturday on my terms.” He looked to me. “I wanna know I gave everything I've got to get us promotion.”
“Thank you, DeShaun,” I said quietly, barely more than mouthing the words to him.
Dr Mustafa looked down.
“You've got your agreement,” Hilary told him. “And you don't have to be a part of it.”
“Hilary, I didn't want it to go this way.”
“Please, doctor... Can you just leave us?”
Dr Mustafa gestured to the door in disbelief. “You want me to step outside?”
“Yes.”
He left the room.
Hilary returned to working on DeShaun's ankle.
I felt guilty. I'd pushed every one of them to get what I needed.
And I could hear DeShaun's words, after we split up, ringing in my ears, You're a drama queen who uses people, Sasha.
I'll never give you the chance to hurt me again.
That's final. “DeShaun, I really appreciate what you're doing for me-”
“I'm not doing it for you,” he interrupted, and pulled his leg away from Hilary. “I'm doing it for the club.”
I nodded.
“And my career... Whatever's left of it.” DeShaun set his feet on the floor and stood. “When do we start the injections?”
“Tomorrow,” Hilary answered.
“Then, if there's nothing more, I'll be on my way.”
I stepped aside to let him brush past me, feeling his resentment resonate from head to toe.
He pulled the door shut behind him.
“He's not happy,” I said.
“Neither am I,” Hilary replied quickly. “You know I was against it too.”
“But you changed your mind, Hilary. You assured me it'd be safe-”
“No, Ms Liu, I said it should be okay. I never said it'd be safe. The truth is it isn't.” They glared at me. “This could be the biggest mistake I ever make in my career. I don't want it to be the end of it... Or his.”
I folded my arms.
“And he knows it.”
I looked to the door.
“Y'know, I wish I'd someone who loved me as much as he loves you.”
“What?” I said. “He doesn't love me. He's with someone else.”
“He's risking everything for you, Ms Liu. Everything.”
I centred my stare on theirs. “Hilary, these injections... They are legal, aren't they?”