Free Broken Dolls by James Carol Page A

play, and couldn’t have got it more wrong. He’d aimed to be the top dog and failed spectacularly. If he stood up now then he might as well wave a white flag. The golden rule with power plays was that you never made your move until you were absolutely certain what your opponent’s move was going to be. Sun Tzu got it right two and a half millennia ago when he said you needed to know your enemy.
    The PA flashed her boss a look, then shut the door gently behind her. She was in her early twenties, brunette and perky and no doubt useless at her job. What she lacked in competence she must have made up for with her athleticism. It was the only reason I could see for Flight hiring her.
    I smiled down at Greg Flight, and he fired a smile right back at me. He was doing his best to save face, but he’d already lost, and didn’t even know it. Flight also had a space on his ring finger. His way of dealing with what had happened was through denial, and he’d no doubt done a thorough job of erasing Sarah from his life. If this meeting had taken place at his home rather than his office, there wouldn’t have been a single trace of their life together. No pictures, no mementos, no reminders whatsoever. There was a good chance he’d sold the house he shared with Sarah. It had taken some serious persuasion from Templeton to get five minutes of his time, not because he was busy, but because we were representatives from a past he was trying very hard to run away from.
    ‘How long have you been screwing her?’ I asked.
    Flight looked confused, a man caught on the back foot, which was exactly where I wanted him. He knew what he’d heard, but couldn’t be sure he’d heard right. ‘Excuse me?’ he said.
    I shrugged. ‘I was wondering how long you’ve been having sex with your PA. Does she know her days are numbered?’ I nodded to myself. ‘Of course she does. Incompetent isn’t the same as stupid. So were you screwing her before Sarah’s kidnapping? She looks a lot like Sarah, you know.’
    Flight just stared, open-mouthed and dumbfounded.
    I shook my head. ‘No. Sarah was kidnapped last year and I’m guessing there have been about six or seven women since then. A new one every couple of months would be about right. Did they all look like Sarah?’
    Flight just carried on staring.
    ‘You were screwing around with someone when your wife was kidnapped, though.’ I nodded to myself. ‘Of course you were. And before that there would have been someone else. It’s what you do. You see a woman you like and you have to have her. It doesn’t matter who you hurt.’
    A pause, then, ‘Did you ever really love Sarah? I mean really love her. I’m talking the sort of love where you would sacrifice your life.’ Another shake of the head. ‘Of course you didn’t. You could never do that. And the reason you couldn’t do that is because you’re a self-obsessed commitment-phobic asshole.’
    Greg Flight’s face turned bright red. And then he launched himself at me. He moved quickly for someone who spent a large part of his life stuck behind a desk, covering the distance between us in seconds. He hit me hard in the chest and I stumbled backwards. One moment I was upright, the next I was flat on my back with Flight pinning me down. I tried to wriggle free but there was too much of him and not enough of me. He curled his hand into a fist. His face was twisted with rage, lips narrow, eyes bulging. I struggled some more and ran through the various scenarios, but it didn’t matter which way I came at the situation, I was going to end up hurt. The question right now was how badly.
    The punch never came.
    The weight on my chest eased and when I opened my eyes Greg Flight was glaring at me side-on from about four inches away. He was close enough for me to smell the stale coffee on his breath. His right cheek was squashed into the carpet and Templeton was on top of him, pulling his right arm up behind his back.
    ‘This is police