Free A Velvet Scream by Priscilla Masters

people get all the luck.’
    This male banter was something you had to get used to working in the police force. To the general public it may portray itself as politically correct but underneath it was as sexist as ever.
    But the women were fighting back.
    â€˜Decent men there too?’ Hannah Beardmore asked innocently.
    Joanna smiled. ‘Well, we’ll be interviewing anyone who feels they have something to contribute and I’ll put something out in the press. Dawn, how did the meeting between Kayleigh and her mother go?’
    â€˜Frosty, to say the least. No love lost between those two. They really hate each other.’
    â€˜Any idea why the feelings run so deep?’
    Dawn shook her head. ‘Apart from the obvious: Kayleigh having robbed her mother of married bliss.’ She met Joanna’s eyes squarely. ‘I’d say that’s enough, Joanna.’
    â€˜OK. I’m treating the London accent as an important lead.’ She deployed a few officers to check in the shops, pubs and hotels. ‘If our perp is from out of the area he must have stayed somewhere. If we come up with nothing from Leek we can widen the area to cover Stoke, Stone and Macclesfield. I’ll also be doing a broadcast on local radio and we’ll see if that bears fruit. Anything else?’
    There wasn’t and the officers dispersed.

FIVE
    Thursday, 2 December. 8 a.m.
    S he dressed carefully and nervously in a grey skirt suit, cream silk blouse and black court shoes, feeling as though she was dressing for a funeral – her own. She brushed her hair, applied the lightest of make-up, feeling sick with dread as she peered at herself in the mirror and saw how pale and apprehensive she looked. Matthew came behind her, grinned at her into the mirror and put his arms around her. ‘Good luck,’ he said, kissing the back of her neck. She turned around to face him, Korpanski’s words about Matthew wanting a ‘wife at home plus kids’ biting into her. ‘You’d probably be pleased if I lost my job, wouldn’t you, Matt?’
    He shook his head. ‘No, I wouldn’t because it wouldn’t be you, Jo.’ He tilted her chin up, kissed her on the lips then searched her face. ‘I can’t imagine you at home all the time, going out to lunch? No thanks. It wouldn’t be you.’ Oddly enough this was one of the few times he chose to mention his ex-wife. ‘That’s what Jane was like: happy to chitter-chatter with her socialite friends, days out to London, shopping, partying, going to the theatre, that sort of stuff.’ His green eyes clouded. ‘I was just a provider. She was never interested in my work or my opinion or anything. She had her own friends and didn’t like my medic friends.’ He frowned. ‘She found them boring. We had nothing in common, Jo.’ He gave a short laugh. ‘Can you believe it? I was married but I was lonely. Really lonely.’ He dropped his arm around her shoulders and she was aware that however strange the timing this was one of the most honest, deep and heart-searching confessions he had ever made to her. He continued. ‘When I met you I felt we connected.’ He smiled, kissed her again and his face lightened. ‘Now that’s enough of this maudlin, self-pitying talk. Let’s just leave it at this: I can’t imagine you being anything other than what you are, Joanna Piercy, soon to be Mrs Levin. I love you the way you are, I promise. And don’t forget, we’re going out for dinner tomorrow night whatever happens.’
    â€˜Oh?’
    â€˜And don’t forget something else.’
    â€˜What?’
    He brushed her lips with his own and she felt the heat in them. ‘That I love you,’ he said simply. Then he drew back. ‘Anyway, Colclough won’t let anything happen to his favourite cop. He’ll protect you.’
    She shook her head. ‘Not now I’ve let