Free Foul Justice by MA Comley Page A

place?”
    “Yes.”
    Lorne smiled and patted her arm. “Well, you can’t go back there, then. What about staying with me for a few days?”
    “I couldn’t.” She looked shocked at the prospect.
    “Why not? Give me one good reason.” Lorne watched Katy scrape her foot back and forward on the floor a few more times before adding, “That’s settled. After work, we’ll drop by your place, and you can pack a few things. It’ll be fun, and I can get to know you a little better. Actually, it’ll be like old times. Pete often stayed over.”
    Lorne watched the different faces Katy pulled, something akin to relief and cringing all rolled into one.
    In the end, Katy gave a defeated shrug.
    “You stay here. I’ll go get you some camouflage.” Lorne walked through the incident room and into her office. She pulled out an old tube of foundation from deep inside her handbag. The top was caked and hard to shift at first, but after a few seconds, she succeeded in opening it. After wiping the top, she squeezed a little out to test that it hadn’t separated too much.
    Then Lorne retraced her steps through the group, pausing at Tracy’s desk. The young officer looked concerned.
    Lorne patted Tracy on the shoulder. “It’s all right. She’ll be fine. Katy will be staying with me for a couple of days.”
    “I was going to offer to put her up, ma’am.” Tracy looked relieved.
    Lorne suspected her relief was more out of concern for Katy than not wanting to become involved in a relationship dispute. “I’m sure she would’ve appreciated that. I’d like to get to know her a bit more, and with Tony being away, this works out well for both of us.”
    “Ma’am?”
    “Tony’s had to go away for a few days on an internal course,” Lorne lied, regretting that she had mentioned he’d been called away.
    “I see. If there is anything I can do, don’t hesitate to ask, ma’am.”
    “I’ll let Katy know you’re concerned about her.” Lorne pushed open the door to the ladies’ and found Katy staring in the mirror, a wad of toilet paper in her hand, dabbing at her black eye.
    “Here. Let me see.” She gripped Katy by the shoulders and gently wiped the area dry with a tissue before she tentatively started applying the makeup. She covered the affected area with three layers. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, because of their different skin tones, but it was a darn sight better than the rainbow colours Katy had walked into work with, not half an hour before.
    The exercise had shown how tough Katy was. She flinched once or twice when Lorne had blended the makeup, but overall, her shoulders had been pulled back with determination, and she’d put up with the pain inflicted, taking it in her stride.
    “There. A certain part of you might look like a clown, but I’m sure people won’t stop and stare at you now.”
    Katy turned to survey Lorne’s artistic flair and nodded her approval. “Maybe you missed your vocation, ma’am.”
    Lorne smiled. “You fit and willing to start duty now, Sergeant?”
    Standing to attention, Katy mock saluted and made for the door.
    “Right, let’s go and pay this friendly security firm a visit, shall we?”

CHAPTER TWELVE
    T hey arrived at the swanky office of Trust Us at just after ten. The office was in the middle of a trading estate on the outskirts of East Finchley. The place, which looked more like a showroom than any security office Lorne had ever been in, was decorated in slate grey, and all the furniture was either chrome or black. Two of the four desks were occupied by young, suited men who obviously earned enough not to buy off-the-rack suits.
    As soon as the two detectives walked into the office, one of the men gave them a guarded look. He stepped from behind his desk at the rear of the office and approached them, his arm extended ready to shake hands. Lorne deliberately ignored his hand and reached into her pocket to pull out her ID. It was her intention to