Free Gagged & Bound by Natasha Cooper Page A

head cradled on the big natural sponge Camilla had given him when she came back from a holiday in the Greek islands, and waited to hear who wanted him. Only when her voice rang out from the answering machine did he find the energy to get out and wrap himself in a towel.
    ‘Hi! I was in the bath. How are you?’
    ‘OK, Daddy. But what about you ? What has Beatrice Bowman said about the libel?’
    ‘Nothing so far.’
    ‘Haven’t your solicitors done their stuff yet? You need to put a bomb under them. Bugger! Sorry. I didn’t mean that. But you do need to keep after them. We all know what lawyers are like. It’s too important to let them dilly-dally around, taking—’
    ‘They’ve done everything they can at this stage. These things always take time. We’ve already issued what’s called Letters of Claim. Now we’ve just got to wait to see what Bowman and her publishers offer me. Then we decide whether it’s enough.’
    ‘And if they don’t offer anything? What’ll you do then? You can’t just leave it here, Daddy. It’s too dangerous. Think of your reputation.’
    ‘Camilla, you’ve got to learn a little patience. There are more important things to worry about than this.’
    ‘But we have to find a way to make the world see that it wasn’t you who killed those children.’
    Simon laughed. ‘Apart from you and Dan and whoever else you may have told, no one does think it refers to me. No journalist has been asking questions, and none of the papers have even referred to the book. Each time I pass a shop I go in to see if there are any copies on sale, and there never are. You’re exaggerating the risk, sweetheart.’
    He suddenly thought how that would sound in court, if the claim ever got that far. ‘But whatever you do, Camilla, don’t tell anyone I said so or it would ruin our whole case. OK, sweetheart?’
    ‘Of course, Daddy. And I haven’t said anything to anyone else. Nor has Dan. But you must promise you won’t let that bitch get away with it.’
    ‘I promise. Now go to bed. Sleep well and forget it. Have you decided whether you’re in love with Dan Stamford yet? That’s much more important.’
    Her breathless giggle reassured him a little. ‘Not yet. He is rather gorgeous, though, isn’t he?’
    ‘Doesn’t do it for me, but then I suppose he wouldn’t. Goodnight, Camilla.’

Chapter 5
    Thursday 15 March
    ‘Come on, Steph,’ called the sergeant. ‘Aren’t you ready yet? You’re holding up the whole squad.’
    ‘I hate these vests,’ Stephanie Taft said, bending round awkwardly to do up the straps of her bullet-proof chest protector. It didn’t help that her breasts were bigger than the designers had expected. They hurt already, but she wasn’t going to complain too loudly. It was a long time since she’d been out on a raid. Even though her firearms training had been topped-up last year, she hadn’t been allowed near a gun on duty until today. Being picked for the team showed that at last she’d served her time in Coventry for getting the bully pushed out of the force.
    ‘I’m not surprised, with tits on you like a she-elephant’s,’ said young Mac Fraser, raising a whooping laugh from the rest of the pumped-up mob in the squad room.
    The blokes revelled in these early morning outings. Better even than a screaming car chase, one had said only yesterday. Crashing into a house full of sleeping villains, yelling, ‘Go, go, go’ while the telly cameras recorded your heroics was a real turn-on. And sometimes you got to loose off a shot or two, which made it even better.
    Suddenly Stephanie forgot her loathing of the way this lot insulted women and just enjoyed their excitement, and liked
them for letting her back in. They were on the side of the angels, after all, even if they could be sexist pigs when they were trying to wind her up. Today, she’d show them she had a sense of humour, too, and could join in with the best of them. She flashed a grin at Mac, who was a good