Free Murder Ring (A DI Geraldine Steel Mystery) by Leigh Russell

the way that inspector’s eyes had roamed all over the room, taking in the watches and other stuff. Of course, she kept the obviously dodgy gear well out of sight. She wasn’t stupid, unlike her idiot of a son. But there was enough gear lying around to arouse suspicion in a block of wood, and that inspector was no fool. When Lenny surfaced, Cynthia was going to give him a piece of her mind. If he wasn’t a grown man, she’d tan his hide, just like she used to do when he was a kid.
    There was no point in hiding the gear in her bedroom now. The police inspector had already seen it all. The valuable bits and pieces were out of sight, in the top cupboard in the kitchen. Cynthia hoped they were safe up there. That idiot Lenny had a lot to answer for. As soon as the front door closed behind the inspector and her lackeys, Cynthia rushed to the kitchen and put a few more tins in front of the bags of jewellery stashed there. Most of it was Lenny’s stuff. He was always on at her. ‘Hide this for me, mum,’ and, ‘put this somewhere till I come for it.’ She understood he didn’t want his girlfriend, Gina, getting her hands on his loot. She’d rip him off as soon as look at him, that one.
    Grumbling to herself, she put the kettle on and made herself a cup of tea. Really, she could do without all this stress at her age. Her son ought to be looking after her, not giving her endless grief. Just as she sat down with a cup of tea and a slab of cake, she was disturbed by a knock at the front door.
    ‘Oh fuck it all, what now?’
    She was tempted to ignore it. She’d just sat down and got the weight off her feet. The knocking came again, more loudly this time.
    ‘All right, all right, I’m coming. Give me time. I’m not a bleeding athlete.’
    Expecting the police, she steeled herself to tell them to get lost. They had no business coming back and pestering her again. She hadn’t broken any laws. She was just a poor old woman doing her best to make ends meet. She opened the door a crack and saw Lenny’s skinny little bitch, scowling and biting her lip.
    ‘Gina! What the hell you doing here?’
    ‘Looking for Lenny, that’s what.’
    ‘Not you as well. Seems like the whole world’s looking for Lenny.’
    ‘Why? Who else is after him?’
    Cynthia hesitated before inviting Gina in. ‘Oh well, you’d better come in out the cold seeing as you’ve come all this way. I suppose you had your tea?’
    ‘Don’t put yourself out on my account.’
    The words were kind enough, but Gina contrived to sound hostile. Cynthia regretted inviting her in as soon as the front door closed behind them.‘I won’t,’ she muttered, leading Gina to the front room.
    They sat in silence while Cynthia finished her tea. She did her best to ignore her visitor, but she couldn’t enjoy her cake, not with Gina perched awkwardly on the edge of a chair watching her every mouthful.
    ‘That was delicious,’ Cynthia said with fake enthusiasm, wiping crumbs from her mouth with the back of a hand. ‘You don’t know what you’re missing.’
    As soon as Cynthia put her cup down, Gina started on her. ‘Where is he then?’
    ‘How the hell would I know? I ain’t seen him since he got out, and that was Monday.’
    Aggrieved, Cynthia launched into a litany of complaint.
    ‘Yeah, yeah, I know.’ Gina interrupted her. ‘You was pining for him every day. You told me.’ She leaned so far forward in her chair, Cynthia thought her boney arse might slip right off it. ‘What I want to know is where is he? He’s got something of mine and I want it back.’
    She sounded so earnest, Cynthia was curious.
    ‘What is it? What you got that’s so bloody important?’
    ‘Mind your own bleeding business.’
    ‘Whatever it is, anything you got is thanks to him and you’d do well to remember that. Anyhow, you can sit there till you’re blue in the face, it won’t do you no good because I already told you I don’t know where he is. But I do know you’re not