Snow Going Back

Chapter 16

SIXTEEN

After a tense and thankfully silent drive, Kate jogged straight upstairs and treated herself to a long hot shower. When she stepped back out, she felt ten times better, the jailhouse grime washed off and her cold eased by the steam. She rifled through her bag of new clothes and threw on a pair of soft beige lounge pants and matching top, before blasting her hair with the dryer and fanning the long dark waves around her shoulders to let them finish drying naturally. Feeling ready to tackle the many waiting messages, she unlocked her phone and began wading through them while she creamed her skin.

Although there were a lot from Eleanor, they were mainly talking at her, so she hadn’t actually noticed Kate’s prolonged absence. Lance had, in his usual way, just assumed she was busy and told her to call when she had time. After flicking through the rest, she placed a call to Bob.

He answered almost instantly. ‘ Kate . Are you alright? What the hell happened?’

‘I’m fine,’ Kate replied. ‘I’m out now. Finally .’ She leaned back against the chair and ran her fingers through the damp ends of her hair.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Bob said crossly. ‘They assured me when they called that they were releasing you straight away. That was around eleven.’

‘They didn’t call you until eleven ?’ Kate asked in disbelief.

‘When I hadn’t heard from you by one, I called back and kept calling all afternoon, making myself as big a pain in their asses as I could. By then it was too late in the day to send anyone.’

‘Don’t worry. There was nothing you could do. Even if I wasn’t five hours away, who could do something I can’t?’

‘True. What happened ? The story they gave me made no sense at all.’

‘That’s because it was nonsense,’ Kate told him, the reminder reawakening her annoyance. ‘But don’t worry about it. It’s sorted, the charges are dropped and I’m fine. Honestly. By the way, did you know Cora had a great-nephew called Sam Langston?’

‘Name doesn’t ring a bell,’ he replied.

‘Well, apparently he lives here. In Cora’s house,’ she told him.

‘Oh. That complicates things,’ Bob mused. ‘Or possibly not. It’s certainly a stronger claim for the house.’

‘Mm,’ she agreed. ‘Maybe.’

Kate watched the snowflakes falling outside her window and felt a spear of homesickness. It was the first of November, which meant Eleanor would be baking the big family Christmas cake, ready to spike with honey whisky liqueur – her secret twist on the more traditional brandy – every few days between now and Christmas Day.

‘There anything else you need?’ Bob asked. ‘Anything I can do?’

Kate focused back on the call with a sigh. ‘No, I’m fine. Really. I just want to get on and wrap this up as soon as possible.’

‘Alright, well…’ Bob lingered.

‘Honestly, I’m fine .’

‘Alright. I’ll leave you to it then. Keep me updated.’

‘I will. Night.’ Kate ended the call and chewed the inside of her lip, staring down at the blank screen. If they’d called Bob at eleven, why had she been kept in that cell for another eight hours?

Kate stood up and made her way downstairs and into the front room, where she could hear Sam pottering around. As she walked in, he pretended to jump and put a hand to his chest, letting out an exaggerated whoosh of air.

‘Oh, it’s just you . Thank God. For a moment, I thought there was some crazy British psycho in my house who wanted to kill me with a baseball bat.’

Kate gave him a withering look. ‘It’s still tempting. Why was I not released this morning?’ she demanded. ‘My boss was called at eleven, but I wasn’t released until nearly seven. I want to know why. Your moron friends understand that I’m a lawyer , right? I could easily end both their careers if I decided to pursue this, and yet they wanted to push their luck by another eight hours ? Really?’

‘Hey, Mike’s no moron,’ Sam replied, dusting off his hands as he turned away from whatever he’d been doing by the fireplace. ‘He’s actually a very clever guy. And as for when you were released, that was the time I asked them to let you out at.’

He walked past her, through to the kitchen, and Kate’s jaw dropped. She stood there, momentarily too stunned to move, then hurried after him.

‘I’m sorry, what did you just say?’ She caught up and stepped in front of him with a deep frown.

‘I said that’s the time I asked them to keep you to, so you didn’t get in my way,’ he repeated with a shrug, opening one of the cupboards.

‘How dare you?’ she demanded, a fresh wave of anger rushing through her. ‘As if last night wasn’t bad enough, you told them to put me through that hell for a whole day, too ? A workday for me, by the way.’

‘Yeah, a whole day in there is fun, huh?’ he replied, shooting her a pointed look before returning to his search of the cupboards. ‘You started this, remember? I was simply returning the favour.’

‘ What ?’ she exclaimed. ‘You got yourself arrested!’

‘It could be argued that you did, too, lawyer girl . You cost Mike a good arrest by wasting police time.’ He tutted as he reached the last cupboard. ‘Hey, did you eat all my Cap’n Crunch?’ he asked with an accusing frown.

Kate stared back at him in disbelief. ‘ Yes ,’ she shouted, losing her temper. ‘ I did ! And it tasted like crap ! In fact, Crap’n Crunch would be a better description of that sugar-coated cardboard.’

Sam pulled back with a gasp, looking genuinely shocked and insulted, and Kate shook her head, unable to comprehend how a human being existed who thought nothing of sending someone to jail for fun but was offended by her opinion on his choice of breakfast.

‘I— You know what…’ She threw her hands in the air and walked away from him. It was clearly pointless trying to have a conversation with him. ‘I’m done. No, actually’ – she turned and marched back – ‘I’m not done. I have one more thing to say.’

‘ Oh good ,’ Sam replied dryly.

‘I’m here to do a job, and I don’t appreciate my time being wasted,’ she told him hotly. ‘So do not get in my way again. Because next time I won’t be so lenient. And whether you like it or not, I will be here for the next few weeks until I can settle Cora’s estate. Got it?’

‘There’s a perfectly good hotel down the road, you know,’ Sam said. ‘Where the people might actually want you around. Or want your money, at least.’

‘I don’t care who wants me around. The contract specified I have to stay here, so I’m staying ,’ she responded.

Sam rolled his eyes with a tut of annoyance. ‘ Fine ,’ he snapped. ‘But if you’re staying here, let’s get a few things straight – the room at the top of the stairs is mine. Go through whatever else you want, but that room is off limits.’

‘Fine by me,’ she replied, making to turn away.

‘I’m not done.’ Sam walked towards her, stopping just close enough that it felt slightly uncomfortable. Kate’s breath caught in her throat as he stared down at her sternly. ‘Keep your stuff out of the living room. The TV area is mine. I sometimes have friends over to watch big games. I don’t want the room to be turned into your damn office.’

Kate rolled her eyes and stepped back. ‘I had one notepad in there – it was hardly a hostile takeover. And I haven’t even seen a TV,’ she said, confused. The living room was beautiful but oddly devoid of any technology.

‘You wouldn’t have. I built it into the wall behind the mirror. The glass clears to show the screen when it’s switched on. Which reminds me, do not , under any circumstances, move the remote from the coffee table,’ he stressed. ‘The TV is sunk into the wall and hooked up to the electricity through the drywall to hide the cables, which makes the manual switches unreachable. So, I’m serious, do not move that remote.’

‘I heard you the first time,’ she replied tersely.

‘Good – don’t forget it,’ he retorted.

Kate raised her eyebrows. ‘OK, my turn ,’ she said, placing her hands on her hips. ‘While we have to be under the same roof, you can show me the courtesy of basic manners . There’s no need to be so rude all the time.’

Sam shook his head. ‘No, you don’t get a turn, lawyer girl. This house may not be mine in legal terms, but it’s still my home for now. And in my home , I will do as I damn well please. Which, after recent events, does not include making your life easy.’

A strange ripple of pain flashed across his face for a moment, then he abruptly turned and walked over to the fridge, opening the door to look inside.

‘ Nice ,’ Kate said, nodding to herself. ‘Well, that’s fine, Sam. At least we both know where we stand.’

‘Oh,’ he said, glancing back at her. ‘One last thing. Don’t touch my cereal.’

‘Whatever,’ she muttered.

She got herself a glass from the cupboard and walked over to the sink. As water gushed out, her gaze wandered to the two used wine glasses to the side and she absently noted the hum of the dishwasher going round underneath. Her glass full, Kate turned off the tap and almost walked away before stopping abruptly with a frown. She looked back at the wine glasses. A bright red ring of lipstick clung to the top of one of them. As she stared, Sam’s earlier flippant admission played back in her mind.

That’s the time I asked them to keep you to, so you didn’t get in my way.

She swung around, hot bubbles of anger starting to form as she thought it through. She had to be wrong, surely. Even he couldn’t be that awful.

‘Sam, what are those?’ she asked, pointing to the glasses.

He pulled out the orange juice and closed the fridge, glancing over. ‘Those are glasses, Kate. We Americans drink outta them. Hadn’t realised the Brits were that behind.’

‘ Right .’ She ignored the insult. ‘Wine glasses,’ she clarified. ‘One’s yours, obviously, and the other used by a woman, unless one of your male friends has a thing for lipstick.’

‘Amazing,’ Sam replied, sounding bored. ‘You should have been a PI.’

‘So you had a woman over here today to share a bottle of wine?’

Sam’s gaze tightened, and Kate waited for another dry, disparaging comment, but after a few moments, he simply answered, ‘Yes. I did.’

Her eyes slipped down to his smart suit and shoes, and she had to work to contain her steadily rising anger.

‘Sam…’ She pressed her palms together and briefly touched her fingers to her mouth. ‘Please tell me you didn’t ask them to keep me locked up in a jail cell for an entire day, just to keep me out of the house so you could have a woman over.’ He met her gaze unwaveringly, and that anger began to boil over. ‘Please tell me I did not get put through a day of hell for that . For you to pop some cheap bottle of Chardonnay on an uninterrupted date.’

There was a short pause. ‘Actually, it was Sauvignon Blanc. And a pretty decent one, too.’

Kate’s jaw dropped, and she just stared at him, for once too angry even for words.

‘From what little experience I have of you, lawyer girl , I’ve learned you’re very unpredictable.’ His words were calm now and devoid of the quick-witted arrogance Kate had begun to expect. He pulled a glass out of the cupboard and placed it on the side. ‘And destructive , too. You’re like a little hurricane that’s rolled in here upturning everything you touch.’ He poured the juice into the glass. ‘Truth is, I didn’t want to risk you coming here this afternoon and ruining things. Making it all about you, acting like you own the place and destroying the peace. I didn’t need today torn up by another storm.’ He put the carton back in the fridge and then turned to look at her again, taking a long sip of his juice. ‘So yeah.’ He wiped his top lip. ‘I told them to keep you locked up until my company had gone home.’

Kate bit her lip and took a second to contain her raging fury before she spoke.

‘You know nothing about me. You’ve experienced nothing of me. If you had, a hurricane is the last word you’d have just used. My whole life orbits around order and logic and reason. But right now, after hearing that…’

She felt all the anger and disbelief and hatred she felt towards the man swell up inside and break through her last thread of sanity. Sam had gone too far now. Way too far. The devil on her shoulder booted the sleeping angel off the edge of the other, and then both she and Kate pulled themselves up to full height.

‘I’m done playing nice. You’re going to regret today. Because karma’s a bitch, Sam,’ Kate said determinedly. ‘And she’s coming for you. That’s a promise.’ Turning away from him, she walked determinedly out of the room.

‘Game on, lawyer girl ,’ he called after her. ‘Game on.’