Watching You, Chapter Three (standard:action, 970 words) [3/3] show all parts
Author: Brian Cross	Added: Mar 20 2005	Views/Reads: 2865/2075	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
third part of my completed thriller involving a police officer with special powers

CHAPTER THREE 

Kelly finished at six, after a quiet night. Most of the junkies seemed
to have gone to seed, the clubbers crawled into their dens for an 
unusually early night and the boy racers probably competing their rust 
ridden flyers somewhere along the coast. There hadn't even been a “Big 
Issue” seller to be seen lingering in shop doorways. 

But the lack of activity, welcome in her present state as it had been,
had only served to make her weary as she parked the car outside her 
house, undid the latch on the gate before letting herself into the 
place as quietly as possible. 

Joe would still be asleep, that much was certain, probably snoring his
head off. He wouldn't be up for a while yet, never having been an early 
riser, he was a last minute person in every sense of the word, right 
down to the frantic rush from bed to factory in order to clock in at 
the stroke of eight. 

Still, tired as she was, she wasn't going up just yet, there remained
that lingering sensation of her nerves being on edge, it hung back just 
behind the dopiness like a stranger waiting to pounce. The slightest 
sound would seem like a crash of thunder right now, and Joe's snores 
could probably wake the dead when all said and done. Besides, there was 
bound to be the suffocating smell of his stale farts to deal with, like 
mouldy cabbage. Her eyes watered at the thought of it. No, she'd hang 
on until he raised himself, she'd listen to the news on “Sky,” find out 
what had been going on in the land of the living. 

One thing to be grateful for, the car had behaved itself perfectly,
thanks to McCain. She smiled as she thought of  him, sarcastic but 
cheerful, that cheeriness enhanced by his soft Irish brogue. She 
thought about their forthcoming date on Friday night, well that was 
what it was after all, wasn't it? 

The thought of it made her feel anxious, but also invoked a pleasant
sort of rising expectancy, not exactly explainable. Not a longing for 
McCain, not that strong, he wasn't that much of a dish, there was that 
stupid ponytail for one thing, but there was something there all the 
same. 

Shouldn't she feel guilty, level with Joe? Not a bit of it. When had he
shown any concern for her? And it irritated her to think he couldn't 
even get a simple job on the car right. 

She slid her hand across the sofa and directed the remote at the box.
Pretty soon after she must have dozed off, because when Joe woke her 
with a shove ten minutes before he was due to start work she couldn't 
remember listening to any news at all. 

‘Thanks, I'll do the same for you sometime,' Kelly lifted heavy eyelids
towards her husband and frowned. ‘Well you're sitting on the remote,' 
he snapped back, ‘I need to check something on the box before I go.' 

‘Like how many runners in the three-thirty at Cheltenham ?' She pushed
herself from the sofa not even bothering to catch his sharp glance. It 
had to be something like that. ‘Oh, while I come to think of it, I'm 
off out on Friday evening.' 

She watched his eyes darken at once with suspicion, she'd seen that look
often enough ought to have known. Suddenly the teletext didn't seem 
that important to him any more. 

‘A girlie night out eh?' 

‘Yeah, something like that.' She watched the telly bring up a runner's
card, Doncaster it was, his stare hadn't returned to the screen, she 
could still feel it upon him. ‘Just a social, that's all,' she said, 
forcing her eyes upon him, it would have been a fatal mistake to accede 
to girlie's night, the last time she went on one of those she was still 
single. The question itself had been a trap, just as well she could 
read him inside out. 

‘Bit of a late arrangement isn't it?' his eyes had narrowed as he picked
at something beneath his nose that wasn't a spot. ‘No, it was arranged 


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