Flirting with Danger Chapter 16

Trying to focus on the case.

Damn it! He'd almost had her then. Lady Charlotte; he'd almost broken down her defences and finally, finally, maybe something would have…grrr! Luke paced the bathroom in frustration. She'd been crumbling quicker than Machu Picchu in an earthquake, and he'd blown it by walking out! And he considered himself a great agent. It didn't take a detective to work out that she didn't love Richie! What a dunce he'd been. She'd said it to put him off, and he'd fallen for it. The only question now was, why was she that desperate to put him off? There was no denying now that there was one hell of a lot of attraction there between them, so what was her problem? Well, whatever it was, he'd figure it out. If she thought she could outsmart him with that feeble attempt, she'd soon find out that he too could work things to his advantage. There was not a chance in hell though that he was going to go after her like that again anytime soon. He'd bide his time. 

Feeling considerably better than he had after first storming out of Charlotte's bedroom, Luke dressed and was ready to go check out the club premises again. 

Charlie, on the other hand, was seriously considering locking herself in her room and not leaving it until Luke had gone. Okay, she couldn't do that, but she could cancel tonight. Let Luke go date Sue and get the discs himself. She didn't have to be there. Damn, damn, she couldn't cancel and give Luke that satisfaction though. 

With as much composure as she could muster, Charlie dressed and prepared herself to face Luke again. 

Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door handle down and pulled open her bedroom door. She emerged, prepared, calm, in control… that was, until she realised that at the very same time, Luke was emerging from the bathroom opposite her. He halted, as if surprised to see her there. She also stood motionless for a moment. 

"Hi," he said, regretting it immediately. What had he said that for? And why, considering that he had worked out everything in the bathroom… how he was going to get the better of Charlie… did he now have a thousand miniature creatures running round his insides at just the sight of her again? 

Charlie was also clearly not as prepared as she had thought she was. 

Charlotte, don't you dare start this again. Pull yourself together! 

"Let's go," she said, abruptly releasing the door handle and striding towards the stairs. 

Chastising herself all the way down the stairs and across the hallway, she grabbed her bag containing her car keys from off the hall table, and headed for the front door, closely followed by a similarly self-reprimanding Luke. At the door, she paused and fumbled in her bag for the keys. She was so aware of Luke hovering behind her however, that she took what seemed like eon to find the damn things. Finally, feeling flustered and annoyed with herself, she reached out to open the front door, the elusive keys grasped in her hand, but found her pathway blocked by another hand which was reaching for the door at the same time, Luke's. The two hands touched briefly, but swiftly pulled apart, leaving the door still closed and both of them standing there awkwardly. 

Charlie felt Luke's presence so acutely behind her. Luke found his eyes being pulled to the nape of Charlie's neck, just above the collar of the white cotton shirt she was wearing. He felt kinda fuzzy all of a sudden. He just wanted more than anything else at that moment to kiss her all over. Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Why the hell wouldn't she just let him do it? 

Clearly Luke wasn't going to try to open the door again, so she should stop standing there like a complete idiot, and move. 

Once in her car, Charlie decided that the only way to get through this incredible awkwardness was to focus on the case…to be professional and impersonal. After all, that was why they had spent the last couple of days together, to solve the case and get Luke out of this bloody fix! 

"So, did you find out anything more after seeing the body again?" she asked him as she pulled out of her driveway. 

"Yeah, he replied, staring absentmindedly out of the passenger window."It wasn't a Borelli that did it." 

And he hadn't thought of mentioning that before now? Then again, she shouldn't put that to him considering the fact that they had been somewhat distracted with other things! Okay, she had to keep her mind off that and focus. 

"How can you be sure?" 

Luke put one finger underneath the sun guard over the window above him and seemed to be scrutinizing it. "He was wounded in the abdomen. Missed that when we moved him since it was under his coat." He turned to her then to conclude, "So, he was shot twice, not at point blank range." 

"And you're sure about this 'point blank range' theory?" she questioned. 

"It aint a theory, and it's for sure; it weren't no Borelli," he replied adamantly. 

"So who?" she asked. "If the body was placed in your car to set you up, nobody else knows you here, at the club at least, do they?" 

"Not at the club, but people know me here of course from before." 

"Are you suggesting that it could be someone with a grudge from the MI5 years?" she answered. 

He sighed. "Maybe, we can't rule out nothin', but it aint likely. Nah, there's somethin' we're missin' here. Some other people involved. You know, I was thinkin' that it aint likely that Roberto was shot there; the person would have been riskin' too much out in the open like that. He could have been shot anywhere though and brought here," he pondered. 

"Okay so, we can assume the reason why Roberto ended up here was because he was following you," she reasoned. "Now, someone must have also been following him, maybe someone who had a grudge against both of you," she suggested, glancing sideways at him, "Someone from New York." 

"Nah," he shook his head, "None of it adds up…unless…" he paused. 

"Unless what?" she asked. 

"Unless, like you said, I'd been followed by Roberto, then someone at the club spotted him and there was a struggle…" Luke was getting more and more carried away with his theory, the clearer the picture formed in his head. "Roberto gets shot and the killer didn't want to face murder charges. Yeah, so he…" 

Charlie put a hand up. "Hold it right there. There is no one in the club who would have shot Roberto and then framed it on you. I'm telling you Luke; you're way off track." 

Luke stared at her hard for a few seconds before turning back to stare out of the passenger window again. 

When they arrived back at the club, after another quick inspection of the driveway and noting where the security cameras were positioned, Luke urged Charlie to think of any areas on the premises where someone in a car could watch the entrance, or car park, without themselves being spotted. As far as she knew however, there was nowhere like that; the whole driveway was so open. Despite this, they circled the entire front of the building and its grounds twice before Charlie suddenly halted and turned to Luke with excitement. 

"I think I've got it," she said, grabbing him by the arm and twisting him around to head in the opposite direction, away from the building. Stepping in front of him, she led him across the driveway. "There's an old house up here, sort of bordering the club premises. I completely forgot about it since it's been empty for years… some legal problems with a will has made it almost impossible to sell the house on," she explained. "It has a fairly large garden though and it's hidden behind hedges. I'm sure you can cut through just up here," she said, approaching one side of the driveway and crossing the grass to make for the long hedgerow at the far end. Turning to her left, where she had thought they could cut through, she realised that what had once been a gate was now completely overgrown with bushes and nettles. She stopped suddenly, placing her hands on her hips and frowning at the blockade. "There's a gate in there somewhere," she assured him. 

"You sure?" he grinned. 

She turned to him. "Yes. We used to dare each other to enter the garden and…well, you know… that sort of thing, when I was a teenager. The place was apparently haunted. Just the local children making up rumours," she informed him. "But we always used to get into the garden through this gate," she said, gesturing to the tangle of brambles and nettles. 

"You came here to the club when you were a kid?" Luke asked suddenly, surprised. 

Charlie nodded, whilst chewing thoughtfully on her thumb. Then she moved decisively to her left, searching for a place where the hedge was low enough to peer over into the garden. Luke joined her, and together they realised with disappointment that there was no way a car had been parked in that garden for a long time. The grass was completely overgrown, showing no evidence of being disturbed by cars people, or anything of the like. Charlie sighed, running an agitated hand through her hair. It would have been the perfect place for anyone nefarious to hide too. 

Turning away from the sight of that house, and taking a few steps to move off the lawn, her eyes scanned the entire area of the club driveway and entrance again and again, her mind searching for answers, or something they had missed which would lead them to discovering more about the murderer. There was simply nothing there though; they would have to follow other leads. They may as well go now. 

She turned around then to suggest leaving, but without warning, it happened again. She suddenly couldn't move, or think, and the words simply got stuck in her throat when she caught Luke watching her. Her stomach immediately tightened in response. It was a strange expression on his face; intense, but not purposely so (she didn't think that he had expected her to catch him out) but there was a softness there, almost a vulnerability and maybe a little confusion, or even annoyance, she couldn't work out which. She kept her eyes on him for a few moments, trying to figure out what could have been going through his head, but then she became aware that she too was staring at him, and she wondered what she was giving away in her own expression. 

"We might as well go now," she said softly. "I need to get back."