Lost Cause (A Daisy Dunlop Mystery ~ Book 1)

Chapter Fifteen

Solomon paid the cab driver and jogged up the path to Daisy's house. His SUV stood on the front drive which, apart from a dent in the back bumper, looked unscathed. He'd had a shower at Melanie's but decided against ducking to the office for a change of clothes before collecting his hapless temporary work colleague. The tracking device app on his phone showed Daisy was still where she was supposed to be, at home waiting for him. If he left it much later she might make a run for it, and he would waste time hunting her down.

He lifted his hand and banged on the door. Footsteps sounded, the door swung open, and Sherman's smiling face appeared.

"Solomon."

"Sherman. You're looking good. How did you go at the soccer?"

"I'm expecting a call up from Man U any day now."

Solomon chuckled. "I hope you'll be remembering us little people when you're famous."

"I might hire you as my bodyguard."

"And I might just accept."

"Dad's in the kitchen. Later, man."

Solomon resisted the urge to give Sherman a hug and offered a fist bump instead. The boy sprinted up the stairs as Solomon shut the front door and wandered through to the kitchen. Paul glanced up from his newspaper. "I hear you kissed my wife."

"Are you jealous?"

Paul tossed the paper on the table. "Not in the least. I've kissed you before, and if I recall correctly it was far from pleasant. You hadn't shaved and tasted of whiskey."

"You're just saying that to cover up your true feelings."

"Really. Please stop kissing her. I can't afford the toothpaste bill, and it's putting a crimp in my sex life. Discussing you in bed does nothing for my libido."

Solomon lifted one side of his mouth in a lopsided smile.

Paul frowned. "Although from the happy smile on your face, and the crumpled nature of your clothing, I'm assuming kissing Daisy didn't dampen your enthusiasm for whichever young lady you bedded last night."

"What can I say? Speaking of Daisy, is she not ready yet?"

"Ready, willing, and able. She left half an hour ago. Said she had a breakfast meeting."

"Who with?"

"A friend." Paul tossed a lumpy sealed brown envelope at Solomon. "She left you this."

Solomon ripped it open and discovered his keys but nothing else.

"And she said you might like this." Paul put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the tracking device Solomon had left in her handbag. "She found it when she swapped from her black handbag to the brown one that matches her new boots. I won't tell you the names she called you when she realized what it was, and how you had been, quote, 'spying on her' all the time."

"Bollocks. How am I supposed to keep her out of trouble if I don't know where she is?"

"That's your problem not mine. If I was you I'd start my search at the café bakery in the precinct. She's very partial to their chocolate croissants."

"I'll be off, then. If she comes back, tie her to a chair and call me."

"I have to get going. I've a shift at ten. Besides I'm not sure she'd appreciate me turning her in, especially as I made her work with you in the first place. I need to hold on to the meager sex life I still have, and pissing off Daisy is not the way to do it." Paul raised an eyebrow. "Unless I make tying her up into a kinky sex game."