Read DECOY (Kindle Single) for Free Online Page A

Hawkins’ table and he moved the book a little to give her room to set them down. The chips looked like enough for three people. No wonder Geoffrey was getting fat. He thanked the pretty waitress in a gruff, expressionless kind of way. Watching discreetly, Kate wondered if he was going to look down her top as she served him, or give her rear end the once-over as she swayed off in her tight jeans. But he barely glanced at her. More interested in the price of old furniture and the mountain of steaming pub grub in front of him.
    One point for Geoffrey Hawkins. Maybe this was going to be the easiest seven hundred and fifty quid Kate had ever made.
    The target shifted things around on his table so that he could lay the book flat next to his plate and go on reading while he ate. Kate could see the upside-down colour images of old tables, chairs and sideboards. Riveting stuff. Not taking his eyes off them, he forked a lump of pie into his mouth, chewed mechanically for a few moments and then washed it down with a gulp of water. He went on like that for several minutes, slowly demolishing the pie and chips while leafing through a few more pages. It was like watching a large grazing animal at work.
    The waitress brought Kate’s salad and drink. At least now she had something to toy with while waiting for the right moment and figuring out how she was going to catch his eye. The sign for the toilets pointed to a door beyond, and she thought about walking past his table to go to the ladies’, accidentally dropping something as she went by and trying to gain his attention that way. She could suddenly lose an earring and watch him leap into chivalrous action to help her retrieve it. But Geoffrey Hawkins didn’t seem quite the chivalrous type.
    Finally, Kate took a deep breath, leaned forwards over her plate and said, ‘Excuse me?’
    He didn’t catch it right away, so she repeated it. He glanced up at her in surprise.
    She smiled as warmly as she could. ‘I’m so sorry to interrupt your meal. But I couldn’t help but notice the book you’re reading.’
    Make-or-break time. Either he was going to be pissed off and ignore her, or he wasn’t.
    ‘Yes?’ he said, expressionlessly. Hard to tell which way he would swing.
    She smiled again. ‘You see, I’ve just bought this cottage outside Enstone – that’s near Chipping Norton—’
    ‘I know where Enstone is.’ Same flat tone. All the warmth of an iguana.
    ‘—and I hardly have a stick of furniture to put in it. I’ve just moved to the area, about to start a job in Oxford.’ She hoped she wasn’t piling it on too much. While she was talking, she moved her hand inside the cloth shoulder bag ready to activate her recorder in case the conversation got interesting. ‘Are you in the antiques trade? Could you recommend a good place locally? I don’t know much about all that stuff, but it’s an old cottage and modern furniture won’t suit it.’ She paused. ‘I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you,’ she said again, hearing something approaching desperation in her own voice and almost wincing at the sound of it. Great.
    The reptilian coldness didn’t melt from his eyes as he stared at her for a few more moments. Then he said, ‘I’m having my dinner. Do you mind?’
    Just great.
    Geoffrey Hawkins returned to his food and his book.
    Kate felt herself blush. She shrank back in her seat, feeling suddenly a foot high and wishing she could hit the ‘back’ button, reset time and erase what had just happened. But back buttons were a rare luxury in life, like second chances. She knew very well that she’d just blown her opening gambit, and with it any hope of approaching him again without just throwing herself at him like an idiot.
    Geoffrey flicked a page. Apparently guided by a heat-seeking targeting system his fork lanced down, speared a chip and brought it back up to his mouth. It was as if she didn’t exist at all. The food was disappearing rapidly off his plate.