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because I had to keep an eye on the grocery floor as well. When are you going to get a locum manager while Karen’s off ill?’
    Nicole frowned and her self esteem plummeted. Betty never gave her the respect that was her due, but she had been with Drake’s for a long time and it would be difficult to get rid of her. ‘It’s in hand,’ she said brusquely. She wasn’t about to tell Betty that the only people who had applied so far had been worse than useless.
    ‘Hmmph,’ Betty grunted. ‘I’ve heard that before.’
    ‘Just concentrate on your job and leave me to do mine.’ Nicole stalked off through the grocery aisles. It was just as she reached the swing doors to the exit that she felt the prickle at the back of her neck. The feeling she was being watched. She swung round expecting to see Betty glaring after her. But no one was there.
    ***
    Julie swung the Marks and Spencer bag containing the thick padded jacket that, in normal circumstances, she would never have bought. She thought it would cushion the blow.
    She had been trying hard not to think about the risk she was about to take and what the result might be. But now, her hand gripped the carrier bag with unnecessary force and thoughts about what she intended to do filled her mind. She broke out in a sweat. The plan was madness. She should give up before it went any further.
    Her feet slowed as she neared Dock Street and her destination. She stopped at the pavement’s edge across the street from the car park. It wasn’t too late to change her mind. She could turn right and head for Tayside House or retrace her steps up Commercial Street. Closing her eyes for a moment she pictured Nicole’s face and smug smile. If she gave up now Nicole would never pay for what she had done to Dave. So, wiping her hands on her jeans, she forced herself to cross the road. She could not turn back now. It was the only way.
    The car park covered a large area of ground which was partially beneath the approach roads to the Tay Bridge. Most of it was in the open, but there was a smaller area at the rear which included some parking spaces underneath the road and beyond that a central grassy part with park benches. The furthest away spaces gradually reduced in height as the road above descended from the bridge, until only smaller vehicles or motorbikes could use them.
    She sidestepped as a car darted out from the exit, narrowly missing her and the oncoming traffic before it sped up the slip road to the Dock Street dual carriageway. It would have been ironic if she had been hit here. The driver in the next car raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question, but she shook her head and hurried towards the spaces under the bridge’s approach road.
    Once she was in the shadows she stopped and leant on one of the supporting pillars to catch her breath. Traffic rumbled above her head, but she was hardly aware of it and it did little to impinge on her thoughts or her mood.
    Soon she found what she was looking for in one of the furthest away parking spaces, where the section of the roadway above only cleared the top of the sports car with a few inches to spare. Julie smiled grimly when she saw it. How much pressure, she wondered, would it need for a knife to pierce the hood’s fabric? And a scratch on the electric-blue bodywork would show up a treat. Running her hand along the shiny surface of the Porsche Boxster, her fingers itched to do the damage. But Julie drew back. She had other plans for Nicole: plans that did not include petty vandalism. When Julie paid her back she would make sure Nicole knew why.
    The late afternoon sun was shining down into the compact open area beyond the parking place. Often she had sat there watching Nicole come and go. Nicole had never noticed her. But today was different. The watching brief was over and it was time to put her plan into action. So she withdrew into the shadow of one of the pillars. Her position was ideal for what she had in mind. Nicole would have