The Turin Shroud Secret by Sam Christer Page B

long gone.’
    She tries not to think about him leaving and focuses on her growing hunch. ‘Makes sense, though. Kill and run. Cross a continent
     and just vanish.’ She looks up from the DNA report. ‘You think Matthews would sanction a trip to Italy to find this guy Craxi,
     the researcher getting wired money from our dead lady? He always says that if there’s money involved in a murder, you should
     chase the dollars.’
    Nic muses on it. ‘Clear-up rate is down. He needs a result on a high-profile case like this. Why, d’you fancy a trip?’
    She shakes her head. ‘No. But you do.’

29
    DOWNTOWN, LOS ANGELES
    JJ is surprised to see Emma Varley hanging back as the shopfloor clears at the end of the day. She smiles when she spots him.
     Looks him straight in the eyes with her baby blues. ‘You locking up?’
    He jangles the keys in his hand. ‘That’s what they pay me to do.’
    ‘Want some help?’
    He figures she’s angling for another ride home. ‘Sure, I’m always in the market for unpaid overtime.’
    ‘Well, there’s a surprise.’
    He waves to the rows of distant machines: ‘Can you just check that they’re all off? Operators usually leave one or two on.
     They don’t realise, or don’t care, that it burns out the motor. Wastes a lot of energy as well.’
    Emma doesn’t give a damn about energy. All that crap about greenhouse gasses and ozone layers doesn’t affect her. You don’t
     worry about stuff like that when you haven’t got enough money to run a car or put the heating on if you’re cold. Given the
     chance, she’d burn three times as much energy as she does.
    JJ turns off the lights and for a moment the two of them stand in a quiet darkness broken only by the pale spill and hum from
     overhead tubes out in the corridor.
    ‘How romantic,’ jokes Emma.
    Too many random thoughts are trying to connect in his mind. The darkness – a woman alone – the excitement he feels rising
     inside him. He has to control himself. Mustn’t get carried away.
    She senses his arousal – goes with her impulse and leans close. The kiss is gentle, hesitant, uncertain. She’s giddy, treading
     the tightrope between rejection and acceptance.
    JJ feels strange. Magnetised to her. Physically unable to pull away. Her sexuality has a powerful hold on him.
    She shuts her eyes, takes his face in her cool hands and kisses him more deeply.
    He feels his heart jump as he breaks for breath. Without thinking, without censoring his thoughts, he finds himself pulling
     at her sweater, lifting it over her head. He must have her naked. Her hands fall to his belt and pull at the buckle. ‘Stop.’
     He puts a hand to her face – thinks of covering her mouth – then he gently touches the strawberry birthmark with his thumb.
     ‘Wait. Let me lock up. I don’t want anyone to walk in on us.’
    Emma Varley kicks off her shoes and smiles as he disappears in the darkness.
    She leans back on the long workbench behind her and gets ready to offer herself to him.

30
    WALNUT PARK, LOS ANGELES
    Mitzi has the same bedtime ritual every night. She goes into the girls’ room and turns out their light. And usually the TV,
     which they’ve fallen asleep watching, even though they’ve been told not to. She kisses them and pulls their quilts up snug,
     kisses them again and slips out the door, making sure she leaves it open just enough for Amber and not too much for Jade.
     Sometimes she wonders if boys would have been less fussy.
    She uses her own en-suite bathroom, slips into a modest black nightdress and then sits at a small dressing table with a tiny
     book-sized mirror and takes off what little make-up she ever wears.
    The blow to the back of her head sends her sprawling face down on the bedroom floor. It catches her by surprise, even though
     it wasn’t totally unexpected.
    ‘Do you think you can treat me like shit? Like I’m one of your bum collars?’ Alfie bends low and throws another sweeping right-hander
     that