Page 28 of The Twins

“Becca, Becca, you okay?”

A force hitting me from the right almost sent me flying, and then I was in Amy’s arms.

“You poor thing, this is awful.” She hugged me close. “Let me at him, I’ll sort him out. I won’t let him bother you ever again. I’ll strangle him with my own bare hands. Watch his eyes pop out as I do it.”

“We’d rather you didn’t take the law into your own hands.” Sergeant Cooper raised his eyebrows at her.

“Oh.” She released me slightly and then turned to the tall cop at her side. “Sorry, I didn’t mean I was planning a killing rampage or anything like that. Or grabbing my machine gun to take him out with.”

“I should think not.” He tapped his finger on his chin and surveyed her. “That would be very bad behavior.”

“I mean.” She giggled. “I haven’t even got a machine gun. They’re illegal in the UK, right? I think they are, not sure. I’m not a gun girl, never even held one and—”

“Amy.” I squeezed her. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

“Yes, yes of course.” She slipped her hand around my waist and looked up at Sergeant Cooper. “Thank you for bringing my friend to me. I’ll take good care of her now.”

He tipped his head, studying her. “Be sure to.”

“I will.” Again she giggled then she held up her hand and did a silly little wave. “Goodnight, Officer, don’t let the bugs bite.”

He didn’t reply, but he did watch us walk into the lobby of her apartment block and waited until the door had clicked shut behind us.

“Fuck, he was hot!” Amy said. “Trust you to get the fittest copper in Oxford turn up to save you. I mean, did you see the biceps on him, and those eyes…blimey, he can cuff me to his bed any day.”

I felt my nerves settle. Amy’s chatter was a soothing balm after my fright. The only question now was, would I tell Finn and Cillian about my stalker? Their reaction was hard to predict…but it wouldn’t be to do nothing, I knew that for certain.

Chapter Seven

Finn

“Hey, Professor, how’s it going?” I asked as Andrew walked into the kitchen of Rose Cottage the next morning.

“Not bad, you?” He poured coffee and glanced at the bank of security screens that were connected to cameras around the house. There was no movement.

“Got something for you,” Cillian said, his fingers hovering over his laptop.

“Oh yeah?” Andrew raised his eyebrows. “From where?”

“We had a date last night,” I said. “She’s a lawyer, defense, got some asshole off the hook a while ago, and it’s not sitting well with her, bastard was guilty as sin.”

“She knows it for sure?”

“Yeah, there were technicalities, the court couldn’t get a conviction.”

“You got a name?” Andrew sipped his coffee.

Cillian spun his laptop to face Andrew. “Better than that, got his address.”

Andrew peered at the screen. “Archie McDougal.” He quietly read the newspaper article.

When he’d finished, I spoke. “The break-in that ended in a double murder wasn’t his first offence, he’d killed before, careless driving, so we can give him three strikes for murder.”

“I agree.” Andrew sat. “What a piece of work.”

“And he’s dealing now,” Cillian went on. “Uses kids to deliver drugs on their e-scooters. One was knocked down and killed late at night last month. No comeback on McDougal, of course.”

“We’ve got to stop this guy,” I said, my jaw tensing. “Before he gets more people killed.”