“Why don’t I come and meet you with my colleague, Tristan?” said Kate.
Tristan Harper was Kate’s partner in the agency, and he was out at his other job today. Three days a week he worked at Ashdean University as a research assistant.
“Yes. I remember Tristan from the National Geographic article . . . Listen, I’m free tomorrow? But you’re probably all booked up.”
“Let me talk to Tristan, check our diary, and I’ll call you right back,” said Kate.
When she put the phone down at the end of the call, her heart was thumping with excitement.
2
At the same time Kate was finishing her call, Tristan Harper was sitting in his sister’s small glass-walled office in the Barclays Bank on Ashdean High Street.
“Okay. Let’s get this over with,” he said, sliding the plastic folder containing his mortgage application across the desk. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach.
“What do you mean?”
“Your interrogation into my finances.”
“Would you wear that if I was a stranger interviewing you for a new mortgage application?” said Sarah, opening the folder and peering at him across her desk.
“This is what I wear for work,” said Tristan, looking down at his smart white V-neck T-shirt, jeans, and trainers.
“A bit informal for a bank interview, though,” she said, adjusting her gray jacket and blue blouse. Sarah was twenty-eight, three years older than Tristan, but sometimes she seemed twenty years older.
“When I arrived, I didn’t see many people lining up to cash their giros wearing three-piece suits. And these trainers are limited-edition Adidas.”
“And how much did they cost?”
“Enough. They’re an investment. Aren’t they gorgeous?” he said, grinning.
Sarah rolled her eyes and nodded. “They’re very cool.”
Tristan was tall with a lean, muscular frame. His forearms were covered in tattoos, and the head of the eagle tattoo across his chest poked up from the V-neck of his T-shirt. They looked alike, brother and sister, with the same soft brown eyes. Tristan’s chestnut-brown curly hair was now shoulder length and tousled. Whereas Sarah’s hair was tied back and neatly tamed with straighteners.
There was a knock on the glass door, and a short balding man wearing a suit and tie came into the office.
“Has she started the interrogation yet?” he said. “She wanted to bring in a lamp to put on the desk so she could shine it in your face!”
This was Gary, Sarah’s husband and the manager of the bank branch. Tristan got up and gave his brother-in-law a hug.
“Gary! Don’t be so silly,” said Sarah, now smiling with them. “I’m asking the same questions I would of any other mortgage applicant.”
“Look how long your bloody hair is. Wish mine still grew like that!” said Gary, patting his expanding bald spot.
“I much prefer him with short hair,” said Sarah.
“Do you want a coffee, Tris?”
“Please.”
“A black coffee would be lovely, thank you, Gary,” said Sarah. He left the office, and she took out the mortgage application form, scanned it, turned over the paper, and sighed.
“What?” said Tristan.
“I’m just seeing the pitiful amount you’re now earning part time working at the university,” said Sarah, shaking her head.
“I’ve got my contract for the agency, and my new tenant’s agreement,” said Tristan. Sarah looked in the plastic file and pulled out the two documents, flicking through them with a frown on her face.
“How much work has Kate got for you?”
Tristan noted how Sarah said Kate’s name with an inflection, as she always did when referring to women she disapproved of.
“I’ve invested in the agency as a partner,” said Tristan, bristling. “The agency pays us both a retainer, regardless of work. It’s all there in the contract.”
“And has the agency got any work right now?” she asked, looking up at him.
Tristan hesitated. “No.”
Sarah raised her eyebrows and turned back to reading the paperwork. Tristan wanted to defend himself, but he didn’t want to have another argument. In the nine months since he and Kate had started the detective agency, they’d had four cases. Two women had asked them to gather evidence of their husbands’ infidelity. The owner of an office supplier in Exeter had asked them to find out if one of his employees was stealing stock and selling it, which she was, and they’d also done a detailed background check for a local businesswoman on a young man she wanted to hire.