Page 86 of Criminally Yours

His face dropped. “I’ll be outside whenever you’re ready.”

He spoke to Merryn before he left. Merryn smiled as she handed him paper and pens.

Millie met her gaze for an explanation, but Merryn shrugged.

Elsie cleared her plate and mug.

“Hey,” Millie said. There was something about the girl that reminded Millie of herself at her age, scared of what others thought but with a whole life of possibility waiting for her to grab it. Millie wanted a patch that showed she wasn’t scared of strangers. “I like your hair. I used to dye mine.”

The girl blushed. “Thanks.”

“Your mum said you like to read. I love reading romance.”

“I love romantasy. Do you?”

“Yeah, although I’m more into masked men and those who’d do anything for their women.”

“A bit like that guy?” Elsie pointed at the window where Strike waved at her. In his other hand was a piece of paper. He pressed it against the window. It was like their teenage years when he held up signs to entertain her.

She smiled at the words.

I’m sorry, Sunset.

His sheepish smile as he held it was like sunlight tickling her skin.

He turned the paper. She laughed so hard at the second message that strangers stared.

I promise to do better.

P.S. You smell of seagull poo.

CHAPTER 37

Millie

As they walked to the beach, her hand slotted into his like it had waited for him for ten years. His was more calloused than the last time they’d walked like this, but it was as if the world was spinning back in the right direction.

She was home.

“I was terrified when I realised you’d gone,” he said. At the strain in his voice, she squeezed him.

“I’m sorry. I’m used to being independent, and when I need to think, I walk, but with you in that house, I couldn’t process. I also process by talking. I didn’t know who to talk to.” The buttercream scent from the cupcake box tucked under her arm added to her joy.

“Who do you normally talk to?”

“Mum.” They walked the path she’d taken to the town. The water was impossibly bluer, and more boats dotted across the water. She’d love to live somewhere like this. For the first time in years, she considered what it would be like to live with someone else.

“Do you tell her everything?”

A stab of cold hit her back. “No, I guess not,” she admitted, remembering the sexting app. It had been her secret shame until Liss. “I spoke to her and Dexter about what happened years ago.”

Strike froze.

“They admitted it all. Dexter told me what you did for him. They didn’t deserve you.”

Millie pulled him onto the beach. He trudged through the sand, but his hand never left hers.

“Not enjoying this, soldier? Would you prefer a city street?” She winked at him as she plopped down onto the sand and dragged him down with her. The sand was hard against her butt from where the sun hadn’t thoroughly dried it after the tide disappeared.