There was an embarrassing silence as neither of them seemed to know what to say. Bradfield had obviously showered and changed and was now wearing jeans and a T-shirt.
‘Would you like a drink in the pub?’
She hesitated, and then he leaned towards her and took her hand.
‘This was a bad idea, sorry. You go back to your room and I’ll see you in the morning.’
She gripped his hand tightly. He lifted it to his lips and kissed her fingers.
‘Do you want to risk coming to my room?’
She nodded. He released her hand and looked up and down the corridor.
‘I’m on floor two, number 20. Use the stairs, I’ll go up in the lift and check the coast is clear.’
She watched him get in the lift, waited a minute and then with her heart thudding in her chest hurried up the first flight of stairs. Turning to head up the next flight she panicked as she heard a flurry of footsteps. The petite blonde girl she had seen at the Harker lecture, and in the bathroom, walked through the swing doors from the men’s landing, put a comical finger to her lips and giggled.
Jane looked down the landing and saw Bradfield at the far end waving for her to come forward, so she ran the entire way and followed him to his room. He opened the door quickly, ushered her inside and as she turned to face him he embraced her in his arms and kissed her passionately. He lifted her up, gently laid her down on his single bed and positioned himself beside her, gently brushing her hair from her face.
‘I didn’t think you would come… you smell lovely.’
She gave a soft laugh. ‘I’m scared stiff, especially as the crabby section-house sergeant is on the prowl.’
Bradfield was very gentle, kissing her tenderly before he pulled off his T-shirt, and then unbuttoned her blouse. She had been in such a hurry to get dressed she hadn’t put a bra on and he sighed staring at her breasts before he bent down to kiss each nipple. Aroused, she pulled his head closer, moaning with pleasure. He looked up and grinned.
‘Shushhh!’ He put his hand over her lips. ‘You are so lovely… have you any idea how much I’ve wanted to hold you?’
He kept on kissing her and Jane felt as if she was flying. Then he took off her jeans, undressed himself and lay naked next to her. He remained so quiet and so loving that she gave herself to him, whispering that she loved kissing his cheeks, his eyes and his mouth. Jane was not completely sexually naive. She had been involved with a boy from college and had had a short relationship with one of the class instructors at training college. But she had never felt this way, or been so adored and cared for so tenderly. It had just been plain sex before, but this was different. After making love to her once he became rougher and more sexually explicit, whispering what he wanted her to do and how he wanted her to touch him. She found his sexual confidence encouraging and it made her lose all her inhibitions so that she enjoyed the sex and was satisfied in a way she had never believed possible.
Two hours later Jane watched as Bradfield opened the door and took a look up and down the corridor.
‘OK, it’s all clear. Goodnight… ’
He tilted her chin up and kissed her as she eased past him and hurried towards the stairs to go to her room. She had just passed through the double doors when Gibbs stepped out of the lift and headed along the corridor and rapped on Bradfield’s door. Bradfield opened it fast with a beaming smile thinking it was Jane, but seeing Gibbs he reacted quickly to cover himself.
‘Christ, you woke me up.’ He yawned.
‘I just finished typing up my report – you want to go for a drink? The pub’s still open and I want to give you an update.’
‘Yeah sure, let me get my trousers on.’ Bradfield closed the door. He didn’t want to let Gibbs in in case he smelt Jane’s perfume.
Unaware of how close she had been to being discovered by Gibbs, Jane flung herself onto her bed. She felt happier and more contented than she could remember.
As they sat at a table drinking their pints, Gibbs explained to Bradfield what had taken place at the Greek café.
‘Although no one was working in the basement and no van was there I’m dead certain we’ve got the right café and bank, Len. The guy Silas was sweating and talking non-stop, making this and that excuse about having builders in, then having to give up on a rebuild in the cellar. The vault of the fucking bank is literally adjacent to his back-yard wall, he’s that close. There were loose bricks and soil bags in the yard – I reckon the bricks are from a hole they’ve made through a wall in the cellar and the plasterboard is used to conceal it when they ain’t working. The soil must have come from digging a hole under the vault. I’m bloody sure of it.’
Bradfield could feel his guts churning.
‘What about tools in the basement?’
Gibbs shrugged and said he didn’t see any spades or pickaxes, but they could be in the tunnel or hidden upstairs: he hadn’t wanted to spook Silas by asking to look up there. However, he was excited about what he had seen in the basement.
