The Unborn

Chapter 8

"Detective Torrens." A man’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

The sheer fright of being jolted back to the present caused Ben to jump up from his chair. He spun on his heel and faced the tall man standing to his left.

"Yes, that’s right," he managed to blurt out.

"I’m David Lowman, Laura will be along directly." He extended his hand to Ben and shook it before walking behind him and stand-ing in front of the laptop. He placed his hands on the back of the chair and rested them upon it.

"Laura?" Ben enquired.

"Yes, Laura Beaumont… you did wish to see both of us didn’t you?"

"Definitely, yes."

David grinned at him, "You weren’t expecting a woman?"

Ben shook his head, the expression on his face apologetic. "You got me, it never occurred to me that Lowman and Beaumont may include a woman. I…"

"Well it’s a good thing I have thick skin then, isn’t it Detective?" A female’s voice cut him short.

He approached Laura, holding out his hand. "Please forgive me, I certainly didn’t mean to be offensive."

She accepted his hand and his apology with a smile. "That’s quite okay, I’m used to being mistaken for a man." She placed her finger below her chin and rolled her eyes towards the ceiling in jest and then added, "I’d like to think that I look better in stiletto’s though!"

The room erupted into laughter; the tension of his mistake had been broken.

"Please Detective, sit down," she said before pulling out a chair beside David and settling into it.

"Thank you," he replied.

"Now, Detective, how can we be of assistance to you?" David kicked off the conversation.

"First thing’s first, please call me Ben."

The pair nodded in agreement.

"Cindy said it was something to do with a police matter?" Laura queried, keeping the conversation alive.

"Yes," Ben pulled his notebook from his coat. "This won’t take a minute, you may not even be of help to me."

"We’ll do what we can," David interjected.

"Do either of you have a client by the name of Tessa Hunt?"

"The name doesn’t ring any bells for me, how bout you Laura?"

The blood appeared to be draining from Laura’s face and she began to fidget nervously. She attempted to keep herself together, although it was evident that she had indeed heard of Tessa.

David turned to her. "Laura?"

"Yes, I believe that she phoned me a couple of weeks ago, possibly longer. A prospective client."

Ben studied her body language more carefully, she was certainly uneasy about the topic of Tessa and he was determined to find out why.

Laura bounced out of her chair, "I’ve got her file in my office, Detective, perhaps we can go over it in there?"

Ben could see that whatever her problem was, she didn’t want to discuss it in front of her partner. Obviously this was personal. Following her lead, Ben agreed without a fuss.

"Well, it appears all is in order here," David said, shaking Ben’s hand on his way to the door. "So if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do. I’ll leave you in Laura’s capable hands. Nice meeting you Ben."