Rough Cut: Rosie Gilmour 6 Read Online Free Page A

want a woman to talk to. It’s a matter of getting used to it. There’s seldom a problem, think of it as a job and don’t get all hung up about it. It has to beat the shit out of stacking shelves in the supermarket, or working in the old people’s home as a skivvy.’
    Nikki nodded, but her gaze fell on the attaché case. Julie gave her a mischievous grin.
    ‘Will we open it?’
    Nikki let out a sigh.
    ‘Might as well.’
    Julie brought it across the room, then knelt down andfiddled with the lock, pressing the clips. Nothing. Then she fished around in her handbag and came out with two small keys on a ring. She held them up.
    ‘I forgot about these. In his wallet.’ She brought out a mobile phone. ‘And this.’ She handed it to Nikki. ‘Here. Have a look through it. See if there’s any numbers we recognise.’
    ‘How do you mean? The agency? That’ll be on it. But not my number. My number won’t be on it, will it?’
    ‘Just kidding. Lighten up, woman.’
    She fiddled with the lock and key, and one lock snapped open. The other followed, and Julie lifted the lid. There were a couple of new white shirts, still in cellophane, and two pairs of underpants. She rummaged around, pushing them to the side.
    ‘Looks like it’s got a false bottom.’
    Nikki got onto the floor, pulled herself closer and sat cross-legged, watching as Julie unzipped the false bottom and opened it. They both looked at the contents, and then at each other.
    ‘Passports?’ Julie screwed up her eyes, rumbling around in the case. ‘Jesus!’ Then her hand emerged, holding a thick wedge of money in an elastic band. ‘Look. A late Christmas present!’
    She flicked through the money, fifty-pound notes and twenties.
    ‘There must be over three grand here. Jesus! I bloody knew he was dodgy.’
    Nikki picked up a few passports. There were eight or nine of them, and she squinted at the Pakistani national crest on their fronts. She opened them up. The photos inside were mostly of men, but a couple of them were women; young faces.
    ‘What the fuck is this all about?’ Julie leafed through one or two of them, then tossed them on the floor. ‘They must be fake or something. Guy was obviously in some kind of racket.’
    Julie’s eyes turned to two little black velvet padded pouches, each tied with red ribbon. She picked one up and held it in her hand.
    ‘What’s this? She opened it and pushed her fingers in, feeling around. She pulled out a couple of roundish, rough stones.
    ‘Stones?’ Nikki asked.
    ‘Maybe it was a sting or something and they were suppose to leave the jewels they’d stolen, but what the guy left is a bag of driveway chips. I think somebody’s been humped up the arse.’
    ‘Let me see one.’ Nikki took one. It was grainy-feeling. She got up and went into the kitchen and took a small knife from the cutlery drawer. Then she came back in and sat down, gently scraping the stone. She stopped as it suddenly glinted like glass in the light. They looked at each other, eyes wide.
    ‘Fuck! Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’
    Nikki kept scraping until the glass was almost clear on one side.
    ‘Diamonds! Jesus Christ, Julie! I think that’s a rough diamond. Holy fucking mother of God! We’ve stolen some bastard’s diamonds.’ She slumped back against the sofa and took another gulp of her drink.
    Julie emptied the contents onto the carpet. Ten stones about the size of grapes. Then she took the other pouch and emptied them out. ‘Diamonds? Oh Christ!’ She picked two up and stared at them lying in the palm of her hand.
    The mobile rang and they both jumped at the same time.
    ‘Shit!’ Nikki looked at it ringing and shuddering on the carpet, then at Julie.
    ‘Leave it,’ Julie said. ‘Let it ring.’
    They could see the name Khan on the screen. Then it rang off.
    ‘Do you think they’ve left a message?’ Nikki whispered.
    ‘Leave it for a minute, then we’ll check.’
    The phone vibrated with a message alert and