Page 76 of The House Guest

How was I supposed to respond to that?

‘Keep your head down,’ Wanda said. ‘Wait for me to call.’

Chapter 33

On the way back to Brooklyn, I called Callum.

‘Any news?’ I asked him.

He made a disgusted noise. ‘Big shopping day.’

‘Shopping?’

‘What I said. Mona came breezing through the hotel lobby, then headed straight for Fifth Avenue. Went in and out of around five fancy stores, then into Saks. Gotta tell you, it’s not easy tailing a woman around a department store with all the assistants coming up and asking you if they can help. Had to pretend I was buying something for my wife. Anyway, she finally walked out of there with a black dress in a bag.’

‘For the funeral.’

‘I guess. And then she headed straight back to the Palace. The only interesting thing was that she kept checking her phone – like, compulsively. Even more than your average sixteen-year-old. She’s antsy, worried about Krugman.’

I swallowed. Surely the cult had known Krugman’s plan for me? Those woods could be a regular burial ground for them. How long before they sent someone to search for him? The police had to be looking for him too, surely.

‘Anyway,’ Callum said. ‘I’m going to hang here for a little longer. I figure the more anxious she gets, the more likely she is to go looking for her lover. What did you find out from Wanda?’

I filled him in.

‘Gabriel Dearman, huh?’

‘Does that mean anything to you?’ I asked.

‘Nope.’ He went quiet for a second, thinking. ‘Maybe I should use Krugman’s phone to text Mona, ask her to meet back at HQ or something. See where she goes.’

‘Don’t. It’s too risky. What if they’re tracking Krugman’s phone? The moment you turn it on you’ll give your location away.’

‘Yeah. You’re right. Plus I left the phone at the apartment anyway.’

I ended the call, hoping he wouldn’t do anything stupid.

Back at Callum’s apartment, I had a shower, trying again to scrub myself clean after the events of the previous night, convinced there were still specks of Krugman’s blood on my skin. When I got out, Wanda called me, using one of her burners.

‘One of my researchers managed to track down an old neighbour of Gabriel’s, from when they were kids,’ she said. ‘This guy lives in Alaska now so he should be safe. Probably. This guy’s tough, anyway. The type who knows how to react if a bear comes running at you. His mom used to be friends with Gabriel’s mom too, so he’s received a trickle of news about him over the years. The type moms love dishing out:So-and-so’s son is doing great. Why can’t you be more like him?’ A chuckle.

‘What did you find out?’ I asked.

‘So, Gabriel was born in ’76 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Grew up in the ’burbs. Parents divorced when he was nine, and dad did a vanishing act. According to my source – or more accurately, his mom – Dearman Senior was something of an asshole. A con man. Always coming up with some get-rich-quick scheme or other, none of which worked. But he identified pretty early on that computers were going to be the future, so he bought Gabriel a Commodore 64 when he was six or seven, and a book teaching him how to code.’

‘It’s a familiar story,’ I said.

‘Yep. All these tech geeks started out like this, didn’t they? Apparently, Gabriel wasn’t just into computers. He was a bookworm. Learned to read when he was three, was gobbling up Shakespeare when he was eight and actually understanding it. My source said Gabriel was into drama too. Always trying to get the teachers at their elementary school to put on Shakespeare plays. He told everyone he was going to be a famous playwright when he grew up, though in the interview I found with him online he said he’d always wanted to be a movie director. So I guess that ambition changed at some point. He also said in this interview that he’s a huge movie buff still, that he has a massive cinema at home and that he buys all the new movies when they come out. Like, all of them. He’s building his own massive library.’

‘So he would have seenThe Immaculate,’ I said.

‘That Ruth’s movie? Yep. I think we can safely assume that.’

I remembered telling Ruth, when I saw the film, that it was going to attract the attention of casting directors and producers. I’d had no idea that it would also attract the attention of someone like Gabriel Dearman. But if this was indeed the case, I could understand it. Ruth’s performance was so powerful, so hypnotic, that I could see how it would have captivated his attention. A rich man, with secret power, used to getting what he wanted, frustrated by the things money couldn’t buy.

Deciding he wanted Ruth to be part of what he’d created.

‘What else did your source say?’ I asked.

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