Page 135 of The Black Trilogy

“I’m gonna pour it all in the waste disposal,” I whispered in her ear as I hugged her tightly. “I’ll see you in a few days.”

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “I’m glad you’re back. I mean really back.”

“Me too.”

Leaving Dan on the tarmac, I turned and walked up the stairs onto the plane. It was just as I remembered, cream leather seats with walnut trim. At least Bradley hadn’t refitted the interior while I was away. I wouldn’t have put it past him, not after the time I spent a week in Atlanta and got home to find my gym painted a pale purple. Calming, apparently. I didn’t want to be calm in my gym. I wanted to punch things.

Deep breaths, Emmy. Think happy, purple thoughts. I pushed the memory away and took a left into the cockpit to greet Brett, my pilot.

“It’s good to see you back, Emmy,” he said. “Will you be flying her today?”

“I might as well.” Seeing as I was still wide-awake, and I never slept on planes, anyway. I could do far too much damage at forty-five thousand feet. “I’ll take a break in the middle. I understand Bradley has salad for me.”

“He mentioned it earlier while I was tucking into my cheeseburger and fries.”

“Sometimes, I don’t like you very much.”

Brett chuckled as we buckled ourselves into our seats, and I shouted back to Bradley to fasten his seatbelt for take-off. With eight seats, it was the smaller of our two planes. We had a larger Global 8000 as well, but that was apparently in Seattle. First world problems. Today’s flight plan called for us to fly to Teterboro, New Jersey, a seven-hour journey that took the plane to the limit of its range. From Teterboro, we’d refuel and make the short hop over to Richmond International where my husband’s helicopter, a shiny black Eurocopter he’d purchased two months before his death, was waiting to take me home. Maybe a fourteen-seat helicopter was overkill for Bradley and me, but we’d sold the smaller one just before I left, and I hadn’t got around to replacing it. Something else on my to-do list, which grew longer by the minute.

I started the plane’s engines, and once they’d warmed up, I taxied over to the runway. Was I doing the right thing by leaving? Part of me wanted to go back to Lower Foxford, my sanctuary of sorts. But I couldn’t, not now. No more running.

“Ready?” Brett asked.

“As I’ll ever be.”

As I powered up for take-off, I felt the first rush of adrenaline, but there was something else too.

What was it?

Was I…? No, I couldn’t be. Was I nervous?

CHAPTER 38

LUKE AND NICK made the drive back to the house without further incident. The place was still lit up like a nightclub by emergency service vehicles, blue and red lights flashing everywhere, so Nick parked at the far end of the driveway.

“You okay, buddy?” Nick asked when Luke didn’t move.

“Yeah. Just thinking.”

Which was always dangerous. Luke got out of the car and shuffled towards the house, thankful that Tia had gone to bed. He wanted to tell her they’d caught the kidnapper, but at the same time, he didn’t know how to explain that Simon Howard appeared to be a relative. They’d gone through their whole lives believing it was just the two of them and their mother. The news he had a half-brother was still sinking in, not to mention the shock of Howard being a criminal. How would Tia take it?

Perhaps Ash could help him break the news? Luke was still cross at her for lying, but that anger had been tempered when she came through on the kidnapping problem. Without her, he’d most likely be lying in a shallow grave, and even if he’d survived, he wouldn’t have known where to go for help. He’d always be grateful to her for getting her friends involved, doubly so for the way she’d selflessly exchanged herself for the police officer at gunpoint.

Her hysterical reaction afterwards still baffled him, though.

And where was Ash, anyway? She and Dan weren’t among those gathered outside. Come to think of it, their car wasn’t even in the driveway. Nick had stopped to talk to the police who’d stayed to ensure Tia’s safety while the whole mess unravelled, and Luke wandered in that direction.

“Has anyone seen Ash? I’m surprised she’s not back by now.”

Especially with the way she’d smoked the tyres when she left ahead of them. Could she have crashed?

Nick excused himself from the group and led Luke out of earshot. “The thing is, she’s not coming back.”

“What do you mean? Tonight? She’s not coming back tonight? Have you got her number? I could meet her somewhere tomorrow.”

“Sorry, buddy.” Nick shook his head. “She’s not coming back at all. She’s on her way home.”

“To America?”

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