Page 168 of The Black Trilogy

“From what I heard, she wandered around the back of the house and climbed up the outside of the freaking building. The cop watching her knew who she was and turned a blind eye because he thought the super was an idiot too. Apparently, she got a locked fourth-story balcony door open in five seconds flat. Might as well have had a key. It took another three minutes for her to get down to the ground floor, disarm and incapacitate both the kidnappers, and walk out the front door carrying the kid.”

“Sounds like superwoman. Was she wearing a cape?” Luke asked.

“A pair of jeans. Looked as if they’d been spray-painted on. Anyway, it gets better. Before she left, she told the super exactly what she thought of him, mainly in four-letter words.”

“Why does that make her scary? I’d have wanted to have a few choice words with the superintendent too, if I’d been in that situation.”

“I haven’t finished. When we went inside, one of the kidnappers was unconscious and the other was cowering in a corner, begging us to keep her away. When we cuffed him, we found he’d lost his little finger. And the doctors couldn’t sew it back on because she’d stamped on it.”

Luke let out a low whistle. “She cut it off?”

“She claimed his knife slipped in the struggle. Calm as you like. She wasn’t even breathing hard when she came out of the house.”

“Okay, I have to hand it to you. If that’s true, she is crazy.”

“It’s true, all right. Every word. I swear.”

“But she’s not around anymore?” Luke asked. “Did she quit? What would someone like that move on to? It’s not as if she’d take up a new career as a secretary is it?”

“My sources say she disappeared after her husband got murdered last year. The cops in Virginia tried to pin it on her, but they couldn’t find any concrete evidence. Although if she did do it, there’s no way she’d have left any evidence, so that’s hardly surprising. But hey, disappearing doesn’t look good in terms of guilt, does it? The press called her the ‘Black Widow,’ according to the internet. Get it? Emerson Black—Black Widow?”

Mark and Rob chuckled while Luke shuddered.

“She sounds like a real piece of work.” What kind of man would marry a woman like that in the first place? “At least she won’t be around for your exercise. You wouldn’t want to end up missing body parts.”

Mark turned deadly serious. “We don’t know for sure that she’s not around. Terry sat next to her at a conference a couple of years ago, and he didn’t even realise. He was chatting to the guy next to him about how she was crazy but he’d do her anyway, then she got called up on stage to give a speech.”

“Ouch,” Rob said. “What happened? Did she hear him?”

“Oh, she heard him, all right. Came over after her speech, full of smiles, and said, ‘If I’m half as crazy as you think I am, you’d better keep an eye on your crown jewels or you might wake up and find them missing.’ Poor guy hardly slept for weeks.”

“So he didn’t know what she looked like, then?” Luke said. “Must have been a shock to find out.”

Rob shook his head. “Nobody knows what she looks like. She’s a chameleon. I’ve seen her three times now, and I still couldn’t pick her out of a line-up.” He looked around, eyes darting in all directions. “In fact, she could even be here now.”

“The chances are pretty slim. And it’s so noisy in here, we can barely hear you, let alone someone on the next table.”

“He’s right,” Mark said. “Chill.”

“Chill. Yeah.” Rob picked up his glass, drained it, and pushed the empty towards Mark. “Your round. And speaking of Blackwood, are you still up for the Blackwood Foundation Ball on Saturday?”

“Open bar? Of course. But Geoff said to tell you he can’t make it. His girlfriend’s making him go to see The Lion King musical instead.”

“Seriously?”

“That’s what he said. I made him repeat it twice because I couldn’t believe it either. That man is whipped.”

“Okay, so we’ve got a spare ticket.” Two sets of eyes swivelled towards to Luke.

“Luke, you’ll come, right?” Rob said. “You need to get out of the house. No man should be sitting at home alone on a Saturday night.”

If that house had beer and a computer, then being alone in it was perfectly acceptable in Luke’s view. “I’d better not. Tia’ll be on her own otherwise.”

“Don’t worry, Tia’s going out with Arabella on Saturday night then staying at our place.” Mark had temporarily moved back to his parents’ home after a small incident involving a holiday and a moth infestation. “I heard them arranging it in the car on the way home today.”

“You’re out of excuses,” Rob said.

“What’s the dinner for? I’m not agreeing to anything without having all the information first.”

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