Page 228 of The Black Trilogy

Looked as if I’d never escape from the past, didn’t it? Although Tia was one part of my past I didn’t mind coming back. Hanging out with her was like having a little sister, and while I’d never admit it to her brother, I admired the rebel in her. Luke may have behaved like an idiot, but I didn’t see why I should cut Tia out of my life because of it.

So I fired off an email.

From: [email protected]

Subject: Emerson

Hey Tia,

Hope you’re doing OK after your tangle with Simon. Try not to get into any more trouble while I’m not around, eh?

Lunch would be good. If you tell me when you’re free, I’ll clear some time in my diary. I can pick you up, but best not from Lower Foxford, or it would get back to Luke before we even left the village. If you need any hints on sneaking out, let me know. I’ve had plenty of practice at that, lol.

I’ve put my number at the bottom—text/call me whenever you want to chat.

Ash / Emmy x

That was my last bit of paperwork. I decided to celebrate with a donut, only to find the vultures had eaten them all, and when I went to the mini fridge in my office, starving, it was filled with carrot sticks and celery. For crying out loud, I’d eaten better in the rainforest.

“What on earth is this lot?” I asked Tina, my London assistant.

“Er, Toby gave me a shopping list.”

“If I give you a new shopping list, would you be a darling and pop out to get me something I can actually eat?”

She shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot and refused to meet my eyes. “Toby told me I couldn’t. He said you’d ask, but you’re on a strict diet.”

“Fine.”

I walked out to the break room and found one of the junior analysts eating a sandwich.

“Hi. Gareth, isn’t it?”

“Uh, yes?”

“Gareth, I’ll give you fifty quid if you’ll nip out and get me a Subway.”

“I-I-I can’t,” he stammered. “Toby said you’re only supposed to eat the food he prescribed.”

“Did he tell everyone in the whole office this?”

“Uh, yeah, he sent a memo around.”

Toby was officially in my bad books now. “A strict diet” meant the fridge at Albany House would be filled with chicken, fish, lean cuts of beef, vegetables, fruit, and cottage cheese. Protein shakes. Eggs. Not a chocolate bar in sight. I’d starve.

I looked at my watch. Half an hour until my next meeting—just enough time to find some proper lunch without being late. I jogged down to Subway and ordered a turkey foot long and a bag of cookies to go with it, turning down the cashier’s offer to add a soft drink for only fifty pence. I never touched that fizzy stuff. Artificial sweeteners, colour, preservatives—those things could kill you.

The cookies made me happy, but silly things still made me miserable, like Black’s toothbrush sitting beside mine in the bathroom off our shared office. The alternative was to throw it out, though, and I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Not yet. While it was still there, if I didn’t think about it, I could almost believe he was coming home.

My last meeting of the day was at New Scotland Yard, a one hour debrief that turned into three as we rehashed the mess they’d made of the security exercise at the conference centre. In a typical display of public bureaucracy, they’d sent sixteen people to the meeting when four would have been perfectly adequate, and they all wanted to have their say.

After I escaped, I headed back to my old haunts. You could take the girl out of East London, but you couldn’t take East London out of the girl, and over the years I’d kept in touch with some of the people I grew up with. After a quick visit to JJ’s and a drink at the pub opposite, I stopped for a catch up with Vinnie, the guy who’d been generous enough to share his knowledge of car theft when we were younger. He tended to work late, as that was when most of his cars were nicked, so I knew I’d find him awake.

He was underneath what had once been a Mercedes S Class when I arrived. I poked him with my foot, and he shot out on a wheeled plank, banging his head and cursing.

“Don’t you ever knock?”

I shrugged. “Nope.”

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