Page 97 of I Knew You Were Trouble

‘You don’t have to?—’

‘No, I want to,’ I reply enthusiastically.

We stare at each other for a few seconds, then he reaches across the table for my hand.

‘Kate, I?—’

My phone chimes loudly with a message notification – I must have overcorrected after I unsilenced it. ‘Sorry,’ I say, turning off the screen. I look back at him, expecting him to pick up where he left off, but he doesn’t.

‘Don’t you want to check that?’ he asks. ‘It could be Lucia.’

‘Oh, of course,’ I say, feeling a little foolish. I open the phone screen and navigate to my messages. Only it isn’t Lucia – it’s Jon.

I groan involuntarily.

‘What is it?’ asks Willem.

I look up from my phone, grimacing. ‘It’s Jon. I forgot to reply to his message this morning and sometimes he gets a bit… stroppy.’

‘Stroppy?’ he asks, a shadow of confusion crossing his face.

‘Annoyed, pissed off.’

‘Hegets pissed off withyou?’ he asks incredulously.

‘Uh, yes. Sometimes.’

Willem inhales through his nose, his nostrils flaring.

I turn my head away, giving him an amused side-eye. ‘You don’t like him – I get it. I’m not Jon’s biggest fan either, but soon this will all be over and we never have to mention him again.’

‘Any chance I can get five minutes alone with him?’

‘Based on how your knuckles have turned white, I’d say no.’

His mouth twitches and with a self-deprecating eye roll, his scowl gives way to a smile.

‘Now, after I reply to the lying prick,’ I say, holding up my phone, ‘we’re changing our flights.AndI’m coming to Amsterdam with you.’

His smile stretches into a grin. ‘I like it when you take charge,’ he says, his voice dripping with inuendo.

Remembering exactly how I ‘took charge’ last night, my cheeks colour and Willem bursts out laughing.

23

POPPY

I wake with a start – namely because Saffron’s bum is in my face and her swishing tail is flicking back and forth over my mouth. I swat it away, then push her over to Tristan’s side of the bed and fish a cat hair out of my mouth. If I didn’t love her so much, I’d ship her off to Siberia.

My mouth stretches into a silent yawn and I stretch my legs out, twisting my hips from side to side. I’m awake far too early for a Saturday morning but there’s no way I’ll get back to sleep now. No doubt part of Saffron’s evil plan to usurp me as ‘lady of the house’. Since the day we brought her home, she’s been in love with Tristan.

I prop myself up on my pillows and check my phone. Mum messaged overnight. She and Dad are excited about their upcoming trip to London and she’s now sending daily countdowns of how many sleeps it is until they arrive.

I’m excited too, but Ireallyhope I’m done with the Whitaker case before they arrive. They’re already baffled by the machinations of my profession. If ‘Penny’ is still in operation, especially if she’s having video chats with Jon Dunn, there will be some serious explaining to do.

I also heard from Kate overnight – a brief message saying that she and Willem found Lucia and successfully foiled Dunn’s intended proposal.

She didn’t mention Willem specifically, whichcouldbe telling. Is she deliberately not mentioning the room mix-up because they shared a room, or did they figure out something else, so she didn’t think it was worth mentioning?

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