The Hunter(14)

“Just call me Clark. Bye, Miss Prince” he called as I shot entered the revolving door.



As I exited, I turned and saw him shaking his head as he walked back to his desk.



I walked back to the apartment with so many thoughts and emotions crashing around my head. I felt exhausted when I reached it but I made sure to make time for a quick chat with James because I felt bad for snapping at him that morning.



I was so glad to be back inside the apartment. I closed the door, leaned against it and closed my eyes, breathing in the scrumptious scent of the bouquet. When I eventually opened by eyes, I found Angel smirking at me from the breakfast bar.



“So, do I take it that you found out who your secret admirer is, then?” she asked smugly.



“Yes … no … I don’t have a secret admirer,” I said in exasperation.



“Oh, so he isn’t secret any more?” she asked, determined, it seemed, to get to the bottom of things.



“I wouldn’t say that exactly,” I whispered. I placed the bouquet on the breakfast bar and placed my hands on the surface, bracing my arms.



“I think you had better tell me all about it,” Angel coaxed. “But let’s open a bottle of wine first.”



“I would prefer something stronger,” I said, hopefully.



Ten minutes later we were sat on the sofa sipping cocktails. I glanced at her and she cocked her head to one side. I knew that she was waiting expectantly for an explanation but I really didn’t know where to start. I knew that she was going to freak out when if she learned that I had kept something from her. I also knew that she wasn’t going to give up until she knew all that there was to know.



I wished that the alcohol would hurry up and hit my bloodstream. I should have insisted on tequila shots, I thought wryly. Angel’s eyes widened in surprise as I knocked back the whole cocktail and then shuddered, thinking that, on balance, Angel’s cocktails were probably just as lethal as tequila.



I placed my glass carefully on the coffee table and sat back against the sofa cushion.



“Oh my god,” Angel announced when I had recounted my first strange encounter. Her blue eyes were huge.



“Holy crap!” she said when I told her about the elevator encounter. “That’s why you looked like you had seen a ghost - you virtually had. I knew that it wasn‘t just because of your nerves. Why didn‘t you tell me?”



I shrugged and avoided her gaze but I should have known that she would persist. I eventually confessed that I wasn’t sure that he was real. That I might have imagined him. Angel said nothing but she nodded slightly, as if to acknowledge my reluctance to share that information.



I reached into my purse and then passed her the card that I had found underneath the bouquet. I heard her gasp as she read the salutation on the envelope. Her eyes flicked to mine and I shrugged. She quickly pulled out the card and read the message, and I watched her face cloud over in confusion. “What the hell …” she said eventually. The tension lifted slightly when I mentioned my suspicions that Travis must have sent the flowers. Angel chuckled as she passed me another cocktail.



“So you know that whoever sent them works in the building, but you don’t know for sure whether it is the mystery man, right?” Angel asked, twirling her blonde hair around her finger, as she often did when she was deep in thought. “Although, it would fit, wouldn’t it? If he was in the elevator as you think he was, he would have seen your celebration after your meeting with Norman & Wilde - one that you thought you had performed in secret.”



I nodded as the pieces continued to fall into place. It had to be him! I sipped the cocktail, feeling the liquid warm my throat. I felt myself relaxing, probably due to the effects of the first cocktail. Just then, Angel’s phone rang and she switched it off without looking was calling.



“Angel, that could be important!” I said, but she just ignored me. Her head was on one side and she was still twirling her hair.



“We need to find out who this phantom is,” she said eventually.



“Well, actually … I think I might have discovered his identity,” I admitted, waiting for her predictable reaction.



“What?” she shrieked. “Who? How?” She bounced up and down on the sofa as she spoke before grasping my shoulders and looking me straight in the eye, as if willing me to speak.



As I told her about my conversation with Clark, her baby blue eyes grew wider and wider and her grasp on my shoulders grew tighter.



“Ouch,” I said, rubbing my shoulders, when I had finished. Angel released her grasp but her eyes remained locked on to mine. I waited patiently for her to absorb all that I had told her.