I feel like I’m on a cleansing mission, and it’s right now that I decide to tackle the final issue tomorrow. Mikael. I’ve still not heard from him, but I’ll call him. I’ll beat him to the punch. I’m full of determination to eradicate this final issue. There’s nothing he can say, nothing he can tell me, so I don’t know what the point of our meeting will be.
As I’m driving over London Bridge, I glance up to my rearview mirror and spot a familiar car. Jesse’s car. He’s dipping in and out of the traffic in his usual haphazard style, overtaking and generally causing traffic mayhem in his wake. I spend a few moments flicking my eyes between the road and my rearview mirror, the potential of what I’m about to face slowly settling in the pit of my stomach. He’s been following me, which means he has followed me to Matt’s office, which means he is going to hit the fucking roof. I’m not going to try and convince myself that Jesse wouldn’t know where Matt worked.
I know it’s him, but that doesn’t stop me taking a right, and then a right, and then a right again, bringing me back to where I started, and as I knew it would be, the DBS is still tailing me a few cars behind. I feel around on the seat for my phone and stab at the buttons.
“Yes?” he spits out, curt and clipped.
“Nice drive?” I ask.
“What?”
“Are you having a nice drive?” I repeat myself, this time the words pushed through clenched teeth.
“Ava, what the fuck are you talking about? And when I send John to fetch you, get in his fucking car.”
I glance back up to my rearview mirror, just to check I’m not imagining things. I’m not. “I’m talking about you following me.”
“What?” he yells impatiently. “Ava, I haven’t got time for fucking riddles.”
“I’m not talking in riddles, Jesse. Why the hell are you following me?”
“I’m not following you, Ava.”
“So I suppose there are hundreds of Aston Martins driving around London, and one just happens to be following me.”
Silence falls down the phone line, then his heavy breathing starts. “You’re driving?”
“Yes!” I shriek. “I’m driving around in bloody circles, and you’re following me. You’d make a shit detective!”
“My car’s following you?”
“Yes!” I actually hit my steering wheel in a temper.
“Ava, baby, I’m not driving my car. I’m at Lusso.” He doesn’t sound impatient anymore. He sounds concerned.
I take another look in my mirror and find the DBS is now only one car behind me, drifting in and out of my sight. “But it’s your car,” I say quietly.
“Fuck!” he roars, and I instinctively pull the phone away from my ear. “John!”
“Jesse? What’s going on?” My stomach is suddenly a knot of panic at his reaction.
“My car’s been stolen.”
“Stolen?”
“Where are you?” he asks.
Frantically looking around, I search for something familiar. “I’m on the Embankment, driving toward the city.”
“John! The Embankment. City bound. Call her in two.” I hear car doors closing. “Baby, listen to me. Just keep driving, okay?”
“Okay,” I agree, my earlier anger giving way to pure fear.
“I’ve got to put the phone down now.”
“I don’t want you to,” I murmur. “Stay on the phone, please.”
“Ava, I’ve got to put the phone down. John’s going to call you as soon as I hang up. Put it on loudspeaker and place it in your lap so you can concentrate. Understand?”
He’s trying to stay calm, but he’s failing to conceal his distress. It’s thick in his husky voice, and I’m frightened by it.
“Ava, baby, tell me you understand!”
“I understand,” I whisper, and then the distinctive roar of a motorbike pours down the line. One of Jesse’s bikes. The phone goes dead.
My heart has gone berserk and is punching its way through my chest, my hand is visibly shaking on the wheel and my eyes are glazing over with panic-fuelled tears. When my phone starts ringing, I fumble with the keypad until I manage to connect the call.
“John?”
“Hey, girl, are you on hands free?”
“No, wait.” I quickly place the call on loudspeaker before dropping my phone into my lap and replacing my hand on the wheel, gripping harder to try and stop the shakes. “I’m done. I’ve done it.”
“S’all good, girl.” He sounds so calm. “Just take a quick peek and tell me how far back Jesse’s car is.”