Chapter 57

 

Finally, Friday the twenty-fifth had arrived. Dylan was in his office at the gallery. Everything was in place. He checked his watch again, even though he’d checked it seconds earlier. Any minute now, Lee would take the van to Gemma’s flat and she was going to drive to the Channel Tunnel. As a precaution, there was a backup car on hand to follow her.

The office door opened and his secretary came in with his usual morning black coffee. “Good morning, I thought you weren’t in today?” she smiled, placing the mug down on the coaster on his desk. “It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” he replied, “it’s beautiful. I’m not here all day, just for a couple of hours.”

“Right,” she smiled over her half-rimmed glasses. “Joey Jacobs is outside, can he have a word?”

“What does he want?” He didn’t want to be bothered by trivia today of all days, “Can’t you sort it?”

“I tried but he’s asking to speak to you. He wants Gemma Dean’s home address. I’ve told him we can’t give details out like that, but he seems keen and asked if you would be able to give him it?”

“No, of course I won’t,” he said irritably, “just tell him that.”

Why was he sniffing round for Gemma’s address?

“Why does he want it, anyway?”

“He wouldn’t say, just that it was important.”

Gemma had said she was going to tell Joey and Rachel last night she was leaving the gallery, so what did he want her for now?

He sighed, “You’d better show him in then.”

 

Seconds later, there was a tap on the door. “Come in.”

Joey entered and closed the door behind him. “I’m sorry to bother you about this. I know it’s irregular, but I thought I’d give it a try.”

“It is irregular. If Gemma wanted you to have her address, she would have given you it.”

“I know that. I’ve got her phone number but she’s not answering. I’ve tried texting too but still no luck.”

“Well she’s either busy, or . . .” he shrugged and left the sentence unsaid. No need to add she might not want to speak to you.

She’d better not be speaking to him, either. Today was a big day.

The penny must have dropped as Joey raised an eyebrow. “Ah, I see what you’re thinking. No, it’s nothing like that,” he shook his head, “I think she already has a boyfriend, anyway. The reason I want to speak to her is she’s been looking for a job so she can stay in the area and my sister is desperate for a chambermaid as hers has disappeared today. She owns a small hotel with her husband in Shepherd’s Bush. The woman she had was a bit highly strung and it sounds like she’s run off with the breakfast chef, as he’s gone too.”

Dylan’s stomach clenched.

What boyfriend?

Joey rattled on. “He’s married, so it’s one hell of a mess and my sister is struggling and needs someone at short notice.”

What the fuck was he on about?

Joey looked directly at him as if he knew he was hardly listening. “I thought it was worth letting Gemma know before she leaves. To be honest, I don’t think by the sound of things it’s much of a job she’s going to, she’s being very vague about it all.”

Dylan sighed, he didn’t need this today of all days. It never occurred to him that Gemma might have another bloke on the go as well as him. It thumped his gut, hard.

“I still can’t give her details out,” he dismissed, “you’ll just have to hope she responds to your text messages. She could actually be long gone by now.”

Maybe she’s told him she has a boyfriend to keep him at arm’s length.

He made the pretence of shuffling some papers around on his desk, but had to ask, “You say she has a boyfriend, she’s probably gone off with him. It did seem sudden, her wanting to leave.”

“Yeah, you could be right,” Joey agreed, “probably best to leave it, then. Thanks anyway.”

Dylan watched Joey walk towards the door. He couldn’t resist. “Have you met her boyfriend?”

“No. She’s quite a private person so I’ve never let on I know. I only found out as I stumbled across her in the park with him one Saturday morning when I was walking my dog. I’ve seen her with him a few times, she’s never seen me though, so I haven’t mentioned it. To be honest, he looks a lot older than her. Probably married for all I know.”

The pain in Dylan’s gut was radiating through the rest of his body.

Surely she wasn’t fucking two of them at the same time?

Jealousy wasn’t an emotion he was used to. In fact, it was the first time he’d ever experienced it. An image of Gemma meeting an older bloke flashed before his eyes. Why would you meet your lover in the park of all places? Surely if he was married, you’d be somewhere fucking, not walking around the park? Unless . . .

Fuck.

No.

He stood up. “You said you’ve seen her a few times?”

“Yeah.”

“Were they, you know, kissing? Holding hands?”

Joey shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe not kissing.”

“An older man you said. How much older?”

Another shrug. “Old enough.”

“Well, as I said, I can’t help, now if you’ll excuse me, I really do need to leave for an appointment.”

“Oh, yeah, sure. No problem. It was just a thought.” Joey opened the door, “Thanks anyway.”

He nodded at Joey as he left and closed the door.

Rage erupted inside of him. He needed to get to Gemma’s flat . . . quickly.

I’ll fucking kill her if she’s crossed me.

He waited until Joey was out of earshot and picked up his mobile. He keyed in Victor’s name.

Come on, come on.

His fury was like a red-hot torrent flooding through his body. His heart was pounding so much, it must surely be visible. He ran his hand across his sweaty brow.

Victor answered on the fourth ring.

“We need to abort,” his voice didn’t sound like his own, “that bitch is about to double cross us.” His voice didn’t sound like his own.

“What!?”

“She’s been meeting some bloke in the park. I reckon they’re going to take the painting.”

Let this be a mistake.

“You reckon. What proof do you have?”

What proof did he have, other than his aching gut and the fury running through his veins?

“Call it gut instinct,” he said, “everything feels wrong about this now and we just can’t take any chances. We need to abort.”

“Fucking hell,” Victor spat, “how the hell did you let this happen?”

He had no defence.

“I’m on my way to her flat right now. I’ll strangle the fucking bitch when I get my hands on her.”

“Hang on,” Victor snapped, “the van will be on the way to her flat, if it’s not there already. We can’t put ourselves anywhere near the painting. No brief in the world would be able to get us off that. I’ll ring Jit to abort.”

“I’m sorry, Vic . . . I had no idea.”

“There’s no time for this shit right now,” Vic dismissed, “let’s try and sort this fucking mess out. You can’t go near her or the painting, do you hear me?”

“I’m going to kill her.”

“Don’t go . . .”

Dylan cut the call.

The bitch.

She’d played him and he’d fallen for it.

She’ll pay for this.

He’d make sure of it. If it was the last thing he ever did.