‘Oh no you don’t.’ She wasn’t about to let him flush it down the toilet. ‘Now, answer the question – is that man in the black car watching Jake’s house?’
‘Yes … well, only when Jake’s in.’
‘And when he’s not?’
‘Then maybe he’ll watch him when he’s somewhere else.’ Marcus was being cagey.
‘You mean you’re having him followed?’
‘It wasn’t my idea.’
‘Then who?’ Faye demanded.
Marcus shot a worried look towards the kitchen door.
Faye didn’t care if Jake heard, because he was going to find out one way or another. ‘Who?’ she demanded again.
‘Alright, alright,’ said Marcus, waving his hand in the air in a futile attempt to get her to lower her voice. ‘It was my father’s idea. He’s already lost one child, and he saidI’m damn well not losing another. Those were his exact words.’
Faye got the picture. Jake was no longer living and working in his ivory tower. This was the real world. He was not being chauffeured to work and flown around in private jets. Working in an inner-city neighbourhood wasn’t without its risks. That morning was a case in point, when his bike had been stolen. Even so, Mr Ross had no right to go behind his back and do something like this. ‘I thought your father was decent, honourable – at least, that’s how Jake speaks of him.’
‘He is, Faye, but when I found out what he was doing …’
‘You didn’t know?’
‘No.’ Marcus got up and walked over to join Faye beside the front door. ‘When I found out about it, I confronted my father, and you know what he said?’
Faye shook her head.
‘He said,Marcus, family is everything to me.’
Faye’s thoughts turned to her own father. Where had it all gone so wrong?
‘How could I argue with that? God knows, I don’t want anything to happen to Jake either.’ Marcus brushed the net curtain and glanced out of the window. ‘No babysitters.That’s what Jake said.’ Marcus turned to face Faye. ‘He said,I don’t want anybody on my tail.’
Marcus sighed. ‘Jake knew my father was concerned, and it was a real possibility that he would hire some … protection. Jake didn’t want some company-employed jackass following him around.’
Faye shook her head – she wouldn’t want that either, someone following her around, watching her every move. Something altogether more disturbing occurred to her. Occasionally, she’d been on a course lasting all day, so Jake’s babysitting duties had extended beyond simply looking after Natty during an evening when Faye was out at a class. When Natty had been with Jake, going to his house, to the park, to the shops, had there been somebody following their every move?
She turned to the front door. ‘What’s his name?’
Marcus returned to his seat without a word.
Faye stormed over to him. ‘What’s his name?’
Marcus stood up. ‘Whatever you’re thinking of doing, a word of advice – don’t.’
Faye ignored him. She marched up to the front door, opened it and took a step back, surprised to find a man standing on the front porch with his back to her.
He turned around and lifted his trilby from his head.
She looked past him to the large black car – it was empty. She turned her attention back to the man standing on the porch. ‘Is that your car?’
He turned. ‘Do you mean the Mercedes-Benz?’
Faye didn’t know what make of car it was. ‘It’s the black car.’
‘Why, yes – that’s my car,’ he said in a clipped accent. He turned to look at her. ‘Is there a problem?’
