‘Youareserious,’ Jake seethed. He’d gone back because he’d thought that maybe, just maybe, Marcus did have something important to tell him. And for another reason – Marcus’s behaviour was so erratic that he wondered what he might do if left alone. If he’d known Marcus had just been just kidding around …
‘What on earth makes you think I would want to go on holiday with you, of all people? I don’t want you anywhere near me.’
Marcus’s face was still beaming, as though Jake had just finalised their holiday plans and everything was tickety-boo. Jake stared at him in disbelief. That was it, the drugs had done their work; Marcus had finally flipped.
Jake stormed off in the direction of his car. Then somethingoccurred to him; something almost as objectionable as Marcus’s ill-conceived holiday plans. He stormed back.
‘Am I being babysat – is that why you’re here? Because William told you to come? If that’s the case, then you can tell William there is nothing wrong with me. I am perfectly capable of taking a holiday and, if he insists, I’ll gladly have Aubrey or anyone else along for the ride. But,’ Jake bent double and leaned down into Marcus’s beaming face, ‘not you.’
Jake stared into the dark eyes of the man he’d thought he knew so well and yet to his cost had discovered otherwise. It had inevitably raised the question: how much could you really know about a person?
Jake lingered a moment longer. Marcus was not going to atone for what he had done, for what he had caused – the loss of Eleanor. Not today, and perhaps, Jake had to acknowledge, not ever.
Jake left him sitting on the step and went up to his front door to double-check everything was locked and secure – it wasn’t. He locked the door. This time he was leaving. His mind was made up. He was going on holiday, if for no other reason than to put some distance between himself and Marcus. Either that, or he was about to do something that they’d both seriously regret – Marcus the most, because he was in for a punch in the face.
Jake kept his cool.
‘Good. That’s settled then.’ Marcus got to his feet. ‘My bag is already packed and, in the boot. Your car or mine?’ He motioned at his shiny black Saab. ‘Mine would be better, don’t you think?’
Jake ignored him and walked to his car. In the driver’s seat, he turned the key and let the engine idly turn over while he watched Marcus open the boot of his Saab, lift out a suitcase, and close it.
He selected reverse gear as Marcus turned and started to walk towards the car.
Jake slowly shook his head. What did Marcus think he wasdoing? The man was completely insane. Jake started to back up – fast.
Marcus came to a halt, realising the pursuit was futile.
Jake stopped the car and selectedDrive.
He imagined taking care of one more thing before he left on his holiday. He imagined flooring the accelerator and driving right at Marcus before he had a chance to react, before he had any idea what was about to happen. He was like a sitting duck.
Smack.
Jake slowly shook his head. He couldn’t believe the idea of driving his car at Marcus had even crossed his mind. Jake moved away from the kerb, taking it slowly, turning the steering wheel to give Marcus a wide berth in case he was tempted to suddenly give in to his imagination.
Once he had passed Marcus, he accelerated.
He glanced in his rear-view mirror. The boot of Marcus’s car was open again. Jake was certain that by the time Marcus got into his car and reached the first junction, he would be long gone.
Jake smiled to himself as he headed in the direction of the motorway once again, heading for the airport. Marcus wasn’t aware he was going to the airport. He could be going anywhere; perhaps somewhere in this country that didn’t involve a flight. Even so, Jake didn’t want to chance being followed. He had a plan.
He glanced in his rear-view mirror again. His one consolation was that Marcus liked expensive, foreign-made cars. The black Saab would be relatively easy to spot amongst the many SUVs on the motorway. And if, by chance, Marcus made a lucky guess and headed straight for the airport, he had no way of knowing the flight number. And without the correct boarding pass, he had no way of discovering Jake sitting in the departure lounge in London City Airport, which is exactly where he intended to bethe next day.
Jake relaxed as the airport sign came into view. He took the exit, just in case Marcus was following him. But he’d already decided he was not staying at the airport hotel after all. He took the slip road to rejoin the motorway. It wasn’t long before he exited the motorway, taking a familiar route he’d driven many, many times before to a place where he was going to stay the night before his flight tomorrow. Marcus would never, ever guess where Jake was about to go.
Jake checked his rear-view mirror one last time and grinned. Marcus’s black Saab was nowhere to be seen.
Chapter 16
The doorman was preoccupied, his attention diverted to the street, where he was deep in conversation with an old lady walking a small dog. Jake walked straight past him and opened the glass door.
‘Sir! Excuse me. Sir!’ The doorman had spotted him.
Jake kept walking.
‘Excuse me, sir. You can’t go in there.’ The doorman followed him inside.
The concierge jumped up from behind his desk in the foyer as Jake strode past, his voice joining in the protest. ‘Sir! Can I help you?’
