Attendance is mandatory for you and your husband. Or the police get a little care package of some of your past highlights. We need to talk. In person.
I showed my phone to Jenny and nodded at the front door.
Just talk?
Jenny gently opened the door and slipped outside.
If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.
Why Balgray?
I watched Jenny walking up and down outside the house. She was looking up at the trees.
It’s a secure location. You can’t try anything.
He was right about that. We couldn’t risk ruining our cover as a nice, normal couple by going in there with our weapons raised.
Is it your retirement party? You fucking off for good is something to celebrate.
His reply was instant.
It will be a memorable goodbye.
Jenny shook her head at me and motioned for me to come outside.
We got back into Jenny’s car. “There could be a hidden camera. Or maybe he had someone follow us here.”
I chewed on my lip. “He’s been keeping tabs on us this whole time.”
Jenny started the engine and turned to me. “How do you think he’s been kept in the loop? How is he so up to date on what you’ve been doing?”
“He must have had people watching us.” I felt a creeping dreadas I realized it wasn’t a case ofifwe’d been under surveillance, but more for how long.
The only solace was that we knew the house was clear. Jenny had been militant with her frequent bug-detecting sweeps. No one could’ve planted any listening devices within our home without us realizing.
“You can’t trust anyone you’ve met in the last year. He’s a well-connected criminal with unlimited means. Anyone could’ve been recruited and parachuted in to report to him on your lives.” Jenny started the engine. “Start thinking of anyone who could be working for him. Anyone who’s now a part of your life. Who maybe doesn’t quite fit.”
“Jen, you know how shit our social life is, right?”
“What about the gym? School? The neighborhood?”
Something clicked. Someone who didn’t seem right. “Mr. McCabe! Bibi’s hot new class teacher.” I took out my phone. “Here! Look.” I googled and clicked on the school’s website, zooming in on his grinning photo. “He’s an ex-army twenty-six-year-old who looks like a male model and is now teaching kids their times tables. He started as a temp last month when Bibi’s teacher had a car accident.”
Jenny stared at his photo and nearly swerved the car. “He’sa primary school teacher?”
“You should’ve seen parents’ evening. I’ve never seen so much makeup and hair flicking for discussions on the phonetic alphabet.”
“Okay, I’ll check him out. Any other red flags? Anyone who’s appeared in your life? Or been trying to insert themselves into it?”
I tried to think over the last few months. “I guess Frederica, the leather-trousered mum I’ve told you about. She seems weirdly keen to hang out. But maybe it’s just because our kids are both very talented at acting.”
Jenny shook her head. “She’s a school mum; she’s probably interested in you for more basic reasons, like she’s really bored, or wants to nose around your house, or thinks you might be actual friends.”
I tried to imagine Frederica in sunglasses, staking out our house. “I can’t imagine someone who’s an Instagram influencer being a good choice for covert spying.”
Or maybe that was the whole trick? Someone whose life you thought was open, someone you thought had everything on display, could actually be hiding the most of all.
We’d thought we were home free when it came to our past crimes. A closed chapter. The past was happily behind us. And now The Chameleon was here to remind us we weren’t as safe as we thought we were.You’re only not in prison right now because I’m choosing to let you be free.
