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I leave the garage, run down the road, and cross in front of the car so they can’t pull away. Going around to the driver’s side, I lean on the top of the car and knock on the window.
The guy sitting behind the wheel looks at me, then tips his head back and stares up at the roof of the car as he curses.
“Open the fucking window,” I yell, knocking again.
He mutters something, then lowers the window.
I glare at him. He looks relatively presentable in a jacket and trousers, shirt and tie. His brown hair is neatly combed.
“What are you doing?” I demand.
He shrugs. “Just enjoying the view.”
I reach in, grab his tie, yank it over the edge of the window, and pull it so he’s up against the ledge. “Funny guy,” I say, wrapping the tie around my hand. “I’m splitting my fucking sides. Now, tell me who you are and why you’re following her.”
He glares at me, but fear flickers on his face. “Let me go.”
I tug the tie hard so it bangs his head against the side of the window. “I’m not kidding,” I snap. “Tell me or I’ll open this door, put the window up, and cut your fucking head off.”
“The windows have a sensor that would stop it from going the whole way up.”
“Maybe, but I bet it would fucking hurt.”
He studies my face and obviously decides that yes, it would hurt, because he blows out a resigned breath. “My name’s Dick Ellingham. I’m a private investigator,” he says.
“A PI called Dick? You’re fucking with me, right?”
“No, it’s really my name.”
I’m surprised. “Who hired you?”
“A law firm in Christchurch.”
“Which law firm?”
He shakes his head. “I can’t tell you.”
“They hired you to spy on Catie?”
He doesn’t reply. I wrap the tie around my hand once more, twisting it, and he coughs.
“To find out the whereabouts of Catriona Norris, known as Trinny. I went to the law firm where she’d worked, and found out that she’d asked for a reference to be sent to a firm in Wellington. That place closed down, but I checked the temping agencies and discovered that one of them had recently signed a Catie O’Clery. That was her mother’s surname. The last few days I’ve been following her to see whether it’s her.”
“You scared the fucking shit out of her. She’s nearly five months pregnant. With my babies.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“I should strangle you until your eyes fucking pop.”
“Dude, please. I didn’t mean to scare her. I didn’t think she’d seen me.”
“Why does the law firm in Christchurch want to track her down?”
“I swear I don’t know. They don’t tell me everything. I just have to report my findings.”
“Well you can tell them that if they want to talk to her, they’ve got to come through me.”
“All right.”
