Page 21 of We Chase Shadows

The man aims a final kick at Tony’s ribs. ‘You tell Vern Blackwood, you don’t come looking for Jakob Eriksson, you understand?’

Felicity spits in the man’s face. He wipes it away. Vern Blackwood is the client in Italy. Who is Jakob Eriksson? What have Steve, Amy and Rosie got involved in? What have they got her and Tony involved in?

‘No Jakob Eriksson,’ says the man. ‘Or the next time I see you, I will kill you both.’

‘If you ever see me again,’ says Felicity, hearing Tony breathe heavily, ‘I will kill you first.’

The man laughs with genuine amusement.

‘I am sorry to do this,’ he says. ‘But a message is a message.’

The man puts his hood back up and continues his stroll towards the bottom of the alley without a care in the world. Felicity drops to her knees and cradles Tony’s head. His eyes open and he mumbles something she can’t hear.

‘Don’t speak,’ says Felicity, weeping and shaking. His face is swelling already, and there is blood on his left temple where he struck the wall. It is the tear in the shirt that is making her weep though. ‘You rest, we’ll get you to hospital.’

From the top of the alley the teenaged couple reappears, the girl speaking into a mobile phone. Felicity hears an ambulance in the distance.

Tony is trying to speak again but no words come out.

The teens reach her. The boy takes off his jacket and wraps it around Tony as Tony’s eyes begin to close. As the girl takes off her jacket and wraps it around Felicity, Tony loses consciousness.

12

‘It’s quiet most of the time,’ says Lee, leaning on his shovel and kicking at the lawn with his trainers. ‘Peaceful. You know, until this. Korbin does most of the fun stuff. I just drive and hang around outside restaurants.’

‘That’s the job,’ says Amy, kneeling. The mound of earth is piled up beside her.

She turns Esteban’s body over with as much dignity as she can.

‘I have seniority,’ says Korbin. ‘That’s why I do the fun things.’

‘Sometimes he sends me to get coffee,’ says Lee. ‘I fought in Afghanistan and now I buy Frappuccinos.’

‘How long did you serve?’ Amy asks.

‘Too long,’ says Lee.

Amy examines Esteban. The bullet had gone in through the back of the skull. Downward trajectory. Not textbook, but effective enough.

‘I used to work for Britney Spears,’ says Korbin. ‘I don’t know if you have heard of her, she is a singer?’

‘Have I heard of Britney Spears?’ says Amy, examining the entry wound in more detail. ‘Yes.’

It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, bodyguard talk is the same. Kuwait, Buenos Aires, Osaka, Gaborone, it’s the same people bitching about the same things. Menial tasks, gun not good enough, less fun than working for Cher. Bodyguards are never happy unless they are backstage at Wembley or under direct fire.

For these two – three if you count the late Esteban – life on this Italian hillside must have been deathly dull, until someone shot Esteban. That has perked them up a bit. You can sense it. Judging by the entry wound, the gun was very close when it fired. Hard to get that close to a professional and then shoot them in the back of the head. But all sorts of scenarios in which it could have happened.

‘Have you ever worked for anyone famous?’ asks Lee, his Essex accent and perfect teeth pure Love Island.

‘Yes,’ says Amy. ‘Do you think this guy Jakob Eriksson really killed Esteban?’

Korbin shrugs.

‘Course he did,’ says Lee. ‘Gotta kill people every now and again. Keep your reputation up.’

‘Whoever killed him got up pretty close and personal,’ says Amy. ‘Any theories, Korbin?’

Korbin looks bored. ‘Maybe Jakob Eriksson, maybe someone else.’