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A quarter of a million dollars a day…Reeve’s plaintive voice echoes in my mind as I burst outside and spot the sleek people carrier with the hotel logo emblazoned on the doors. It’s parked in the shade, as the driver enjoys a cigarette, leaning against the hood.
“Tell me you were working last night, and I’ll love you forever,” I blurt, approaching him.
The old guy chuckles and stubs out his cigarette with his heel. “Well now, I’m sorry to say I just clocked on. And I reckon my missus would have a thing or two to say about it, too.”
I stifle a noise of frustration. “Do you know who was working?” I ask, desperate now. Every hour I kill trying to track Hugo, is an hour he has as a head start to get even further away. “I’m trying to figure out where my friend went,” I add. “He caught a ride from the hotel late last night.”
“Sorry,” the guy shrugs.
I deflate, turning to go and walk into the nearest body of water. They have lakes here, right?
“You want me to check the Sat-Nav?”
I pause, turning back. “The what?”
“Sat-Nav. Navigation system,” the man explains. “We trade off the car, you see, so if the last driver used the nav system, the destination will be saved in the history. Mobile signal gets pretty spotty out here in the country,” he adds.
“Oh my God, yes!” I squeal in delight. “Yes, please, now! If you don’t mind.”
He chuckles. “Hold your horses.”
The driver saunters around to the driver’s side, and reaches in, retrieving the small GPS device. He scrolls through, then shows me the address.
“Bethnal Green… That’s London,” he says.
London!
I type the address into my phone, excited. Maybe Hugo’s dream girl is closer than I thought. “It’s only a few hours away, right?” I ask eagerly.
“Depending on traffic,” he nods.
I could have him back by tonight!
“Are you free right now?” I ask. “I need to grab my stuff, but I’ll pay you double if you can take me to this address. Triple!”
He smiles. “You’re on.”
I race back into the hotel, and up to my room. I figure Hugo might need some convincing to abandon his love quest, so I throw some clothing and toiletries into my backpack, in case I have to spend the night, then grab my jacket, and power downstairs again, bumping into Hazel in the lobby.
“I was just about to call you!” I grab her excitedly. “I have a lead on Hugo’s location, in London. I’m heading out now.”
“Godspeed,” she says, then quickly raises her voice as someone passes nearby. “Yes, he was vomiting all night, poor guy. Flu is theworst.”
She winks and pushes me to the exit. I speed back out to the car and hurl myself into the backseat.
“Ready, luv?” the driver asks.
“Let’s go!”
He pulls away, as I see Fraser emerge from the hotel, talking on his phone. He pauses, frowning at me in surprise as the car passes him by.
I flutter a wave, sitting back in my seat with a massive sigh of relief as we head for the road. With any luck, I’ll have our Darcy safely back in Sussex before Fraser—or his corporate bosses—know anything’s wrong.
Otherwise…
Well, I don’t want to think about what might happen if I wind up empty-handed.Pride and Prejudicewithout Darcy? It’s unthinkable.
Failure is not an option.
