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Darcy hung her head, her handset was sweaty in her grip. Her sense of guilt was a knife blade in her side. “No. He let me think he was a brute.”
“And afterwards I was too embarrassed to admit it. I figured it was better if you didn’t know. I’ll help. Of course I will. What do I need to do?”
“Get me inside Parker Corp.”
Robert groaned. “I said I’d help, not work miracles.”
“I thought you were Lin Gui? You know, Chinese Ninja.”
There was a long pause before he said. “We’ll work something out. I’m on my way.”
Darcy lent against the sun baked stone of the number twenty-seven and sipped her bottled water. She tried on the idea the man she’d gone to Shangri-La and back with was a murderer. The only way she could get it to fit was to imagine it as self-defence.
She had enough money to hang out in Shanghai for a fortnight if she didn’t freelance a story. But if she could use the information she knew about Will, and write a story that raised questions about his imprisonment, then she’d be able to stay on and see this out, without it costing her every cent she owned. Without it burying her soul in disgust at the chain of events she’d created, at the ruination of a good man.
Will Parker was a good man. She knew it. She believed in it. She’d do whatever she could to make others see it too. And if that meant convincing Peter Parker to drop his suit against her, and allow her to use the information she knew about Will, she’d find a way to do it.
The rest of the press pack had dispersed now. Gone to chase other leads, maybe even other stories. Robert said the urgency would go out of the whole thing now because the news would be controlled by the Ministry of Justice and Will wasn’t going anywhere.
There was one other man loitering about like she was. He kept looking her way, no doubt annoyed to find a rival on the scene. Darcy braced for an argument when he approached.
He said, “Miss Campbell?” and she didn’t know if she should be surprised he knew her name, or was Will Parker’s inscrutable driver.
He put his hand out to shake. “I’m Bo.”
She clasped his hand, feeling something like hope wriggling in her fingertips.
“Why are you here?” he demanded, no longer unreadable—pissed off.
“Because I did wrong by Will. I want to help.”
“You caused his pain. How can you help?”
It was the question she’d been asking herself since she boarded the plane and landed in Pudong. Who was she to think she could face down the Chinese legal system? She didn’t speak the language. She was being sued by Parker Corp. She didn’t even have a job, or enough money to keep her life together for more than a few months. She’d come halfway around the world fuelled on guilt and fairytale.
She shrugged. “I don’t know, but I can try.”
Bo took off his sunglasses. He had a purple bruise around one eye and a nasty scab on his cheek. “I try too. Come inside. We talk to Pete.”
Inside. Bo could get her inside. In front of Peter. It was too good to be true. She and Bo were already moving when Robert arrived. She did a hasty introduction, and Robert shot her a look that said impressive and holy shit in one quick eyebrow bounce.
Bo swept through the cool, designer interior of Parker’s executive reception, headed straight to Peter’s office.
“Bo. Who? Ah. You can’t go in there,” said the receptionist.
Bo ignored her and that was a cue for Darcy. She and Robert sat on his heels as he went down the corridor. Peter’s door was open, Bo marched through it.
“Bo, how are you feeling?” said Peter, but his weary smile fell away when he saw Darcy. “What? No. Bo, they can’t be here.”
Bo planted himself in front of Peter’s desk. “She can help. We will go to Feng’s village. We will find out the truth. Will did not kill Feng.”
Peter sighed. “I’ve already done that. It’s not going to help.”
“You sent the wrong people. You don’t ask the right questions.”
“And you think this bitch and that scumbag photographer who started this whole thing can do better?” Peter was glaring at them. “Bo, they’re the reason he was hunted down in the first place. The reason you were beaten and left for dead.”
Peter stood. “I know you want to help. But you’ve already done enough. You need to rest.” He came around his desk and pointed at Darcy. “Leave now, and if I find you anywhere near Parker premises again I’ll have the paper pull you out and up the damages bill.”
