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“Who would have told you to quit if someone was threatening you or if there was someone in your life with whom you could build a future.”
Claire knew Mia spoke the truth, but she wasn’t ready to give it up. If she was being honest, it wasn’t only about righting old wrongs; she was a bit of an adrenaline junkie and beating the system time and again was a real high. But for the first time she questioned what she wanted to do with her life. Her path had always seemed so clear and Fletch had caused her to question everything.
“That may be, but I’m not ready to quit. I need you to do two things for me. First, see if you can backtrace that call and find out who Fletch was talking to. And second, see if there’s a search warrant being readied to be served on me.”
“Do you think they’ll find something?”
“No. I have no doubt the safe will stay hidden, as will everything I use to pull off the jobs. What I want to know is whether Fletch is really working with the Yard to apprehend the thief, or is that just something he told the other guy to help back him off?”
“What happens if they show up at your place in Greenwich?”
“I’ll let them in and offer them a cup of coffee.”
Mia laughed. “You’re bad. You are very bad.”
“Yes, I am, and I’m so good at it.”
“How about if I swing by and take you out to my place for the weekend. We can make fresh pizza dough and build our own pizzas. We can kick back, eat pizza, have a beer, and watch a movie.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll get ready now. Just honk when you’re out front. I’ll come down.”
Claire got back on the main road, cranked up Bon Jovi, and headed into London. She didn’t notice the black sedan that moved off the shoulder of the road and remained two cars behind her until it was almost too late to do anything about it.
CHAPTER15
CLAIRE
Like a lot of women, Claire had been taught to watch for a tail, especially one that might be later in the day when she could be headed for home. The black sedan got a little lazy in the heavy London traffic and moved right up behind her. The first two turns made her notice it, as she tended to take a circuitous path to Mia, never wanting to lead trouble to her friend’s door. When she made a deliberate, last-minute turn into an obscure alley and the car followed, she knew just what to do. Claire drove in a very deliberate manner to the Victoria Embankment—the home of Scotland Yard. As she pulled up, she hailed a bobby who pointedly looked at the sedan as it pulled past her and quickly lost itself in the morass of London’s rush hour.
“Thank you, officer,” she said pleasantly.
He tipped his hat. “My pleasure, ma’am. Would you like an escort home?”
“No but thank you. I have a few errands to run.”
She didn’t, but he didn’t need to know that. Poppi had never been one to volunteer information to law enforcement and he’d taught her to do the same. Claire drove around for another twenty minutes, circling back and using roundabouts to ensure she hadn’t picked up another tail. Pulling up in front of Mia’s she honked. Mia must have been waiting just inside as she was out and in the car in nothing flat.
“We’re going to take a little ride in the other direction from my place and then head to Greenwich on the back roads,” Claire said as Mia hopped inside.
“Trouble?” Mia asked looking around.
“I picked up a tail just outside London. I took them to the Yard. A very nice bobby came out to help me. The driver of the black sedan did not look amused.”
Mia laughed and they meandered their way back to Claire’s millhouse, stopping at two different grocers as well as a petrol station. Once they were at the millhouse, they parked in the garage, set the alarm, and then took the tunnel from it to the main house. Claire had discovered both the tunnel and a bolt hole during the renovation project and had opted to make them stable and had then bribed her contractor and architect to keep their existence off the official blueprints filed with the city.
“I love that you have a secret entrance and way to get from the house to the garage,” said Mia. “Do we need to worry about the horses?”
“No. I asked my neighbor to feed them on my way out of town, and yes, the tunnel has proved useful a time or two. I didn’t see anyone following us…”
“Nor did I.”
“But I figured better safe than sorry,” Claire said, keying in the access code for the alarm system as she tripped the hidden latch from inside the bolt hole and let them into the main house. She closed the hidden access door and then re-armed the alarm.
“Snug as a couple of bugs in a rug,” said Mia with a mischievous smile. “What did you have in mind for our viewing pleasure?”
“I thought perhaps an Alfred Hitchcock double feature—Cary Grant inNorth by Northwestand Jimmy Stewart inRear Window.”
Claire set out the ingredients for her quick pizza dough and made a double batch. “The dough is made. What’s your pleasure?”
