see it,’ he said. ‘But isn’t it a little Hello Kitty for you?’
‘You mean it’s a shop for teens? I can do teen wear.’ Ruby nodded vigorously. ‘I’m a felon. I can do anything.’
‘Technically, you’re only an accessory.’
‘Wrong. The skills were yours but I think you’ll find I’m a first-degree principal, which is what you intended all along. You had to draw me in. Make me part of it so that I wouldn’t talk about it. Which I won’t. Ever. When do I get the files?’
‘You don’t. You get to read through them when you’re ready, take from them what you can and then I destroy them.’
‘I’m ready,’ she said, and the glance he cut her told her more plainly than words his thoughts on her readiness for anything.
‘No, really. I am. I am fully aware that these are not the sort of files you want to have hanging around. I should look at them soon.’
‘When you’re ready,’ he said, quietly inflexible. ‘You’re not ready.’
‘It’s this heady life of crime. It’s frying my brain.’
‘It’ll pass.’
‘The pertinent question still being when?’ ‘Soon.’
‘You have no idea how alive I feel at the moment,’ she said. ‘Do you feel alive too?’
‘Yes.’ With more than a hint of amusement about him.
‘Does it ever get old for you? The ha—your work?’
‘No,’ he said and finally his smile came wide and unguarded. ‘No, this never gets old.’
They made it back to Ruby’s apartment eventually. Damon insisting they only take a short train hop and then a taxi the rest of the way home. Perhaps he wanted to make sure no one was following them and a tail was easier to spot in a taxi, but Ruby didn’t ask and Damon didn’t say. She asked him if he wanted a drink once they reached the kitchen—manners, Ruby—and when he said yes she asked what would he like and he said Scotch if she had it.
‘Good choice,’ she murmured and poured one for herself too, before setting a bowl of peanuts on the counter, and eyeing the backpack he’d placed on the stool next to him with a mixture of apprehension and longing.
‘I may not be ready, Damon, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to settle until I know what those files say about my father,’ she told him, and he nodded and unzipped the pack and pulled out the computer and set it up to go before turning the computer around to face Ruby.
‘Have at it.’
‘Okay, Ruby,’ she said more to herself than anyone else. ‘You can do this.’ And opened the first file.
Fifteen minutes later she was none the wiser as to where her father was or what had happened to him.
‘The bank’s investigation team got called off by the FBI. The Feds referred it to the British, and as far as British Intelligence is concerned they’re not pursuing it at all. And what the hell is an A48?’
‘Road map co-ordinates?’ Damon offered. ‘The AK 47’s second cousin? A road in Britain?’
‘Is it really?’ ‘I think so.’
‘Maybe he’s there,’ she said glumly and handed him the computer. ‘Read them or delete them. There’s precious little there that I didn’t already know.’
‘We can search again.’
‘No,’ said Ruby emphatically. ‘I don’t think I could stand it. I did what you asked of me, Damon, and I don’t regret it but I certainly don’t ever want to do it again. I’m a felon but I’m free. I haven’t found my father but at least no one’s found him dead. That’s good news. I’m willing to embrace the no-news-is-good-news policy today. As for you and me …’ Ruby’s whiskey-coloured eyes reflected a guardedness he’d never seen in them before. ‘I overheard something I shouldn’t have about you, Damon, and I paid the price and now we’re square. Aren’t we?’
‘Yes.’ They were square.
‘And as much as I’ve enjoyed getting to know you, the work you do scares me, Damon, and the life you lead you lead alone. I will think of you with pleasure and I will think of you with hunger but it’s time for you to leave.’
‘Hunger?’ he queried softly.
‘Don’t dwell on it,’ she told him wryly. ‘Hunger’s manageable. You’re not.’
He knew it. ‘Mind if I get changed? My suit’s in your bathroom.’
‘Chameleon.’ But she said it with a smile. ‘Go. Get changed. Break my heart all over again when you come back out wearing a Savile Row suit and a gotta-be-going smile. I’m a felon. Tough. Worldly. Brave. I can handle it.’
She was making it easy for him again. Easy for him to do what he knew he should do. Walk away.
Just him and a hatful of regrets.
‘I’m heading to Australia in three days’ time,’ he said.
‘Enjoy.’ She didn’t know why he was telling her this and it showed. Time to enlighten her.
‘Come with me.’
‘Pardon?’
‘Come with me.’ Nothing but impulsiveness on his part and astonishment on hers. ‘I have a house on the beach and a few weeks free. You could stay there while you figure out what it is you want to do next. We could just … swim.’ Or sink.
Probably the latter.
Ruby eyed him narrowly. ‘You just want to keep an eye on me. Make sure I don’t go spilling your secrets where I shouldn’t. You’re obsessing about me knowing what it is you do.’
‘Only a little.’ Only a lot.
‘Well, stop it or you’ll go blind,’ she told him heatedly. ‘You. Can. Trust. Me. Which is more than I can say for you.’
He took a step towards her and watched her scramble off her barstool fast and put out a hand as if to ward him off. ‘Damon,’ she began warningly. ‘We are so close to finishing this. Don’t mess with the plan.’
‘There’s a plan?’ Damon reached out and touched her hair, wove silken strands of it around his fingertips, and finally, as if she would break beneath his touch, set his lips to the edge of her mouth. ‘Come with me,’ he whispered. ‘Forget the plan.’
‘You scare me, Damon.’ But she kissed him as if she was starving for him and he kissed her and knew he was insatiable for her in return.
‘I’ll try not to.’
‘And you’ll fool me into thinking that you care.’
‘Maybe
