There was always the chance that he was being tailed, as well. The cat following the cat. But he didn’t think so. He had checked, of course, but he hadn’t felt like he was being watched.
He grinned to himself. Hopefully, Mr. Gee would lead him straight to his employer, and he could find out who was behind all this straightaway. And that would be a good thing, Shay thought, as he crossed the road. Because this operation was even bigger than he had thought.
Shay thought about what the man had told him. That most of their counterfeit masterpieces got through and were now hanging on gallery walls around the world, being viewed by millions who thought that they were looking at the real thing. And not only that: there were also hundreds, if not thousands, of lesser-known counterfeits in the world. Collectors or galleries bought them assuming them to be real. It was a scam of epic proportions, and whoever was running this needed to be stopped.
It was fraud, on a massive scale. He realised now why Thad had wanted to investigate it.
Mr. Gee cut across another street, walking towards the financial district of the city. Shay shadowed him, stopping suddenly at a Mexican food van just outside the city stock exchange. Mr. Gee had stopped in his tracks and was staring around, frowning. Shay quickly ordered a cold drink, pulling the hoodie tighter over his head.
The man gazed around for a minute then kept walking. Shay let out his breath. Had Mr. Gee suspected that he was being followed?
Shay waited a minute then kept walking. If the man had been suspicious, he had dismissed his fears quickly. He cut across another road, and then he turned and walked into a tall building. Shay found a position directly across from it and took some photos on his phone. He would wait it out. Perhaps Mr. Gee would emerge with someone, and he could take more photos and try to identify them tonight.
He stared at the building, waiting. How long was the man going to be? He looked around. Luckily there was a small cafe that he could wait at. He walked in, ordering a coffee, then took the window seat, staring at the building again.
Number 315 Sycamore Avenue. Trying not to take his eyes off the building for too long, he entered the address into his phone, searching for who owned it. A few listings came up of apartments for lease or for sale in the building. It appeared to be an exclusive address. Right in the heart of the financial district, close to everything. The city centre wasn’t far away, and anyone who decided to live at Number 315 could walk comfortably to the theatre or the large department stores.
He noticed that the Covenester Art Gallery wasn’t far away, either. Interesting.
The waitress walked over, placing his coffee on the table. He thanked her, sipping it carefully. It was scalding hot. For a moment he longed for a real drink instead, but no, it was too early in the day, and he was on the job. Besides, after his bender last week he probably couldn’t stomach alcohol again for a while.
He had been serious when he had thought that he wouldn’t take this case. That he might instead head out of town on a road trip, or jump a plane to a part of the world where white sands and blue ocean were the order of the day. But something had stopped him, as usual. His stupid work ethic, probably.
He didn’t want to be somewhere where he was thinking too deeply. He wanted to be so busy that the thoughts could be banished to the back of his brain where they belonged.
He had extracted himself from any ramifications with Karen. She had been on the same level as him: she just wanted a good time, on that day. No commitments, no questions. Shay had breathed a sigh of relief, while at the same time experiencing that sense of sadness that he always did. Just another woman on a different day. It was becoming like a merry go round that he simply couldn’t get off.
He stared down at his phone. Bingo. The entire building of Number 315 Sycamore Avenue was owned by a corporation, apparently, although other people and companies owned the apartments within it.
All except one, that is. The very top studio apartment that looked over the city.
Shay craned his neck, peering up at it. It looked like a penthouse. He could see floor-to-ceiling windows, giving a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the city. The most exclusive part of an exclusive building. Who lived there?
A faceless corporation told him nothing, although he could do background checks on who owned it. He was just about to pursue that when he noticed the doors opening.
He sat up, quickly, pocketing the phone. Mr. Gee was exiting the building and was on the move. He had been barely ten minutes within it. Shay had to quickly decide. Should he continue to follow the man, or should he lie in wait for whoever else exited the studio?
But then, the doors of the building opened once more, and a woman walked out. Mr. Gee turned back to her, and they both started heading towards the coffee shop.
Shay’s eyes widened, and his heart started to jump frantically in his chest. No, it simply wasn’t possible. The woman walking alongside Mr. Gee…she looked like Tess. No, scratch that. She was identical to her.
She was older, of course. Her hair, that stunning shade of auburn that he had always loved, was longer than when he had last seen her, all those years ago. She was wearing a faded pair of jeans, and an oversized men’s shirt that was splattered with paint. His heart was doing somersaults in his chest, and he had to take a deep breath. It was her. It really was.
What was she doing, walking alongside a man who was a criminal? Why was she in that building?
He was so gobsmacked at seeing her that he had forgotten that they were heading towards him, across the street. They were definitely walking side by side, but they didn’t acknowledge each other. In fact, Mr. Gee looked like he was trying to keep his distance. Tess didn’t seem to care; her eyes strayed around, never once settling on the man.
Damn. Their destination was the coffee shop. What was he going to do?
He turned to the wall as they walked in, pulling the hoodie higher over his head, his heart thumping wildly. They didn’t seem to notice him. They both walked to the counter and ordered. He could hear Mr. Gee asking for a takeaway coffee, and Tess ordered a focaccia to go. They stood side by side in silence at the counter.
Shay crouched over his phone, trying to look like he was absorbed in it. They hadn’t once glanced at him. Eventually, their orders were ready, and they exited. Shay watched them cross the street again. Mr. Gee simply walked off, coffee in hand. Tess, on the other hand, walked straight back into the building. They didn’t say good-bye.
Shay’s heart started to slow down. He pulled off his hood, trying to make sense of what he had just seen.
Tess. After all these years. It was impossible, but it was true. It had definitely been her. She was more beautiful than he remembered, if that was possible. She had lost the remnants of baby fat on her face, and now it was almost chiselled, showing off her high cheekbones. It had taken all his strength not to call out to her. But he had suppressed the urge with difficulty. It was neither the time nor the place, and there was a lot of water under the bridge between them. He couldn’t be sure if she would be pleased to see him. And if he did that, then his cover would be blown to smithereens, as well.
And then, there was the fact that she had been walking with Mr. Gee. His mind tried to grasp the implications, shying away from the dark truth. But he knew that he had to face it.
They had most certainly been together, although they hadn’t spoken to each other. Which meant that Tess knew him. It could be entirely innocent, of course. He might be a friend, who had come to visit her. She might know nothing of who he was, and what he did. Shay frowned. Maybe.
But all his instincts screamed out that was not the case. For starters, while it was obvious that they knew each other, they had not acted as friends would. No banter or conversation. It was almost the opposite. They had looked like they wanted to get away from each other as soon as possible. They hadn’t even said good-bye when they had gone their separate ways.
Shay’s mind cast back to what she had been wearing. Casual, almost work
clothes. Clothes to get dirty in. The oversized men’s shirt, splattered with paint.
She had been painting. But somehow, he didn’t think that she was redecorating her hallway.
His heart sank. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed that he couldn’t get two and two to make five.
Tess was working for Mr, Gee, just as he was. She was one of his forgers.
***
The sky was darkening. Shay loitered in an alleyway across from Number 315 Sycamore Avenue, feeling as if he had just walked off a battlefield after losing a leg. He couldn’t believe the pain he was feeling.
A part of him wanted to just walk away, into the nearest bar, and drink himself into oblivion. The irony of it all. Here he had been, reminiscing about her and how much he still loved her, and now she had appeared. Like a ghost. But not a welcome ghost. Because it seemed that Tess Nolan was not the woman that he had imagined. She wasn’t an average woman, heading to work or looking after her children. She was very far from that.
Tess was a criminal. No matter how he looked at it—and he had looked at it from every possible angle in the hours since he had seen her—it always came up the same.
Shay took a deep breath, staring upwards. The studio apartment, right at the top. The one owned by the same corporation that owned the entire building. Was that her home, paid for by her employer? The same employer that Mr. Gee, the middle man, worked for? His heart sank as he stared at it, watching lights slowly illuminate the space.
How could she? How could she have chosen such a life, after what had happened? Tess had been such a moral person. Almost black and white in her morality. What had made her turn to a life of crime? How could she have changed so much?
Shay swallowed a lump that had just formed in his throat. Tess wasn’t the woman that he had imagined she would be. He had loved her for so long it had become like a habit, a wild indulgence. Imagining what she would be like now, and what it would feel like to hold her in his arms at long last. Imagining them together.
That fantasy had just been blown sky high, and the debris hadn’t settled yet.
He leaned against the wall of the alleyway, trying to think what to do. The sudden appearance of Tess back into his life, walking across that street, had stunned him so much that he hadn’t taken stock of the situation properly. He should have continued trailing Mr. Gee, see where else the man went. But he had been too overcome.
He watched a security guard enter the building. He sighed, impatiently. She obviously lived there, and there was no guarantee that she would be leaving the building again tonight. He should leave, head back to the warehouse. Try to pick up the scattered threads of this case.
He was just about to turn and walk away, back down the street, when the doors to the building opened again. His heart started hammering once more.
It was her.
She was wearing a coat over her old clothes now and carried a large black bag, which she clutched to her side. She was going somewhere. She stared down the street then started walking briskly away, towards the subway.
What was he going to do? Shay’s feet were moving even before his brain had given the command. Of course, he was going to follow her. As if he even had a choice.
He quickened his pace. The pavement was full of people heading towards the subway, eager to get home after a day’s work. He almost hit a wall of men in dark suits clutching briefcases and had to elbow his way through them to keep her in his line of sight. He peered around, anxiously. He saw her long auburn hair flying behind her as she ran for a train. He quickened his pace, jumping into the carriage just before the doors closed.
He tried to catch his breath, staring at her. She had found a seat and was staring out the train window, looking as if she were a thousand miles away.
The train was packed full. He stood at a distance, trying to blend into the crowd, while still watching her surreptitiously. It was all he could do to not stare at her outright.
Tess. She was so very beautiful. The girl that he had loved and tried to protect. The girl that he had tried so hard to forget. Sitting so close to him that in five strides he could be standing over her.
He watched her take headphones out of her bag and put them in her ears. She leaned back in the seat, her eyes closing slightly as she listened to music. This was just another commute to her; the end of another day.
But for Shay, it was a day like no other.
Chapter Five
Suddenly, all the people on the train seemed to disappear. It was as if it was only him and her in the speeding carriage, heading towards an unknown destination.
He was seventeen again. And she was sweet sixteen. The only girl that he had ever loved. And he remembered the time that he had first realised it…
English class, back in 2006. Six months before that awful night in the abandoned house. Six months before Eric would die. Back when his life was still his own. He hadn’t even started transforming into the wolf yet. All that was to come. He was just a regular high school junior, with his whole life in front of him.
He had taken his usual seat at the back of the class, waiting for the teacher, Mr. Gregory, who was running late as per usual. He stared down at his dog-eared copy of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, opening it in preparation. He looked down at the page they were supposed to have read to, scanning the highlighted text. This didn’t come easily to him; he had to work hard at this subject.
His eyes swept to his right, staring at the desk where she usually sat. Tess Nolan. Where was she?
His heart lurched as the door opened, and she walked in with her best friend Mallory by her side. They were usually joined at the hip, rarely doing anything without each other. His eyes swept over her. She was the most beautiful girl in the class, without a shadow of a doubt. Today she was wearing cropped denim jeans, with a tan belt, and a casual blue t-shirt. Her auburn hair had been straightened out of its usual casual curl, hanging to her shoulders, with asymmetrical bangs on either side of her face. Had she just had another haircut?
Her hazel eyes didn’t even glance at him as she took her seat, taking out her copy of the book. Shay had stared down at his desk, overcome with emotion. What could he do to make her notice him?
Mr. Gregory had swept into the class, overloaded with stuff, which he dumped on the teacher’s desk. Then he turned and walked towards the board, scrawling a single sentence on it. He dropped the chalk dramatically, then turned to the class.
“Any thoughts?” he said, staring at them all. “First impressions, please.”
Shay stared at the board. It was a quote from the book. The sentence read: “The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”
Mr. Gregory kept staring at the class. “Anyone?” he asked. “Come on, there must be someone who has an opinion about what this means.”
The class stirred, but no one spoke up. Shay was just about to give a lame answer, just for the hell of it and to break the impasse, when he saw Tess raise her hand into the air.
Mr. Gregory turned to her. “Yes, Tess.”
She cleared her throat, then spoke clearly. “It is saying that a person must act according to their conscience,” she said slowly. “That it doesn’t matter if everybody else is saying that something is right, or the done thing…if it makes you feel uncomfortable, you have to speak up.”
Mr. Gregory nodded. “Go on.”
Tess took a deep breath. “The majority aren’t always right,” she continued. “We see that in the book. Everyone pressures Atticus to not defend Tom Robinson, and it would have been easier for him to give in to them. But Atticus knows that Tom isn’t guilty, and he stands up to the majority.” She took another deep breath. “Atticus stands by his conscience.”
Mr. Gregory smiled. “Well done,” he said. “Can you think of other examples when people have stood by their conscience, against the majority?”
Tess frowned. “There’s many,” she said. “The resistance to the Nazis in World War II. Peopl
e who risked their lives to save the Jews from them, knowing it was wrong, even though they were constantly told that it was right, and the majority accepted it.” She paused. “I believe it. That you must stand up for what you believe in, even if it makes you unpopular. Evil can try its hardest, and it can even be made to seem normal, but if you have a strong conscience it doesn’t matter.”
Shay had stared at her, his mouth hanging open. He had always known that she was smart and wasn’t afraid to express her opinion. But hearing her talk about conscience, and good versus evil, something shifted inside of him.
He loved her. He knew it, in the very depths of his soul. Tess Nolan was not only beautiful. She was a great person. Book smart, but compassionate as well. Talented. A girl with her head screwed on properly. A girl who would stand up for herself and know the difference between right and wrong.
His girl. Forever.
He barely listened to the rest of the class. The revelation that he was in love with her overshadowed everything else. When the bell rang, and everyone started gathering their things, he walked over to her. He had to say something to her, but what?
She was standing by her desk, with her bag already on her shoulder. She glanced at him, hovering near her, and smiled slightly.
“What is it, Shay?” she said, gazing at him.
He smiled back, almost struck speechless at being so close to her. Somehow, he found his voice. “I just wanted to say I agree with you,” he said slowly. “About having a conscience. About standing up for what you believe in.”
“Why, thanks,” she said, her smile widening.
“Tess,” butted in Mallory, staring at them impatiently. “We have to go.”
Tess had smiled at him apologetically, then walked off. He watched the two girls, their heads bent towards each other, walk through the door and off to their next class.
***
Wild Keepers Page 53