Catwalk Criminal

by Sarah Sky

  “To see how you are, of course. I’ve been worried.”

  “I’m good, thanks. I’d hate to keep you from whatever you’re doing. Plus I’m busy. I’m expecting my boyfriend.”

  “Really?”

  Still he didn’t move.

  “Yes, really. I have a boyfriend, Jamie, and he’ll probably be here any minute.”

  “No, I mean you don’t look that busy since you’re in your pyjamas.”

  “Very funny. Now why don’t you—”

  Mattie took a sharp intake of breath. “Jessica’s forgotten her manners and forgotten to tell me that Jamie’s visiting tonight too.” She shot her a pointed look. “Please take a seat, Zak, and let me get you something to drink while I put these beautiful flowers into a vase. Would you like tea or coffee?”

  Jessica glared at her grandma. Why did she have to prolong her misery? Couldn’t she sense that she wanted him to leave, given the profiling work she’d have done during her spy training?

  “Thanks.” Zak flashed perfect teeth. He sat down next to Jessica on the sofa. Was it her imagination or did he deliberately brush his knee against hers? She shuffled along and placed a cushion between them.

  Another smile touched his lips. “I’d love a cup of coffee, Miss Farr. Black, no sugar, please.”

  “Call me Mattie. Everyone else does.”

  “Of course. That’s a beautiful necklace, Mattie. My mum loves pearls too. She says they instantly light up a woman’s face.”

  Mattie beamed as she touched her choker. “Thank you. It’s my favourite necklace.” She leant in and smelt her armful of flowers. “Such a gorgeous scent. You chose well.”

  Oh no. Becky was already a lost cause. Now her grandma was falling for Zak’s charm offensive too, like most women he came across. Apart from Jessica. Definitely not her.

  Her dad sat next to Becky on a smaller sofa on the opposite side of the room. They stared expectantly at her. She scowled back. Didn’t Dad have work to do? And what about Becky’s English essay? It looked like she and Zak had become the evening’s entertainment. This so wasn’t how she’d planned tonight to go.

  “I’m sorry you were hurt.” Zak rearranged the cushions and shuffled round to face her. “I can’t believe what happened. Neither can the other girls. Sasha was in pieces afterwards.”

  Jessica glanced across at her dad. This was a good place to surreptitiously pick up their earlier discussion: the possible involvement of a Westwood girl in the undercover mission. “Where did you see her? What do you remember from that night?”

  Zak looked puzzled. “Er, why?”

  “Jessica’s memory’s a bit hazy,” Becky said. “She keeps forgetting things, like telling me she’d met you.”

  Her dad buttoned his lips to suppress a smile. “It’d help if you could fill in the gaps from the time the lights went out.”

  Zak paused as Mattie returned with a large crystal vase filled with his flowers. She placed them on the table in the centre of the room and left again.

  “Of course, the blackout,” he continued. “That was odd. Do you think it was connected to what happened to Jessica? The newspaper said it wasn’t, but I did wonder. It was quite a coincidence that so many things happened at once.”

  “I’m sure the police will examine every angle,” her dad replied smoothly.

  Zak didn’t seem to notice that he’d sidestepped his awkward questions. “Yeah, sure. Well, the lights went off and everyone thought it was funny at first, but then a few people started to get nervous when they realized they weren’t coming back on any time soon and we’d have to be evacuated.”

  Jessica flicked her ponytail behind her back as Mattie returned with Zak’s coffee. “Did you see the other models?”

  He flashed another winning smile at Mattie and took a slurp of his drink.

  “I spotted Natalia and Sasha over on the other side of the room. There was enough light from the buildings outside to see a little bit. But Bree, no. I didn’t get a glimpse of her until after the armed police had gone up into the off-limits area. That’s when I followed.”

  “You actually went up? All the way?”

  Zak smiled sheepishly. “Other people did too. We wouldn’t have had another chance like that to get to the top. Plus, it was like something out of an action film: the helicopter, the armed police. It was hard to resist. The adrenaline started pumping and I followed like a sheep. Baaaa.”

  The doorbell rang but Jessica ignored it. “That’s when you saw Bree?” she pressed. “At the very top?”

  “Bree was already on her way down when we were all turned back,” Zak said slowly. “She was upset and said someone had attacked you. I asked her if any other models were up there, but she said only you and she had made it to the top.”

  That was an interesting snippet of information. Her dad leant forward in his seat; Zak had caught his attention too. He’d placed Bree very close to the scene of the crime. Sure, they didn’t get on, as Bree was always crying “teacher’s pet” because of her family connection to Nathan, but was there more to it than that? She’d been a total cow ever since Jessica had caught her using her mobile in the ladies’ loos during a surveillance training session at an MI6 centre where phones were strictly prohibited. It was confiscated later that day, along with Kat’s, during a spot check on bags, and they’d both blamed Jessica, accusing her of dobbing them in to her godfather. She hadn’t, but there was no reasoning with either of them.

  Was Bree really talking to a friend in the toilets at the MI6 training centre or was something more sinister going on? She’d been texting constantly in the dressing room ahead of the fashion show and seemed tense. Had she been giving away confidential information to someone on the outside on both occasions? Was that why she really hated Jessica, because she feared she could piece everything together and out her as a traitor to MI6? Bree had definitely become her number one suspect.

  “Why did you and Bree go to the top of the Shard?” Zak asked. “Did you see that guy go up there? You know, the one doing the publicity stunt? Was that when you were mugged?”

  Jessica ignored Zak’s barrage of irritating questions. First, she needed to go over the latest development with her dad and then Nathan. Maybe she could call him later tonight after Becky had left or she could ask her dad to ring and tell him what Zak had seen.

  “I could kill whoever did this to you,” Zak continued. “Could you identify them? I’d feel so much better if I knew your mugger was close to being caught.”

  “No,” she said quietly. Zak’s titbit of information had made her highly suspicious, but she couldn’t exactly have Bree arrested. Not yet, anyway.

  “Jess?”

  Geez. She hadn’t seen her boyfriend walk in behind Mattie.

  “Jamie!” She lost her balance as she stood up and had to touch Zak’s shoulder briefly to steady herself. She felt her cheeks turn scarlet again.

  Jamie frowned as he raked a hand through his tousled blond hair. “I didn’t know you had another guest, sorry. I wanted to say hi and give you this.” He held up a white cake box with the name of a local baker printed on the side. “It’s your favourite, you know, red velvet cupcakes. I thought you and Becky would enjoy them tonight.” His eyes flickered over the huge vase of flowers that Mattie had helpfully placed centre stage.

  Jessica bit her lip “That’s so thoughtful, thank you. Zak called in to see how I was doing. He’s leaving now, aren’t you?”

  Zak studiously ignored her. He took another quick sip of coffee and slowly walked over to Jamie.

  “Zak Dane, Jess’s friend.”

  The pair shook hands. “Jamie Tyler. Jess’s boyfriend.”

  “So she does have a boyfriend,” Zak drawled. “I had no idea.”

  “She sure does.” Jamie pulled his hand back sharply, as if he’d been stung. He glanced back at Jessica, frowning. />
  She glared furiously at Zak. Why was he winding up Jamie? Did he get some weird kick out of it? He knew damn well she had a boyfriend, yet he’d deliberately implied she hadn’t bothered to mention that fact. Now Jamie was acting all defensive. Not that he had anything to worry about. She wasn’t even friends with Zak, let alone anything else.

  Zak gently punched Jamie’s arm, breaking the awkward silence. “Everything’s cool, dude. I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone with your cupcakes. I have to run through some Dolce & Gabbana promos tonight. Don’t forget to add the flower food into the water, Jessica. It’ll make the petals last longer.”

  He couldn’t resist showing off about yet another modelling contract and dropping in the helpful reference to his gigantic bouquet in front of her boyfriend. She’d put it in the bin after he left.

  “Fantastic,” Jamie said through gritted teeth. “Knock yourself out, dude.”

  “See you later, Jessica.” Zak hauled himself to the door, swinging his coat over his shoulder. “It’s been a pleasure, Becky, Mr Cole, Mattie. Thanks for the coffee. Hope to see you all again soon.”

  “Absolutely!” Becky exclaimed. “Hopefully really soon. Jessica has my number.”

  He gave Becky a dazzling smile and winked at Jessica. She glared back. Who was he kidding? Their paths weren’t likely to cross again. He wasn’t booked on any of the shoots she had coming up, as far as she knew. Who’d given him her home address? Was it one of the other models? She’d forgotten to ask.

  “He liked himself,” Jamie remarked as the door closed. He handed over the cupcakes, planting a quick kiss on her lips. The smell of fresh soap made Jessica’s heart quicken.

  “Tell me about it. He thinks he’s hot.”

  “Ohmigod he’s so hot,” Becky agreed. “Unbelievably, crazily out-of-this-world hot. I have to get his number from you, Jessica. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about him before. How many more hot single male models do you know?”

  “Erm.” Why had Becky mentioned Zak’s supposed hotness? Jessica would never get her off the subject now.

  Jamie stared curiously at Jessica. “Do you think Zak’s hot?”

  “What? No! That’s not what I think. Obviously. It’s what other people say.”

  She glanced over her shoulder. She wanted to add that Jamie was the only boy she thought was hot, the only boy she could possibly be interested in, but Mattie, her dad and Becky were eavesdropping. It was too embarrassing to bare her soul in front of an audience.

  Jamie took a step back. “Whatever. He seemed like a total jerk to me.” He shrugged and turned away.

  “Not to me,” Becky said. “He was yummy.”

  “And charming,” Mattie added. “Don’t forget that.”

  Jessica sighed. They were both making this so much worse. “Jamie’s right. Neither of you know him. He is a total jerk. You wouldn’t believe how much he goes on and on about how wonderful he is all the time. He—”

  She stopped herself. Why was she letting Zak get under her skin and, more importantly, Jamie’s? Maybe the paralysing powder had affected her brain somehow. She wasn’t with it tonight. She glared at Mattie and her dad as they finally said their goodbyes and left the room. Couldn’t they have vanished a minute earlier? Their timing was completely off. But come to think of it, so was hers.

  “Anyway, I should get going and leave you to your girls’ night in,” Jamie said abruptly. “I didn’t mean to crash.”

  “You’re not crashing and you’ve only just got here,” Jessica protested. “We haven’t even had time to talk.”

  Becky faked a gigantic yawn. “I have to go. I’m beat already and I’ve got to finish my essay tonight.” She kissed Jamie on the cheek and hugged Jessica, making a “call me” gesture with her fingers as she walked out.

  “That wasn’t obvious at all,” Jessica said, rolling her eyes.

  Jamie laughed, his shoulders relaxing a little. “Becky means well, even if she has terrible taste in potential future boyfriends.”

  “Agreed. I think this PFB—”

  She lurched forward as the magazines on the floor leapt up and danced in front of her eyes. Red-hot pincers stabbed her legs.

  “What’s wrong?” Jamie’s arms encircled her waist. She rested her head on his shoulder as the room spun wildly. He grasped her hand, which shook uncontrollably. Clasping her hand over his, she tried to steady the embarrassing tremors. She hadn’t wanted him to see her like this. She felt like a really old woman.

  “It’s the after-effects…” Her voice trailed off. Like Becky, her boyfriend couldn’t hear the truth about her Westwood training and assignments.

  “The doctor said I might get the shakes from banging my head when I fell, but it’s nothing to worry about. I’m going to be OK.”

  Jamie bit his lip. “There’s nothing else you want to tell me?”

  “What do you mean? You can’t possibly think I like Zak? There’s absolutely nothing going on between us. He turned up out of the blue.”

  “What? No, that’s not what I meant.”

  Why did she have to bring up Zak again? “What, then?”

  “I get the feeling you’re holding out on me about something. You’ve blown me off at the last minute with loads of my gigs and you seem to be pushing me away. I had to find out from Becky that you’d been hurt.”

  The words stung her. He was right. She hadn’t been there for him recently. She’d been gutted that some of her MI6 training sessions had overrun and she’d been forced to pull out of going to his gigs. It hadn’t been easy to come up with a series of plausible reasons about why she couldn’t go out on Friday nights. Sure, she should have called to tell him she’d been mugged at the Shard, but she’d already lied to Becky and couldn’t face doing it again. She was such a coward. If only she could come clean with him – but MI6 had a strict rule forbidding teenage agents from disclosing their secret work to partners before years of vetting.

  She was the worst girlfriend in the entire world. She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to push you away, honestly I don’t. I’ve told you absolutely everything. I promise.”

  “What did Nathan say?” Jessica eased herself into a chair at the breakfast table and scrutinized her dad.

  He adjusted his tie even though it was knotted perfectly. That was one of his nervous tics, but what was he apprehensive about? He’d promised to ring Nathan last night; she’d felt too ill to do it herself. She’d crawled back to bed straight after Jamie left, not long after Becky.

  “He asked how you’re doing,” her dad replied cautiously. “He’s been worried, obviously.”

  Jessica leant forward, placing her injured hand on the table. “But you did pass on my message, right?”

  Her dad shifted in his seat, reddening. He stared down at the newspaper in front of him.

  “Dad?”

  Finally he met her gaze. His blue eyes bored into hers. “No. I’m sorry. I didn’t tell Nathan your suspicions.”

  “But Dad! I honestly believe it. Bree could have been involved.”

  “Remind me again. That’s the operative you don’t get on with?”

  She flushed. That was putting it mildly. “This isn’t personal. Zak placed her in the off-limits area. She had time to attack me and get back down the stairs.”

  Her dad shook his head. “I didn’t want to go into this with you last night, but it’s too early to start pointing the finger. It doesn’t look good for you to accuse a colleague, particularly one you have issues with. It’s an interesting hunch, but it’s just that. MI6 will conduct its own assessment. You have to let its officers do their job.”

  Jessica sighed with exasperation. They were losing valuable time. They could still retrieve the blueprint if Bree confessed to her involvement and gave up the name of the buyer.

  “I know I can’t prove anything. I want Nat
han to at least check out my theory. The masked attacker definitely used my compact, right?”

  “The armed response unit found it lying broken next to you. Nathan said it carried your mother’s engraving.”

  She picked at her bandage again. Shortly after Nathan had given her the silver compact, she’d taken it to a jeweller and had it engraved with a quotation from her mum’s favourite book, Jane Eyre.

  I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.

  Nathan was furious when he found out; he’d claimed she’d breached security protocols and there was a risk the jeweller could have discovered the hidden functions. Thankfully he hadn’t and the quotation was useful now; it proved the attacker had stolen her compact, not one belonging to any of the other Westwood models, which all looked the same.

  “Someone took the compact from my make-up bag. All the Westwood models had access to the hotel dressing room. Bree, or if not her, Sasha or Natalia could have swiped it before we headed to the show. Whoever it was wouldn’t have wanted to risk using their own compact in case the powder contained DNA samples which could be traced back to them.”

  “Or someone else could have taken it,” her dad pointed out. “You admitted you saw different people milling about. What about the make-up artists and the hairstylists who were coming and going? Were they legit? Had one of them been paid to swipe it? Nathan said they couldn’t retrieve fingerprints off the compact, so there’s no proof one of the other models knocked you out.”

  Jessica tapped her fingers on the table impatiently. “What about their refusal to follow orders? They didn’t attempt to intercept the meet. It was left to me to tackle the buyer. Were they all really afraid of letting down Victoria Beckham and Stella McCartney or did one of them want the deal to be stopped? Where were they exactly while I was at the top of the Shard? We know for sure Bree was on her way up.”

  “Nathan’s admitted it’s a confused picture and they’re still trying to piece everything together. Unfortunately, a number of guests like Zak tried to find out what was going on and went up into the off-limits area too. That’s why it’s been so hard to check for fingerprints. The scene wasn’t sealed off and it became contaminated.”