He shakes his head and raises his eyebrows questioningly and from the back seat I can almost hear his brain ticking.
After a very long and silent drive through the city we finally arrive at our destination and are buzzed through security. I head up to my office, Ben walking behind me and not letting me out of his sight, and I know if I try to get rid of him he will only get more suspicious. I nod in greeting to all the staff I see on my way to my office. Nobody is game enough to actually speak to me. We get to the office and I smile. “Thanks Ben. I will call you if I need to go anywhere.”
His eyes hold mine for a moment. “You ok?” He frowns.
I nod and readjust my suit coat. “Fine,” I reply without looking at him-he’s so onto me.
I wait for ten minutes until I am sure he has gone to see his security staff down the hall and I slip out of my office and, carrying my duffle bag, disappear into the emergency stairwell. I need to get this package to the mailroom on level three. I run down the steps until I reach level three and take the package out of my bag and leave my overnight bag in the staircase. I exit the staircase and try to look as casual as I can carrying my precious packages. The address of the safety deposit is written on a label on the front, along with the delivery receipt for the courier. I even hacked a visa of a stranger last night to pay for the delivery.
I walk into the mailroom and see a young man I have never met before. “Hello,” I smile casually.
“Hello,” he replies as he keeps sorting the mail. Thank god, he doesn’t know who I am.
“The courier is coming to pick up this package,” I reply nonchalantly.
“Yeah cool. Just put it with the other packages on the trolley at the end of the bay. The guy normally gets here in around half an hour,” he replies without looking up again.
I nod and walk to the trolley at the end of the bay and hold my most precious possessions in my hand. God, this is risky. What if they get lost? I will never forgive myself. I drop my head as I reconsider my decision. No, Natasha wouldn’t want anyone else to read these. She deserves respect in death and they need to be somewhere safe. I put them into the basket and close my eyes in pain and then with renewed purpose and with my heart trying to beat out of my chest I walk out of the mailroom and back to my hell in the stairwell.
It’s two o’clock and I shake my head as my email pings for what seems like the hundredth time today. I have just finished downloading all the videos and text messages from Tash off my phone into my cloud for lifetime protection. I can never lose those. I click open the email in annoyance. Adrian.
Joshua Stanton/ Cc. Tiffany Nelson
As a matter of urgency please supply me with the training schedule for the next four weeks for the interns. Training schedules and timetables will be printed up tomorrow morning by Tiffany to be distributed tomorrow pm.
Tiffany, please block yourself tomorrow morning to have these completed by 12 pm for my perusal.
Adrian Murphy
I roll my eyes, fucker.
I storm into his office. “I know what you are doing,” I snap.
Adrian is standing and looking through a file. His eyes don’t leave his folder. “And what’s that?” he replies sarcastically.
“Trying to overload me with work so I don’t have time to think,” I stammer, infuriated. “I can’t have those schedules done today. I have put no thought into what I am doing.”
His eyes look up from his folder. “Looks like you’re working back then. Start thinking,” he replies.
I narrow my eyes at him and he looks at me blankly. “Go back into your office and start working on them. You know, finger on keyboard,” he replies flatly.
“Fuck you,” I murmur under my breath as I turn to walk out in annoyance and he smiles warmly, the door opens in front of me and Cameron walks in.
“Can we go to a bar?” he blurts out.
I smirk. “Why?”
He shakes his head angrily and drops into a seat at Adrian’s desk. “So the police have just turned up at both of your houses with search warrants,” he replies.
I sit on the corner of the desk, and relief fills me that I got the diaries out just in time. I nod.
“What the hell for?” Adrian snaps.
Cameron shakes his head in frustration. “Evidence. Clues. I don’t fucking know.”
I stare straight ahead. I knew this was coming. I don’t know why it’s taken this long
“Where are the girls?” I ask.
“Abbie’s dumbfuck cop root is one of the policemen doing the search so she is following him around. Bridget is chucking a tantrum and not letting them touch any of Natasha’s things.”
I smile at the thought of Bridget telling them off-she’s more like Natasha than we all know.
“Mum is crying and telling them to find the killer and stop wasting time searching the house,” Cameron snaps. “Seriously, I want to go to a bar and get fucking maggot drunk.” He shakes his head. “I can’t take one more day of shit,” he stammers
I smirk again. “I can’t. I’ve got things to do,” I reply. I think this is the most normal conversation I have had in a month.
Adrian buzzes Tiffany. “Tiffany, Joshua and I are leaving for the afternoon and please ignore that last email I sent you. I have the dates wrong.” My eyes meet his.
“Of course, Adrian,” she replies.
“Maggot drunk sounds really good right now,” Adrian snaps as he takes his jacket from the back of his chair and puts it on.
“Come on Stan, we are out and we are on it.”
It’s 8 pm and we are in a Mexican bar eating nachos as we drink margaritas in homage to my girl.
Cameron puts his hand up for another round.
“These suckers have a punch.” Adrian frowns as he looks at his glass.
I nod. I’m feeling quite inebriated. “Yep,” I stammer.
“What do you reckon they were looking for?” Cameron narrows his eyes as he goes over his conspiracy theory.
“I think they just want to see the surroundings that she lived in and stuff,” Adrian replies.
“Willowvale though?” Cameron scoffs.