Girl Seven Read Free Page A

me.’
    He never raised his voice to anyone, not that I’d heard. It was unnerving.
    I hesitated. Maybe it should have done, but that fact hadn’t crossed my mind once while thinking about this the night before. I still wasn’t sure why I’d told Noel anything about my personal life in the first place. If I’d been able to share the story of what happened to my family with him so freely, before anything had happened between us, it didn’t seem outlandish that he’d thought it might be OK to regale someone else with it.
    I am sitting on a mountaintop.
    I can hear the wind in the trees.
    I am calm.
    I am calm.
    N oel pushed a silver thermos across the desk at me. ‘Do you want some coffee?’
    I picked it up without a word and took a gulp of the coffee inside. I never drank coffee. He knew I didn’t drink coffee. It was black and disgusting and made me want to gag but I drank it anyway, to avoid speaking for a few seconds longer.
    ‘What did he say to you? It’s kinda unlike Mark to do something like that. He’s a stand-up guy. I didn’t think he’d just start talking to you about it.’
    ‘It wasn’t just talking to me about it, to be fair to him. He wasn’t simply looking for a fun conversation. He... He made me an offer actually.’ I fished the business card out of the pocket of my leather jacket and held it out for Noel to see. ‘He said he’s a guy who solves problems.’
    ‘He... Wo. Wow. He said that to you?’
    I nodded.
    Noel let out a snort of disbelief. ‘No, really. I mean, Mark, he’s... expensive and he’s... he’s Mark . Wow, he must be really interested in you. He doesn’t talk business with just anybody; he works for the Russians and spends half his time out there doing... God knows what.’
    There had been a festering sensation of dread and excite­ment in my stomach that had crept into my consciousness the night before and worsened now.
    I am sitting on a mountaintop...
    He started laughing and clapped his hands together, making me start. ‘Fucking hell, this is... OK, I know you’re pissed off with me and everything but this is pretty fucking amazing, you know. If Mark Chester wants to take an interest in you then maybe you should think about it? Maybe just talk to him? I don’t know. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but he’s serious, he’d probably find out stuff you never would...’
    I stared hard at the plain business card, with the number and no name. ‘So he’s kinda a big deal then?’
    ‘Yeah. He’s a big deal.’
    ‘You really think he’d find something?’ I asked, sceptical. ‘After three years? I mean... it’s almost three years now and there was no evidence then. You really think he’d find something?’
    ‘Well, I’m not one to exaggerate... much.’ He thought for a moment. ‘But I don’t think Mark’s ever left a job unfinished. I don’t think he’s ever lost a person he’s tried to track down and I don’t think he’s ever left a person alive who he was paid to take care of. He basically never fails, I think.’
    I didn’t know if this was what I wanted to hear.
    ‘Are you still pissed at me?’ Noel asked, leaning forwards across the desk and pushing his laptop to one side. ‘Look, I wasn’t just gossiping like some old bloody woman, I was just... Lighten up, OK? This could be a really good thing for you.’
    I wasn’t sure if he was right or not so I nodded. It wasn’t as if I was going to draw an apology out of him.
    He tried to prompt a smile from me. ‘Yeah? We OK?’
    ‘Yeah.’ I forced my lips to twitch, to appease him.
    ‘Yeah? Good, I hate it when you look at me like that, baby.’ He reached across the desk and gestured for me to take his hand. ‘And you know, I could have done something super smart here.’
    As I put my hand in his, I noticed that his wedding ring was back on.

2
    The first time I entered the Underground I wasn’t impressed. I spent the majority of my first impression waiting down­stairs in