Chapter 17 Megan #2
“It was the first thing that popped into my head. I mean, they do all look like something out of an episode of Stranger Things. The sunglasses. The stiff spines. The boots.”
We both giggle.
“So, you believe him?” I ask.
“He loves you, Meg. I believe that much anyway.”
My heart is practically flying the cable car for us now. “Why? What did he say?”
“Oh, only that he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. You know, the usual fluffy rom-com shite that women want to believe and never end up finding.”
I’m grinning so widely that my cheeks ache.
“Look,” Nikki continues, “all I know is that he’s doing everything in his power to make you happy, and I’ve never seen you look like this before.”
“Like what?” I think I can guess.
“Like the cat that got the cream, the chocolate biscuits, and the juiciest mouse in the house.”
“Seriously?” I’m laughing though.
“I think you should go for it, Meg. It’s about time you found someone who makes you feel good.” Her lips almost disappear as she builds up to her next comment. “The private jet is a bonus, of course. And the cabin in Vermont. And just think of the huge diamond you’ll get.”
I elbow her in the ribs, still grinning, as Amber says, “That man is looking at us, Meggie.”
Nikki and I both lean closer to the window and press our foreheads against the glass.
“Which man, sweetie?” I’m staring at the cable cars all around us, and all I can see are Gio’s armed bodyguards staring right back at us.
“He’s gone now. You were too slow.” She’s still staring at the cable cars below us, but the accusation is unmistakable. She wanted me to look, and I was too busy acting like a sixteen-year-old who’d just been asked out by the hottest kid in school.
My pulse is racing, only now the thud-thud-thud of my heartbeat is making me feel nauseous, not giddy and childish. It’s nothing, I tell myself. She saw one of the bodyguards, that’s all it is. I’m paranoid without Gio around and after all that’s happened.
But I still find myself asking. “Where did you see him?” and dreading the response.
“In the red car going down the hill.”
I glance at Nikki who shrugs and mouths “I didn’t see anyone.”
“He waved to me,” Amber says, and my stomach lurches like we just hit a tree.
Nikki kneels in front of Amber and stares out the window of the cable car. “What did he look like, Amber?”
“Like a man.” She’s withdrawing the way she does when she thinks she has done something wrong.
“It’s okay, baby.” I force a smile and pull her into my arms, hugging her tightly. “It was just one of the bodyguards who are looking after us while Gio is busy.” I instinctively cradle her head and rock back and forth the way I did when she was a baby.
“Did you wave back?” Nikki asks.
“No.”
And that’s how I know it wasn’t a bodyguard.
Ric ushers us straight into a car with tinted windows when the ride ends and we tell him what Amber saw. Or what she thinks she saw. We speak in hushed tones, while Nikki keeps Amber occupied by watching the arrival of a bus load of tourists.
“Did you see anything, Ric?”
He swallows. He already lost Amber once; his red alert must be cranked up to rocket takeoff level. “No. Neither did the rest of the team.”
I don’t know how he knows this, but I’m guessing they have their own method of communication that I’m not privy to.
This makes me feel a little easier about the whole situation though. “She probably just saw a reflection on the glass.”
“I’ll liaise with the rest of the team, find out who waved to her.”
I wish I hadn’t mentioned anything. It was nothing. Amber is on vacation, she’s excited, it’s easy to imagine stuff when you’re five years old and having the adventure of a lifetime.
Nikki teaches her clapping songs on the way back to the cabin. Amber wanted to visit the Ben I thought it was unnecessary when Ric gave it to me. A bit extreme, even by Gio’s standards.
But now I’m not so sure.
It turns out that no member of the security team waved to Amber.
The people running the SkyRide confirmed that no one else joined or left the cable cars after our group climbed aboard. We had it all to ourselves as planned.
But the team is taking Amber’s claim seriously.
Several bodyguards go ahead to check out the cabin and the surrounding area before we arrive, while the rest of the team patrols the town. I sense the shift in their behavior and feel guilty for panicking them over something that is probably nothing.
Is this how it’s going to be now for the duration of our stay, or will Gio want us to move onto somewhere else? Another secret location? Someplace else where we’ll feel safe for a couple of days until the next false alarm.
We make a den in the living room using blankets, throws, and cushions, and eat cake and potato chips while we watch an old movie.
Mary Poppins. Amber’s choice and one of her favorites.
It used to be one of our mom’s favorites too.
She always loved the song ‘Feed the Birds’, said it reminded her of the pigeons at Trafalgar Square.
Amber dozes on the cushions inside the den, and I let her sleep while I prepare dinner.
Homemade pizza made with puff pastry and all the toppings.
I tune into a radio station that plays music from the 80s and 90s, and turn the music up loud, singing along to old songs by George Michael, Duran Duran, and Culture Club while I load up the pizza crust and slice salad ingredients.
Nikki doesn’t share my love of 80s music. She showers and goes outside to take some pictures of the mountains to send to her parents.
I’m so busy singing along to Blondie’s ‘Call Me’ that I don’t hear the voices outside the cabin to begin with.
One of them is a voice I’ve known for so long that it doesn’t even register in my brain that Nikki is talking to someone else.
Her voice fades in and out of my consciousness while I focus on the song lyrics in my head until I hear a man’s voice.
Ric.
And he sounds angry.
“What the fuck!” Nikki yells. “I was in the middle of a call.”
I don’t hear what Ric says, but I wipe my hands on the dish towel and head outside, checking that Amber is still asleep as I pass by.
“What’s going on?” I ask from the doorway.
Ric and Nikki are squaring up to each other just outside the cabin, feet planted firmly apart, her cell phone in Ric’s hand.
“He won’t give me back my phone,” Nikki says.
“You didn’t clear the call with me first.” Ric is a head taller than she is and built like a brick wall. “You’ll get it back a whole lot quicker if you tell me who you were speaking to.”
“It’s none of your business.” Nikki’s chest is heaving. I don’t recall ever seeing her this angry before.
“Then, I’ll have to trace it myself.”
Ric turns away from her to head back inside the cabin when she lunges at him and tries to snatch the device from his hand. She fails, of course. Ric is fast. He raises his arm as she swoops in, causing her to stumble across the path and catch her balance before she lands on her knees.
“You have no right to trace my calls!” She eyes up the phone as if she can erase her call log through telepathy. “It’s illegal.”
“So is abduction and murder, but people still get away with it.” Ric isn’t going to back down.
I can guess who Nikki was speaking to. Her mystery lover. The man with the social media girlfriend who doesn’t want their relationship to hit the news and affect his movie ratings.
“Nik.” I speak low; I don’t want Amber waking up to raised voices. “Who were you talking to?”
She widens her eyes. “I’m not going to tell you his name if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“It wasn’t.”
She’s angry, I get it. But I don’t understand why she called him when there’s a possibility that it might compromise our situation. Unless she has convinced herself that Amber imagined the guy who supposedly waved to her, and that she isn’t doing anything wrong by calling her lover.
“But it will help if you can tell Ric where he is and how to find him.”
“No, Meg. You know I can’t do that.” Her lips are a thin line.
“Please, Nik. This is important. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t.”
“You can’t make me. If anyone finds out about us…” She’s scratching a spot on the back of her hand, and blood is already welling to the surface.
“You won’t be in any trouble.” I step closer, and she backs away from me as if I’m the enemy. “Nikki? Are you worried that he’ll end it if anyone finds out?”
She doesn’t answer, which is all I need to know.
Before I can tell her that he’s a dickhead for holding her to ransom like this, Ric intervenes. “Does he know where you are?”
She avoids making eye contact with him. “Yes.”
“Did you tell him who you’re staying with?” Ric’s voice is gravelly, his eyes hard as pebbles.
“He knows about Meg.”
“Fuck,” Ric mouths the word as he shows her the screen still open on her call log. “Tell me his name or I’ll call him myself.”
“No!” Nikki tries to grab the phone a second time, her fist grazing Ric’s arm. “Give it back!”
“Name.”
“No.”
We’re wasting time, and Ric’s stony face is making me uneasy. His concerns are real. Whoever this guy is, Nikki’s phone can be traced to this location.
“Can we stop the call from being tracked, Ric?” I ask.
“It will ping off the cell towers.” He addresses both of us. “Anyone with the right equipment will be able to trace the phone to this location.”
“But he wouldn’t do that.” Nikki is still scratching her hand, and blood is trickling down her fingers.
Whatever hold this guy has over her, it’s starting to feel toxic from where I’m standing, and their relationship is still in the honeymoon phase where they should be loved up behind their rose-tinted glasses. “Why would he do that?”
“Why don’t you tell us?”
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” Nikki shakes her head, her eyes imploring me to get her phone back.
“Ric,” I step in, “what do you want us to do?”
It’s too late to stop the call being traced now, if that’s what’s going to happen, so we need to be practical. The security team is already concerned about Amber’s sighting. The longer we stand around here discussing Nikki’s lover, the easier it will be for someone to track us down.
“Go inside.” He pockets Nikki’s phone. “Remember what I told you, Meg.”
I nod.
“Stay inside and wait for me to give you the all-clear. Do you understand?”
I understand.
We’re all in danger now, and this is never going to be over.