Chapter Twenty-Five
Fox
Bibi and Reggie were finally both asleep.
I walked back down to the kitchen and surveyed the mess.
I knew I needed to be stricter with Bibi.
The rule of “put one toy back before you take out another” was consistently ignored.
I moved a few things to a corner. I’d tidy up properly once I’d had something to drink.
I poured a green juice into a whiskey glass, added lots of ice, and tried to pretend it was something stronger.
I knew everything Haze had said was right.
I’d been letting her down. I needed to get out of my funk and be the man I knew I could be.
We both agreed I needed to get back to my normal self, we just disagreed on the methods to get there.
She had been consistently scathing about my attempts to heal myself.
“ ‘Self-help’ sounds like a new age way to describe wanking.”
I cleared a space on the sofa and sank into it just as my phone rang. Jenny was calling me.
I answered with, “I’m not with Haze.” Normally when Jenny rang me, it was because Haze had managed to forget her phone was on silent or had left it in another room.
“Where is she? I’ve got a potentially really big—”
“At a school mums thing.”
Jenny stopped talking. “What? Really?”
“What’s the big news?”
“Joe Jones has just checked in to an Airbnb that’s nine miles from you. If he’s The Chameleon, he’s bedding in pretty close by.”
I tried to take this in. The Chameleon. In our neighborhood. I cleared my throat. “So, are we going to go check it out?”
“I’m at work. I won’t be out of here for another few hours. You need to go.”
“I can’t leave the kids.”
“My dad can be over in ten minutes. They’re already asleep, aren’t they?”
“They just went down.” Haze. I needed Haze. “I’ll pick up—”
“No! If she’s finally making an effort at school, you need to let her.” Jenny’s voice went muffled as she spoke to someone with her.
“I’ve got to go. Call me if you need help. I mean, hah. As if you would. Just don’t go too crazy. We need answers, remember. And deniability for how he ends up.”
Jenny clicked off.
I stared at my phone.
This could be it.
I could actually come face-to-face with The Chameleon.
The man who’d arranged my would-be assassination.
I should be rising to the challenge. Excited.
Invigorated. Ready to enact unholy revenge.
So why did I just feel sick? I went to the kitchen sink and splashed my face with water. Too much green juice. That was all.
I put together a few items in a small bag.
Don’t choke.
I had been standing staring at myself in the hallway mirror for I’m not sure how long when the doorbell rang.
I opened the door to Jenny’s father, Frank.
He was a large man. A retired police detective and Jenny’s idol.
I’d met Frank a few times now. He seemed a very nice man.
I watched the way he was, the way he spoke to Jenny, with a deep fascination.
No acidic barbs. No not-so-subtle digs. Just warmth and love. It was pretty amazing to watch.
“Thanks so much for this, Frank.” I welcomed him in as I picked up my bag.
“Help yourself to anything in the fridge. TV is on, so watch whatever you want. Call me if you have any problems, but hopefully the kids will stay asleep. You’re very kind for stepping in.
Urgent work thing. Client landing from Heathrow.
Only time to see him…” I trailed off. I wasn’t sure what Jenny had told him.
“It’s no bother. There’s actually something I’ve been wanting to say to you for a while. Man to man.”
“Oh?”
“Jenny’s never fully explained what part you and Haze played in helping her get her life together. But I want you to know, Sandy and I are very grateful. Everything that happened with Bill was terrible, and it could’ve totally knocked her, but you two have really been there for her.”
“We didn’t do much, Frank.”
“Sure, sure.” The big man smiled at me. “Just saying, whatever you did do. Thank you. Never seen Jenny as happy as she is now.” He patted me on the shoulder and went through to the living room.
I walked out of the front door, resisting the urge to rush upstairs to give my children a final kiss goodbye. Just in case it was for the last time. I could hear Haze’s voice in my head: Don’t be so fucking dramatic.
I got into the car and put my seatbelt on. I tapped in the address Jenny had texted me.
An eighteen-minute drive.
It had to be him.
The Chameleon was going to a party at Balgray Hall. Joe Jones, with no digital footprint, was going to a party at Balgray Hall. Joe Jones had booked himself into a house eighteen minutes from ours.
I pressed play on an affirmations recording that Sally had recommended and started driving
“Repeat after me: I am in control of my destiny. I make my own choices.”
I took several deep breaths. I felt my shoulders relax. See? There was nothing to worry about. I was scoping out a house. That was all. Chances were that this Joe Jones wasn’t even there. I could check it out and then come back tomorrow with Haze.
God, listen to me. Needing my wife to come with me and hold my hand. I gripped the steering wheel tighter. I was my own man.
I took a deep breath and repeated: “I am in control of my destiny. I make my own choices.”
Seven minutes to my destination. Wherever this house was, it was very close to Fobney Island Nature Reserve.
I zoomed in on the GPS. A house at the end of a dead end in a remote location.
Not at all concerning. It was mostly commercial addresses out here, which would explain why I hadn’t seen any other cars.
I checked my phone reception. At least there were five solid bars. I stared out at the dark night. I looked over at the bag on the passenger seat. I was going to be fine. I was always fine. Apart from that one time…But I didn’t need to think about that now. Definitely not now.
I turned up the volume on the recording. “Try and repeat those two phrases every morning. I want you to reinforce to yourself your own personal strength. Here are some more to repeat to yourself throughout the day.”
I hummed to myself as I turned in to Joe Jones’s road.
Three minutes to my destination. There was a passing place just up ahead. I could pull in there behind a large oak tree and walk up to the house undetected.
“I set my own path. I follow my own rules.”
I took a breath. “I set my own path…I follow my own rules.”
My headlights lit up a man in a cap standing right beside the large oak tree up ahead. What was he…? Gun! I saw the unmistakable flash of black as he raised it toward me. I didn’t have time to think. I slammed my foot down on the accelerator and crouched down by the steering wheel.
There was a loud clunk, and a few seconds later the car bumped over an object. A large object.
I kept driving, only pulling to a halt a few feet down the road.
“I am in charge of my destiny.” The recording continued oblivious. “I have faith in myself to make the right choices.”
I jabbed at my iPhone screen until the voice went quiet.
I must’ve hit him. Oh, god, I hit him. Was he okay? Did I actually want him to be okay? He was, after all, trying to kill me.
I looked in the rearview mirror. The road behind was dark. I put the car into reverse and slowly backed up. The reversing lights illuminated the road. A few seconds of nothing but road, and then a man, lying face down on the ground, was caught in their beam. He was not moving.
I stopped the car and turned off the engine. I took a few deep breaths.
I must’ve hit him, and then he slid off my hood. And then I ran him over.
It wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t murder. It was self-defense!
He had a gun.
Was it definitely a gun?
Or did my nerves make me think it was one?
Christ. What if it was just a mobile phone? Or a dog lead?
I didn’t want to go and check on him.
He was dead. I knew he was dead.
What if I didn’t find the gun?
I couldn’t move. I had to move. Another car could turn up at any moment. There was no talking my way out of this one. Police would be called. Questions would be asked about what, exactly, I was doing here. I took a flashlight from my bag on the passenger seat and got out of the car.
I walked up to the man. He was tall with dark hair. Leaning down, I felt his neck for a pulse. Nothing. Unsurprising, considering the large amount of blood that was pooling onto the road. I reached for his right shoulder and tugged him over onto his back.
I stared down at the man’s face, and stepped back with a start. I recognized him. I took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of my nose.
I’d just run over my wife’s ex-boyfriend.