When she checks her email in an internet café Jewel finds the first message in a while from Mother.
Keep Kozem’s money if it makes you happy. Our dreams are almost a reality. It’s time to come home, little one.
Jewel feels the swirl of Mother’s love come over her as she reads these words. Mother wants her home. She is not to be punished for the theft. She can return. But still she has to find the one thing that has always been between them.
Neva.
She had hoped the beautiful deaths she’d delivered would bring her out from wherever she was hiding. But it appears that Neva is oblivious to them. Of course, Jewel had been banking on Michael to share information about them because Neva was being brought into MI5. But Jewel hadn’t predicted that Neva and he would be parted so abruptly. Damn Granger and his accusation. It almost ruined everything. She’s annoyed even now about it. She should have had access to Neva. She shouldn’t need to still be trying to grab her attention from a distance.
The same intense fury she’d rained on her victims rises up inside her, and it pushes away the warmth of Mother’s summons. She casts a gaze around the place, noting the other users of the computers around her – mostly teenagers, and one man that looks like an itinerant. No one is paying particular attention to her activities or her anger which is on the brink of exploding from her.
She reads Mother’s email again and this time sees the command for what it is. ‘Little one’ is a trigger she’s built into them all. A way to bring them right back to the days spent in the nursery. She takes a deep breath, then slowly exhales, centring herself, bringing back all calm and control.
Returning her attention to the computer again, she uses a VPN to mask her movements and logs on to the dark web. She goes back to the forum where she touches base with Neva as Elbakitten. She’s spent months building her trust, and now, after sending her to be near Mother, she has left her to sweat for a few days. Neva is ripe for picking and Jewel will make one final triumph before she kills her. The most glorious and extravagant death of all.
She falls into a reverie about her last kill. Cassandra – named after a Greek prophet whose predictions were never believed. In the end Cassandra saw her own death and she too was unable to avoid it.
Jewel brings her mind back to the present and types a message to Neva. Though Neva goes under several different names in onionland, Jewel has been able to recognize her new handles each time. But she sends the message to the GloriaBoo identity because this is the one that Elbakitten has always worked with.
Sorry for delay. Think I was being tracked for a while but managed to lose them.
Neva replies almost in an instant. Yes, she’s been waiting for her.
In Toulouse. Where is my mark? she asks.
Jewel takes a breath. She feels excited and adrenaline pumps into her like always when she’s speaking to Neva. She can almost touch her – just like that day when they stood side by side! Jewel often thinks about it. That moment when they were briefly together, exchanging pleasantries. And Neva hadn’t recognized her.
Jewel sends Neva the location of the château with no explanation. Then she logs off the borrowed computer knowing that she has just set wheels in motion that will gather momentum and end with her final revenge.
She looks at her watch. It’s time.
She gets up and leaves the internet café, then walks down the street towards the bar where she’s arranged to meet Janine. Her revenge has been gestating for a long time. Long enough to have used Neva’s prodigy as a pawn. But now she will be the ultimate sacrifice.
She reaches the bar and goes inside.
Janine, ever punctual and so desperate for attention, is waiting at the bar, a shot of neat vodka already in her hand, and a tight-fitting fuck me dress clinging to her body.
Janine turns and again Jewel sees how close to Neva’s double she really is. The tones in the hair are perfect. Jewel flushes with excitement and anger as Janine stands to greet her.
‘Kady,’ Janine says. ‘It was nice to hear from you.’
Jewel kisses Janine on the lips, then she pulls her into her embrace. She’s trembling as she tries to hold herself in check. She sees it all behind her eyes. The victims, all in a tableau with Neva at its core.
‘I’m such an idiot,’ Jewel says. ‘I’ve missed you so much.’
Janine’s arms linger around her and when they pull away, Jewel can see the pathetic vulnerability shining through a confident veneer.
Yes, Jewel thinks, you’re very needy, Janine. I must cure you of that trait.