“I think it best if you leave now,” Felicity said to Jez evenly. “Before Jools’s father gets home.”
He stood up, his face red with embarrassment, and nodded.
“Right. Sorry,” he muttered, and flung a glance over his shoulder at Jools. “I’ll call you later,” he promised, and fled.
As the slam of the front door reverberated throughout the house, Jools fixed a wary gaze on her father’s girlfriend. “You’re not telling him, are you? You’re not telling dad about this?”
“He deserves to know.” Felicity slid the bag of groceries onto the counter and dropped her handbag next to it. “Jools, you and that boy were—” she broke off. “Can you imagine if your father had walked in on two you instead of me?”
Jools blushed. Just the thought of it cringed her completely out. “He’d be furious. Which is why you can’t tell him.” She took a deep breath and added, “Please.”
She hated to ask the bed bunny a favour, but needs must.
If Dad found out, he’d ground her for eternity. Worse still, he’d never let her see Jez again. And she couldn’t bear that.
“I’ll do whatever you want – scrub the toilets, mop the floor, wash and fold the laundry – only please, please don’t tell dad what just happened.”
Felicity hesitated, torn between doing the right thing by Oliver and her desire to win Jools’s friendship. “All right, I won’t say anything,” she said finally, “but it can’t ever happen again,” she added, her expression stern as Jools let out a sigh of relief. “You have to promise me.”
“It won’t, I swear,” Jools assured her as she retrieved the bowl of crisps and the cans of soda and returned them to the kitchen counter. “I need to go up and pack – Dad’s taking me over to Pippa’s to spend the night when he gets home.”
“Oh, right. He mentioned it the other day. Well, go and get ready, then. He should be home soon.”
Jools turned to go, then hesitated. “Thanks,” she said. Then she ran upstairs to get ready and thought, really, maybe the bed bunny wasn’t so bad after all.
Jack’s mobile vibrated in his pocket. He withdrew it and glanced at the screen. “Hey, Dev. What’s up?”
“We’ve got one of the men that grabbed your niece and her boyfriend – Milos Kerras. A PC brought him in on an unrelated charge – drunk driving – and he’s in custody as we speak.”
“How do you know he was involved in the kidnapping?”
“I ran his name through the CRB and came up with a laundry list of previous charges – drugs possession, prostitution, illegal possession of a firearm, just to name a few. But none of the charges stuck.”
“Good lawyer?”
“Martin Drake,” he confirmed, “one of the best – and most expensive – criminal defence lawyers money can buy. Drake’s a bit of an extravagance for a bloke who lives in a tower block on the Mile End Road.”
“Where Jools and Adesh were grabbed.”
“Right. He looked familiar, so I ran the CCTV footage from Rotherham on the off-chance he was connected somehow. I’m ninety-nine percent certain he’s the same bloke we picked up.”
“What makes you so sure?”
Jack heard the sound of shuffling papers. “When I asked the kids for a description,” Devon said, “Adesh mentioned seeing a tattoo on his attacker’s wrist – a circle with an inverted ‘V’. He only got a quick look before they blindfolded him, but he remembered it very well.”
“Lambda, the eleventh letter in the Greek alphabet, used in the ancient Spartan symbol,” Jack said slowly. “Adesh mentioned a tattoo when I asked if he or Jools remembered any details about their attackers.”
“This guy’s got it, Jack. On his left wrist.”
“That still doesn’t prove anything, unless—”
“Unless Adesh can identify him,” Devon finished with a trace of impatience. “Right. That’s why I asked his parents to bring him in this morning and take a look at a line-up.” He paused. “Adesh picked out our bloke straight away.”
It was nearly eight-thirty that evening when Oliver returned from dropping Jools off at Pippa’s house. He removed his suit jacket and tossed it over the bannister. “Felicity?”
“Hello, darling. I’m back here.”
He followed the enticing scent of lamb roasting down the hallway and into the kitchen. “Something smells good. I’m ravenous, haven’t eaten since I grabbed a sandwich at eleven this morning.”
Felicity turned from the salad she was preparing and kissed him. “I’ve got rack of lamb and jacket potatoes nearly ready, and a rocket salad. I thought you might be hungry.”
“That sounds amazing, thanks.” He kissed her again and loosened his tie. “I hope your day was better than mine,” he groused as he pulled out a chair and sat at the table. “God, I thought it’d never end. Taking Jools to Maida Vale afterwards was the last thing I felt like doing.”
“I could’ve taken her,” she pointed out as she set the bowl of salad on the table. “I did offer.”
“Yes, and it was sweet of you. But I promised I’d take her. Besides – you know how kids are. They’ll open up to you in the car, tell you all sorts of things they’d never mention otherwise.”
Felicity glanced at him quickly. Jools hadn’t told him about Jez, had she? she wondered guiltily. “No, I don’t know how kids are. You forget – I haven’t your experience with children. What did she say?”
“That she’s sorry she’s been such a beast. She’s been worried about her exams. Now that they’re over, she promises to be a bit more sociable – and nicer to you.”
I just bet she does, Felicity thought as she plated their food.
“She’s not a bad kid,” Oliver went on as she brought their plates of food to the table and sat down. “I know that’s hard to believe, from your perspective, at least.”
She managed a smile. “Jools is a lovely girl.” A lovely girl who nearly had sex with her boyfriend in the kitchen…
“I worry about her, that’s all.” He took a bite of the salad. “She’s impulsive, sometimes.”
You don’t know the half of it.
“But she’s got a good head on her shoulders.”
If she doesn’t end up pregnant first…
Oliver laid his fork aside. “Darling, what’s wrong? You’re not saying much. Bad day?”
Felicity dropped her fork to her plate with a clatter and looked at him in distress. “Oh, Oliver, I promised I wouldn’t tell, but…”
“Tell me what?” He leaned forward. “What’s got you upset, darling?”
“It’s Jools,” she said. “I think you should know. You’re her father, after all, and I’ve no right to keep something like this to myself.”
Oliver frowned. “Felicity, dammit, what are you talking about? Tell me what’s going on. What’s Jools done?”
“I got here a bit early, around five-thirty. When I came in, Jools…” she hesitated, “well, she had a boy here. Jez. Oh, Oliver – they were sprawled on the sofa in the sitting room off the kitchen, and I honestly think if I hadn’t arrived when I did…”
He thrust his chair back abruptly. “She knows she’s not to have boys round when I’m not here. I made that very clear before she moved in.”
“Nothing happened,” she assured him.
“No, nothing happened, this time,” he snapped. “But what about the next time? Or what if she’s already had sex with this boy when I wasn’t here?”
“Oliver, calm down. You’re overreacting. And you said yourself that Jools is a sensible girl.”
“Sense goes out the bloody window when it comes to hormones.” He stalked down the hall and reached for his jacket.
“Oliver,” Felicity said in alarm, “what are you doing?”
“I’m calling Valery,” he said, his expression grim, “and I’m telling her to come and get Jools tomorrow and take her back to Maida Vale.”