and threatened to tell his wife if he didn’t leave her. He begged me not to fire him. He told me…’
‘He told you I was unstable, Mother, and you believed him. You promised him his job was safe and you’d take care of it. Take care of me.’
Tempest clenched her fists tightly, relieving the anger that had swept over her when she’d discovered her mother’s treachery from Skye.
Alison’s voice was high and whiney. ‘You’ve always acted so impulsively.’
‘Yes, I acted impulsively when I started to fall for him, I didn’t check him out, didn’t run a bloody security check on him. I thought he was telling me the truth. That makes me naïve; it doesn’t make me promiscuous. I hadn’t had a relationship for three years before Delaney.’
Alison walked around the table and placed a thin white hand on Tempest’s shoulder.
‘I said such awful things to you. I don’t know how to make it better.’ She raised her head and gazed into Tempest’s eyes. ‘Your father would know. Your father would never for one minute have taken someone else’s word over yours.’
The hand trembled as Alison’s façade began to crumble.
‘I’m sorry.’ Her mother grasped the wooden back of the chair for support.
‘Sit down, Mum.’ Tempest helped her sit back on the chair. Anger melted as her mother started to cry helplessly. This was the woman her father had loved, the woman who gave her life, the woman her father would expect her to love. ‘He was convincing, a great salesman. I know how believable he can be.’
He’d even got past her intuition. Joe must be a master liar to do that.
Alison sounded tired. ‘He told me you’d fallen in love with him, that you were distraught because Skye was married and it made you want to be married too. He told me you were lonely. That resonated with me because I know how hard your father’s death was on you. You and he were so alike.’
Even though Alison had acknowledged her guilt, she was still trying to justify it. The betrayal ached, but the bile was gone, now it was all out in the open. Maybe she should have fought harder to tell her mother what happened ages ago, rather than expecting Alison to believe in her. It didn’t matter any more.
Tomorrow the heist would go down. And Jake would be back. Light flooded Tempest’s heart at the prospect.
‘Let’s go in to the others.’
****
Jake strapped his father’s watch around his wrist. He’d almost worn a track in the royal blue carpet striding backwards and forwards across it for the past hour, but now it was time for action. He followed Officer Smith down the corridor of the hotel, slipping down the service stairs to the emergency exit.
‘That’s them.’
An unmarked white van idled at the curb and as they strode towards it, the side door slid open, revealing two men who sat before a bank of electronics. They climbed inside, and set off for the underground parking garage of the museum.
‘No activity yet.’ The man behind the bank of monitors grinned a welcome. ‘I’m Michael.’
‘Jake.’
The van was full of monitors displaying the feed from multiple cameras rigged around the museum. He glanced at each in turn. No movement.
‘Has my mother left her house yet?’
Michael nodded. ‘About ten minutes ago. The helicopter is tracking her car. She’s not alone. A couple of men are with her since yesterday.’
Jake wanted to pace, but the cramped confines of the van ruled that out. His foot tapped on the floor instead and he crossed and uncrossed his arms as adrenaline spiked.
‘How far away is she?’
‘Minutes.’ Michael held his hand up. A tinny voice bled through the earphones. ‘She’s here; the car has just driven into the car park.’
His mother’s car drove past the blackened windows of the van. Paul sat next to her and a large, heavyset man filled the back seat of the tiny car, stuffed incongruously into a silver grey suit, dark aviator sunglasses shading his eyes.
Jake’s hands
‘He told you I was unstable, Mother, and you believed him. You promised him his job was safe and you’d take care of it. Take care of me.’
Tempest clenched her fists tightly, relieving the anger that had swept over her when she’d discovered her mother’s treachery from Skye.
Alison’s voice was high and whiney. ‘You’ve always acted so impulsively.’
‘Yes, I acted impulsively when I started to fall for him, I didn’t check him out, didn’t run a bloody security check on him. I thought he was telling me the truth. That makes me naïve; it doesn’t make me promiscuous. I hadn’t had a relationship for three years before Delaney.’
Alison walked around the table and placed a thin white hand on Tempest’s shoulder.
‘I said such awful things to you. I don’t know how to make it better.’ She raised her head and gazed into Tempest’s eyes. ‘Your father would know. Your father would never for one minute have taken someone else’s word over yours.’
The hand trembled as Alison’s façade began to crumble.
‘I’m sorry.’ Her mother grasped the wooden back of the chair for support.
‘Sit down, Mum.’ Tempest helped her sit back on the chair. Anger melted as her mother started to cry helplessly. This was the woman her father had loved, the woman who gave her life, the woman her father would expect her to love. ‘He was convincing, a great salesman. I know how believable he can be.’
He’d even got past her intuition. Joe must be a master liar to do that.
Alison sounded tired. ‘He told me you’d fallen in love with him, that you were distraught because Skye was married and it made you want to be married too. He told me you were lonely. That resonated with me because I know how hard your father’s death was on you. You and he were so alike.’
Even though Alison had acknowledged her guilt, she was still trying to justify it. The betrayal ached, but the bile was gone, now it was all out in the open. Maybe she should have fought harder to tell her mother what happened ages ago, rather than expecting Alison to believe in her. It didn’t matter any more.
Tomorrow the heist would go down. And Jake would be back. Light flooded Tempest’s heart at the prospect.
‘Let’s go in to the others.’
****
Jake strapped his father’s watch around his wrist. He’d almost worn a track in the royal blue carpet striding backwards and forwards across it for the past hour, but now it was time for action. He followed Officer Smith down the corridor of the hotel, slipping down the service stairs to the emergency exit.
‘That’s them.’
An unmarked white van idled at the curb and as they strode towards it, the side door slid open, revealing two men who sat before a bank of electronics. They climbed inside, and set off for the underground parking garage of the museum.
‘No activity yet.’ The man behind the bank of monitors grinned a welcome. ‘I’m Michael.’
‘Jake.’
The van was full of monitors displaying the feed from multiple cameras rigged around the museum. He glanced at each in turn. No movement.
‘Has my mother left her house yet?’
Michael nodded. ‘About ten minutes ago. The helicopter is tracking her car. She’s not alone. A couple of men are with her since yesterday.’
Jake wanted to pace, but the cramped confines of the van ruled that out. His foot tapped on the floor instead and he crossed and uncrossed his arms as adrenaline spiked.
‘How far away is she?’
‘Minutes.’ Michael held his hand up. A tinny voice bled through the earphones. ‘She’s here; the car has just driven into the car park.’
His mother’s car drove past the blackened windows of the van. Paul sat next to her and a large, heavyset man filled the back seat of the tiny car, stuffed incongruously into a silver grey suit, dark aviator sunglasses shading his eyes.
Jake’s hands
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