As Dee wrapped up the conversation, Katie crossed the limo and sat next to her, signalling that she wanted to speak to Josh. Dee handed her the phone.
“Josh Hammond, we speak at last. I’m so looking forward to meeting the man who stole Dee’s heart.” She was teasing again, but Josh was also accomplished at the art.
“Don’t tell Dee, but I fell in love with you first. I think you were only fourteen at the time, though, and so I knew it couldn’t work,” he joked.
“Your husband is a flirt, Mrs Hammond,” Katie said so that all could hear. “Am I going to get to meet you anytime soon, Josh?”
“Not if I have anything to do with it,” Dee chimed in, making a grab for the phone.
“If you stay still long enough I may eventually track you down,” Josh said finally as Katie let the phone go. The three of them were laughing.
***
As the Airbus A380 cruised over the Atlantic, Katie offered Dee the private cabin’s bed. Dee declined the offer, taking the recliner in the sumptuous private bedroom instead. Katie climbed into the full sized bed and pulled the comforter up to her neck.
“Dee, when I get back to the university, are you going to look for that woman sniper?” Dee looked surprised that her ward should know about the Chameleon. “Sorry, I overheard you on the phone to Pete on Wednesday making the arrangements to meet up in New York,” Katie admitted somewhat sheepishly. Dee did not answer immediately.
“To be entirely honest with you, Katie, I don’t really know what I’m going to do. I do want to track the Hokobus’ killer down, that much is true, but after that...” her sentence trailed off for a moment before she picked up the traces of the conversation again. “One part of me wants to understand why she killed such a lovely and harmless couple, while another part of me wants to see her with a syringe stuck in her own neck, realising she is about to die.”
“That won’t happen,” Katie countered. “You will catch her and you’ll hand her over to the police. You don’t have it in you to be a vigilante.”
Dee wondered whether that was really true. Sitting there on the plane pondering on it, she really did not know whether she could kill in revenge. A minute later she looked over at Katie, who had fallen asleep. Dee decided to get some rest, too, and pulled a blanket around her as she reclined her seat almost flat.
Chapter 4 9
Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida, USA, Saturday noon.
Gil had yet another new look. The hairdresser in the salon at the Grand Floridian had restored her natural hair colour and had cut her hair into a more contemporary style; he called it an urchin cut. Somehow Gil couldn’t imagine an urchin spending over two hundred dollars on a cut and colour.
Handing the keys of her Ford Mustang hire car to the valet, she stepped onto an escalator and rode up to the covered walkway which led into Universal City Walk. Wearing designer jeans, brown leather cowboy boots and a pink Aeropostale tee shirt, all bought at the Florida Mall late last night, she joined the crowds heading towards the parks.
As she passed the AMC multiplex on her right, she noticed that the latest Clara Campbell movie was showing. She decided to give it a try before she left Orlando. She had always envied Clara’s adolescent friendships, and crushes, having been a solitary teen when she was young herself.
A throng of happy and smiling tourists moved with purpose towards the newer of the two theme parks, the Islands of Adventure, home to Hogsmeade, Hogwarts and the Harry Potter ride. Gil was quite excited. She had never been to a theme park as a child, and had never had an excuse to go as an adult, and so she looked at the rollercoasters with awe and more than a little trepidation. Nonetheless, she would ride them all. Not to do so would be cowardice.
***
By 6pm the queue for the Harry Potter ride had dwindled to twenty minutes and so she joined it, jiggling a giant stuffed white tiger on her hip – a prize she won, rather unfairly, in a target shooting sideshow. Gil had been so consumed with the colours, smells and noise of the park that she had paid no attention to a young couple following her around the park. The girl had a white veil on her head that sported Minnie Mouse ears. The man was wearing a tee shirt printed to resemble a tuxedo. Newlyweds, the world and his wife would think, but they would be wrong. The man had his wife stand in front of the gates to Hogwarts, towered over by two large winged boars, and then he took a picture with an expensive looking Sony camera. The picture that showed up on the camera’s screen, however, did not show the impressive gates, or his wife, but a pretty young woman with short hair carrying a white tiger.
The man fell into line a few places behind Gil, whilst his wife kissed him modestly on the lips and proclaimed loudly that she was going to Ollivander’s to buy a wand.
***
The girl headed off to Ollivander’s and joined the queue before reaching for her BlackBerry curve phone. She spoke quietly into the handset.
“This is Sherrie. The girl is here, we’ve been following her all afternoon. I’m sending you some pictures now.” The girl took the phone from her ear and sent four photos, taken on the phone’s built in 8 megapixel camera during the afternoon. The pictures weren’t great quality, but the light was good and it would be obvious to anyone who knew Gil, and who saw the photos, just who the subject was.
“Keep her in sight, understand?” a male voice commanded from out of the ether.
“Yes, boss. You can rely on us.” Sherrie pressed the red button to end the call and took up her vigil outside Filch’s Emporium, the exit from the Harry Potter ride.
Chapter 50
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, Saturday noon.
There was no doubting that Brown University was an Ivy League institution; it just reeked of power and status. Founded in 1764, it is the seventh oldest college in the US and home to young film stars Emma Watson and Katie Norman. The film studios liked the college because it was Brit friendly and off the beaten track. Vastrick liked it because it was easier to secure than a metropolitan university.
Katie, Pete and Dee sat on a cold bench under a tree devoid of its leaves. The wind was cold, but the weather was dry. They were waiting for Katie’s new minder to arrive. Deanna Pope was usually the weekend and holiday relief for Katie’s assigned minder, but the two knew each other well and Deanna was young enough to blend in and give Katie her privacy, whilst keeping her in sight.
“Will I see you before you go back to the UK?” Katie asked Dee and Pete.
“I guarantee it, pet,” Pete replied, his Geordie accent seeming out of place on the lawn in front of this august establishment.
“Shouldn’t that be ‘Why aye man’, Pete?” Katie asked in a strong Newcastle dialect. Pete grimaced and Dee smiled.
“Pete and I will take you to ‘Rosie’s Emporium’ for a night out before we fly back. It’s a Vastrick secret. Lots of Feds and ex Feds hang out there and the New England cuisine is to die for. Hinny.” She added the last word to join in the teasing of her partner.
All too soon Deanna and Katie headed off towards the dorm block, and the two Vastrick personnel headed towards their Chrysler 300 hire car. They had a long journey ahead and a meeting with an old friend from Quantico.
***
They left Providence and joined Interstate 95, heading south towards New York. According to the satnav they had 444 miles to go before they reached Quantico in Virginia. They were going to be on the same road for almost nine hours.
They decided to share the driving in two hour spells, and so Pete, the big Geordie, curled up on the spacious back seat and was snoring loudly before Dee reached Cranston, just a few miles away. Dee listened to the radio as she drove, and despaired at the drivers who drove in their favoured lane regardless of their speed. It was going to be a long drive.