“Go over your lines again,” Lois says. Her mum is as excited as she is. Bonnie knows her mum has always been proud of her, and she knows that not all mums are proud of their daughters. But, even so. Bonnie is so happy to see her mum so happy. Bonnie gets it. If one of her children suddenly got the job of their dreams, her heart would burst. As she watches Mimi and Maxie play dress-up with one of her bras, she wonders what it is they might end up doing.
“They haven’t given me my lines yet,” says Bonnie to Lois, wondering if she needs eight pairs of shoes, and deciding that she does. “I think I have to make them up.”
“Well, you’re very good at that,” says Lois. “I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t know what to say. You’ve always been a talker, though—that yellow top won’t go with anything—always chattering away, I don’t know where you get it from, on my life I don’t—I like that blouse, make sure the iron’s not too hot in the hotel, use it on a towel, test it out. Maxie, that doesn’t go up your nose, darling. They’ll have an iron in the hotel, won’t they? It’ll be that sort of hotel, won’t it? Iron, en suite, minibar, the works. What’s the name? I’ll look it up.”
“They haven’t told me my hotel yet,” says Bonnie. “Maxie, not up Mimi’s nose either. They’re meeting me off the plane and driving me.”
Bonnie wishes they would tell her the name of the hotel. She’d like to look at everything before she goes. Look at the rooms, see if there’s a restaurant, see if there’s room service. She can just imagine that, having breakfast delivered. Maxie and Mimi brought her breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day: a packet of custard creams and a flower Maxie had kept in her pocket. So, yes, it would be nice to have the name of the hotel, but perhaps influencers are a bit cooler about that sort of thing.
“I’ve got all sorts planned with the kids,” says Lois. “We’re going to visit Graham—”
“Yes, Graham!” shouts Maxie.
“Graham!” repeats Mimi.
“You know, Graham from the club, he’s got an allotment and he says the kids can do some digging. I’ve bought them some stickers too. There’s a mark on the back of those jeans. We’ll have a whale of a time.”
“We see a whale!” squeals Maxie.
Bonnie is now resorting to sitting on the clothes in her case.
“And you don’t need to ring every day,” says Lois. “If you’re busy. I know you’ll be rushing around doing your influencing.”
“We can all go on holiday when I get back,” says Bonnie. She’s never been able to say anything like that before. She’s heard people say it on TV, and now it’s her turn. “Me, you, the kids. Wherever you fancy. France, Florida.”
“The moon,” suggests Maxie.
Bonnie really has a lot to thank that Felicity Woollaston for. She clearly believed in her. Bonnie had thought of sending Felicity an email, thanking her. But she doesn’t want to seem uncool. Felicity does these deals all the time, and Bonnie is keen to fit in, to take all this in her stride. She will send Felicity a thank-you afterward. Maybe take her to lunch when she’s back from the trip? Is that uncool too?
“I don’t need a holiday,” says Lois. “You enjoy the money, you’ve earned it. Spoil the kids. You’re really not getting anything more in that case. I’m fetching the old one.”
“I can’t take another case,” says Bonnie.
The kids zoom out of the room in search of a whale.
“You can take two cases,” says Lois.
“I’m already taking another case,” says Bonnie.
“What other case?”
“It’s part of the job,” says Bonnie. “You’ve watched ‘unboxing’ videos?”
Lois shakes her head.
“Opening something on camera, like a new product, a surprise, and then you can record your reactions. So it’s real.”
“And you’re going to do that with paint?”
“Organic paint, Mum,” says Bonnie. “They’ve got a new product. They want me to take it with me, and then open it on camera. They’re sending it to me today.”
“No way you won’t take a peek first,” says Lois. “You know what you’re like at Christmas.”
“It’s got a lock,” says Bonnie. “I get the combination on camera, and then open it up.”
“And people watch that?” Lois asks.
“It’s very popular,” says Bonnie. She’s just watched a makeup influencer from Austria open a box of concealer up an Alp.
Lois goes into the pose and voice of a customs officer. “Excuse me, madam, did you pack this bag yourself?”
Bonnie and Lois laugh together. Her mum hasn’t had the easiest time of it lately—who has?—and it’s lovely to see her dancing eyes. Honestly, this whole thing is a dream. Who knew that things like this could happen to people like her?
Whether it’s uncool or not, Bonnie decides she will take Felicity out for lunch the moment she gets back.
70
Killing someone in a prison is very easy. Even in a Dubai prison. The place is full of murderers who will do anything for money. And that’s before you even get to the prisoners.
But why had Rob been hired to kill Courtney Lewis in the first place? A girl from Essex, caught with a bag of money. Loubet’s money, no doubt. So is Loubet panicking? And, if Loubet is panicking, should Rob be panicking? Rob thinks again about the layers he has built around himself. The layers of expendable people who protect him.
It occurs to him now, probably later than it should, that he is one of Loubet’s expendable layers.
Perhaps they need to meet, finally? How would Rob go about that?
The more immediate question, of course, is who might Loubet be worried about? Who is getting too close for comfort?
It must be Amy Wheeler, no? She’s bang in the middle of it. What if she’s figured it all out? Rosie D’Antonio is smart too—she writes books, doesn’t she? And the old guy Amy is with? The father-in-law, Eddie reckons. Ex-cop, for what that’s worth. What if they’ve put their heads together? What if they’re headed to Dubai and that’s why Loubet wanted Courtney Lewis killed?
