Page 50 of Breaking the Dark

“Yeah. Really convenient. But now I know where she lives, so tomorrow I’m going to head over there, to Belle’s place, first thing, see what I can see. It looks pretty secure, from what I can see online. Tall walls, you know. But I’m sure I can find a way in.”

“Hey, you should get a drone.”

“Ha!” She laughs a staccato laugh. “A drone. And from where precisely am I to get a drone here in the actual butt crack of nowhere?”

“Amazon?”

Jessica sighs. “Yeah. Maybe. Why don’t you order me one? I’ll send you my account details.”

“Sure,” says Malcolm. “I’m on it.”

“And listen. You’re seeing Fox and Lark tomorrow, right? Boxing?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Find out who the hell Miranda is, will you?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Totally. I will totally, I—”

Another call is coming through. It’s Amber Randall and Jessica switches the call without saying goodbye. She rearranges the fat hotel pillows behind her back so that she is sitting straighter. It makes her feel more professional.

“Hi.”

“Hi, Jessica, how did it go?”

“It went okay. I mean, Sebastian, he doesn’t appear to know anything.”

Amber sighs. “Yup,” she says. “Sounds like him. How did he seem?”

“Oh,” says Jessica, not sure what Amber wants to hear. “He seemed, you know, fine, I guess. Seems like a nice guy.”

“He is. He is a nice guy. And that’s why I got so agitated back in your office when you were suggesting some kind of friction between us. You know, it’s just not like that. He’s just a kind of a benign idiot, you know? How’s his place looking?”

Jessica blinks, and nods slowly. “It’s, er, yeah. Kind of amazing, but kind of a mess.”

“Don’t know what he was thinking, buying that place. Such a money pit, and what for? I mean, seven bedrooms. Who the hell needs seven bedrooms? It’s—”

“Listen,” she cuts in, not wanting to get involved in a marital dispute, “how are the twins?” She brings her legs off the bed and sits on the edge.

Amber sighs. “They’re okay. Still acting weird. I hear your intern was out with Fox last night. Did he have anything to report back?”

“Well, yeah.”

Jessica gives a streamlined retelling of Malcolm’s rant and Amber breathes sharply when she gets to the bit about Fox letting himself into an abandoned bar in Harlem, with a key.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, well, that’s what Malcolm told me. Said that Fox’s Belle had given them the key when they were in England. Told them there was a secret basement in there. They tried looking for it, couldn’t find it, and when Malcolm pushed Fox for more details, he dried up. Stopped talking.”

“But—I mean—a bar in Harlem? I don’t understand. What on earth could that have to do with the twins?”

“I really don’t know, Amber. I mean, maybe you could ask?”

“No. I’m not going to ask. They’ll want to know how I know, and how would I explain that?”

“You could say you followed them yourself?”

“No,” Amber responds forcefully. “I have to maintain their trust. If they think I’m sneaking around after them, who knows what they’ll do. And anyway, there’s no point asking them anything, they’re simply not talking to me. They’re closed down. They’re empty.”