‘OK, maybe that was theatrical. But you know what I mean.’
‘That is ridiculous. Seriously. So your dad had shitty parents. It happens. And his granny dying of cancer? So did mine. That’s a crappy fact of life too. He and Jack were on their own from a young age and that’s probably why Jack ended up dealing. We know why your dad shot Angelo Falcone. It was an accident. And if he hadn’t shot him, who knows? Angelo probably would have murdered Jack. I’m sorry you don’t have a large family and that all that bad stuff happened, but the universe is not against you. You’re not, like, doomed, or whatever. This isn’t a Game of Thrones episode. You’re good, OK? You’ve come out the other side.’
‘I just wish it felt like that.’
‘It will. Eventually. You just have to try.’
‘I know,’ I conceded. She was right. Of course she was. I just wasn’t really dealing in logic, so it was hard to see it.
‘So,’ she said, leaning back with a triumphant smile now she felt she had gotten through to me. I let my gaze drift back to the window now that the direct sunlight had stopped assaulting my retina. ‘With all that in mind, I was—’
‘Mil,’ I shrieked, bounding from the couch and gluing myself to the window. Outside, a black Mercedes was crawling by my house again. No one drives that slow. Not even in a residential zone. ‘Get your ass over here and tell me this car is not the most suspicious thing you’ve ever—’
‘Dammit, Gracewell.’ She yanked the back of my T-shirt and dragged me away from the window. ‘Listen very carefully to what I’m about to say.’
‘Can you just humour me and take a look—’
‘Persephone Elizabeth Gracewell, listen to me.’
‘All right,’ I said, refocusing. ‘I’m listening.’
She inhaled a giant breath and did a slow-blink. ‘OK. Have you ever met my mum’s friend, Emily?’
‘The millionaire from London?’
‘She married a millionaire,’ Millie corrected. ‘She’s from the same estate as my mum.’
I tried to act like the distinction mattered to me. ‘OK, what does she have to do with anything?’
‘Trust me,’ Millie said, moving close enough so I could count her freckles. ‘Emily has everything to do with this.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘So the first thing you need to know is that Emily is a total bitch. And these days she has way more money than sense.’
‘You better not be about to compare me to Emily,’ I interjected.
‘No, I just don’t want you to feel sorry for her.’
‘It already seems a little one-sided.’
‘Some people are just assholes, OK?’ Millie said. ‘Like, one time Emily tried to get with my dad at a party, in front of my mum, who’s supposed to be her friend. The last time she came to visit us, she hit on Alex. Major no-no. Do you see what I mean?’
‘Um, I suppose,’ I reasoned. ‘But in a wider context? No. Not at all.’
‘So, Emily went on this cruise a couple of years ago,’ she continued. ‘She likes to flaunt how mega-rich she is now – if there was a cruise ship made of gold, she’d be on it. Anyway, at one point on the cruise, which I can only imagine was all kinds of boring, she got to go out and see the dolphins close up. There was a group of them on this little speedboat and they were riding along and the dolphins got so excited they started chasing the boat. After a while, they came level with the boat and were jumping out of the water at the same speed. Emily was loving it, snapping photos and flooding her Instagram while she stood as close to the side as she could. All her captions were like “OMG best day ever”, “Ahh, this one is definitely smiling at me. I think he fancies me!” and “Free Willy LOL”, which is annoying because Willy was a freaking orca and you know I hate when old people overuse text abbreviations.’
Millie paused to assess my reaction.
‘Right,’ I said. ‘So … this is all still very vague …’
‘Well, you won’t believe what happened next,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘One of the dolphins overshot the mark. He jumped out of the water and ended up headbutting her in the face. He knocked her clean out.’
‘What?’
Millie’s eyes went impossibly large. ‘Yeah.’
‘Wow,’ I said. ‘That is really not how I saw that ending.’
‘So,’ she said, stepping back from me and lacing her fingers in front of her. ‘What are your thoughts?’
‘Was the dolphin OK?’
‘Yeah, he went right back on swimming.’ She grinned, before adding, ‘She had to get a second nose job, though.’