Page 61 of All I Want for Christmas

There was a pause, but a moment later she heard his feet on the steps and the door closing sharply behind him. The sound of it made her wince; she knew she was face-spiting again, but she couldn’t help it. She hated how it was all nothing to him when it was everything to her.

She sighed, pulling her coat closer to her and shivering as she waited; it had to be minus five, six. Every few moments she checked her phone. A car had been found. Eleven minutes away.

Eleven?At this time of night? She groaned.

She sat on the kerb and waited, hugging her arms around her body, her chin tucked into her coat collar as if she was a roosting pigeon. A light fell onto the ground, over and around her, and she glanced back to see the lights on in one of the rooms on the second floor. His bedroom?

She quickly turned away, not wanting to be caught looking.Let him go to bed. He had looked tired, a heavy stubble on his jaw making him appear less AI-generated than usual. A chink in the armour.

The coldness from the ground was chilling, seeping through her coat and numbing her bottom as she sat there, waiting for the minutes to tick past. She would have watched the map showing the car’s progress, but it was too cold to keep her hands out. Instead, she huddled as best she could, tucked into her own layers.

Eight minutes passed.

Nine...

She was shivering constantly. This was ridiculous. It was gone two in the morning and she was sitting on the pavement in sub-zero temperatures. She was supposed to be in the gallery again in five hours. She would have been better off walking home after all; she’d be halfway there by now and at least she’d be generating some heat.

She didn’t hear the car approach – it was electric – and the first she knew of it was when the beam of the headlights appeared on the road in front of her. She looked up with relief.

‘Oh, thank God,’ she whispered, getting up stiffly.

She opened the passenger door and went to climb in, just as she heard another door open. She glanced back.

Max was standing in his doorway, his mouth open as if he’d just said something – or was about to. He was wearing tartan pyjama bottoms and a white t-shirt. Bare feet. Private Max.

He closed his mouth again as Darcy slid onto the back seat. The car door shut with a thunk and she dropped her head back, looking away from him as the cab slunk into the night.

‘I was getting worried,’ Viggo said as she came down the stairs. It was almost nine and the gallery staff were busy upstairs, preparing to open.

‘Sorry, I overslept.’

‘Yes, Jens said you had a late night.’

Darcy swallowed, wondering what else the security man had said as he clocked off from his night shift. Had he relayed her arguing with Max on the steps in the moonlight? ‘I fell asleep on the sofa. My bad.’ She shrugged off her coat, grateful for the cosy, stable temperatures down here. She was still chilled from last night; the cold had got into her bones. ‘How was chess?’

‘Well, I didn’t disgrace myself. I took his bishops, rooks and queen, before he stole a march on my king.’

‘Sounds...tricky,’ Darcy nodded, her mind still snagged on last night’s showdown.

‘Yes. But more importantly, all was well with the box?’

‘Absolutely fine. The housekeeper hadn’t even been in.’

‘That is a relief,’ he sighed. ‘I can’t believe I forgot something so important. I think my memory...’

‘Viggo, your memory is fine. It was an oversight; it happens to everyone...But I do think these “security concerns” are overblown,’ she said, taking the opportunity to push back again. ‘The chances of some sort of mishap are incredibly low.’ She looked at him meaningfully. Couldtheynot come to a private arrangement? Max Lorensen and the insurers didn’t even need to be involved. She could take a box back with her to her apartment and who needed to know? Surely Viggo trusted her?

‘Now don’t look at me like that,’ he said, wagging a finger at her. ‘Max Lorensen’s position is clear.’

Darcy frowned. ‘...Max’s? You mean the insurers, surely?’

Viggo hesitated. ‘Exactly.’

‘But you just said Max.’

‘He’s the one liaising with them.’

‘I thought you were?’

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