Page 104 of The Facilitator: Part 2
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If I thought havingjet lag when I arrived in America was bad, it bore no resemblance to how I felt when we arrived back in a cold, miserable London. Kerry greeted us at the door with news. It seemed our intruder had been Addison, although we weren’t in the least surprised. A neighbour had, eventually, submitted a CCTV image of our hooded wall sitter, but one showed a lock of blonde hair. It wasn’t enough for the police to even bother with; no crime had actually been committed. She showed us where the new cameras had been installed beforeleaving.
“That reminds me, we still have that flash drive to look at,” he said. He fished around in the flight bag until he foundit.
We sat in the kitchen as he plugged it into an old laptop. “I don’t trust her not to have put a virus on this,” he said, as he inserted it into aport.
All it contained was one file of photographs. Addison hadn’t just taken a lot of shots of Mackenzie and me having sex that time, she’d been stalking us. A shiver ran over me as we saw a photograph of us on the beach before we left for America, the side of his car after it had been scratched. She even videoed herself, using her phone it looked like, spraying perfume over the front door. I shook my head, she truly wassick.
“Don’t doubt for one minute, Lauren, this is the only copy,” he said, as hedisconnected.
“I don’t. But what more can she do? There’s evidence of trespass there, probable evidence of criminal damage. Even in her state of mind, she knew exactly what she was doing,” Isaid.
“At least we know where she is. Now we just need to findDaniel.”
“Any news on that?” I asked, as I rose to make my first proper cup oftea.
“Nothing yet. The investigators will keep lookingthough.”
Mackenzie had decided the most prudent thing was to go after Daniel. He’d gone to ground, successfully, and there was a hint perhaps Father Dickhead had helped him to do so. Daniel was just too stupid to become a master at disappearance. However, Vivienne was confident she had enough people around her to deal with him, should he ever return, and that settled Mackenzie enough to be able to rebook those flightshome.
* * *
Maybe it was stress,maybe it was the up and down of what should have been a holiday, but I fell ill. I suffered flu-like symptoms and Mackenzie called in the doctor despite my protests it was just jetlag.
I was prodded and poked and the doctor agreed with me. I was exhausted, emotionally and physically drained. I just needed a couple of days of being pampered and to chill out. And that’s exactly what Mackenzie did. He fed me, lay beside me even when he wasn’t tired, and stroked my hair when my body clock had me awake in the early hours, and he was desperately tiredhimself.
One week after we’d arrived home, it was time for me to kick my own arse and get back to work. I was dressed in a grey trouser suit and about to join Mackenzie in thekitchen.
“I have something for you,” Mackenzie said. He stood and opened a blue velvet box. Nestled on the cushion was a weddingring.
“I thought you might present that to me in a more romantic setting than the kitchen,” I said,teasing.
“Says she who was about to propose in a kitchen. In fact, I remember having my hands full of dirtydishes.”
“You did not, didyou?”
Mackenzie laughed. “I was stacking the dishwasher as Irecall.”
I slid the wedding ring on. Although it should have settled the other side of my engagement ring, it comforted me that it would stop the slightly larger one from fallingoff.
“Thank you, I love it,” I said, angling my hand so I couldlook.
“Are you ready to face the world?” Mackenzieasked.
“Iam.”
I was sure Mackenzie believed my jet lag was also anxiety in returning to work, and he would be correct. He was always correct and so astute where my emotions were concerned. I’d been terrified from the moment we had landed. I hadn’t gotten over the image being shared, but the distraction of Mack meant I had buried it. I’d had enough of feeling anxious,though.
We travelled in a silver Mercedes to the offices in Canary Wharf. I hesitated in climbing out until Mackenzie leaned towardsme.
“Get out the car, get in the building, walk to your office with your fucking head held high, or I’ll put you over my knee and spank your ass,” hesaid.
I laughed; of course he wouldn’t, would he? When I looked at him, the glint in his eye suggested hewould.
We took the lift to my floor and instead of him carrying on up, he stepped out with me. He greeted a few people as we walked to my office, and I laughed as we stopped in front of thedoor.
“Mrs. Miller, can I get you tea?” Carolyn said; she smiled a huge grin at me. I was a little unsure on what the grin was for,though.
