Catwalk Criminal (3 page)

Jessica pulled her robe tighter, her cheeks reddening. “
Geez
. Thanks for coming all the way here to tell me that. You shouldn't have bothered, especially since you're so busy, you know, with your
zillions
of modelling contracts.”

“Sorry.” A smile hovered on Zak's lips; his eyes glinted with amusement. “I didn't mean it to come out that way. You look gorgeous,
obviously
, because you always look absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. I was talking about the bruise on your forehead. It's hard to miss, sadly. As is your sarcasm.”

He crossed the room in a few bounds, handed her the bouquet and planted a quick kiss on her cheek before she could protest. How embarrassing! She immediately flushed scarlet.

“Er, thanks, but I'm not sure…”

Out the corner of her eye, she could see Becky mouthing, “Ohmigod.” Her blush deepened.

“We haven't been introduced.” Becky almost fell over the pile of magazines as she lurched towards Zak, hand outstretched and eyes shining with excitement. “I'm Jessica's best friend and I'm single.”

“Zak Dane. Also single. It must be catching.” He kissed Becky's hand instead of shaking it, rendering her speechless.

He looked up at Jessica expectantly as her dad joined Mattie at the door. This was beyond excruciating.

“You've obviously met my grandma, Mattie Farr,” she said through gritted teeth. “And this is my dad, Jack Cole.”

“It's quite the party,” her dad observed, smiling.

“Hh-mm. If you say so.” Zak might be Becky's ideal party guest, but he certainly wasn't Jessica's. He'd probably want to play charades, making everyone guess which modelling contracts he'd won. She slumped back down on the sofa. Pins and needles were travelling rapidly up her legs.

Zak sprang forward to shake her dad's hand. “It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. I'm Jessica's friend.”

“That's pushing it,” she murmured. They'd met for the first time at the rehearsals for the fashion evening at the Shard. He'd made a point of catching her eye. Maybe it was because she was the only girl who didn't immediately swoon over him and it hurt his enormous ego. Or perhaps… Stop it! She had to stop overanalysing everything. Zak Dane wasn't worth the mental effort.

“You're a model, right?” Becky said breathlessly. “You look like a contestant on
America's Next Top Model
. Is that how you met Jessica? I don't mean on the TV show, which you'd win, of course. I mean in real life? Modelling?”

Jessica rolled her eyes at her friend. Honestly? She was practically hyperventilating after one kiss on the hand.

“I had the pleasure of working with Jessica at the gig at the top of the Shard the other night,” Zak replied. “It didn't go to plan.”

That was the understatement of the year. She gazed at Zak, distracted, as he undid his coat. Hello! Had she said he could stay? What was he doing here? He rubbed his jaw. Seriously, were his cheekbones for real? They looked impossibly sculpted under the crystal light fixture; his body was lean and muscular beneath his navy jumper. It wasn't hard to see why he was in such demand from designers across the world. Zak's eyes flitted to hers and the corners of his mouth twitched.

“What did you want?” she said abruptly.

Judging by his smirk, he thought she was checking him out, which she most certainly wasn't.

“To see how you are, of course. I've been worried.”

“I'm good, thanks. I'd hate to keep you from whatever you're doing. Plus I'm busy. I'm expecting my boyfriend.”

“Really?”

Still he didn't move.

“Yes, really. I have a boyfriend, Jamie, and he'll probably be here any minute.”

“No, I mean you don't look that busy since you're in your pyjamas.”

“Very funny. Now why don't you—”

Mattie took a sharp intake of breath. “Jessica's forgotten her manners
and
forgotten to tell me that Jamie's visiting tonight too.” She shot her a pointed look. “Please take a seat, Zak, and let me get you something to drink while I put these beautiful flowers into a vase. Would you like tea or coffee?”

Jessica glared at her grandma. Why did she have to prolong her misery? Couldn't she sense that she wanted him to leave, given the profiling work she'd have done during her spy training?

“Thanks.” Zak flashed perfect teeth. He sat down next to Jessica on the sofa. Was it her imagination or did he deliberately brush his knee against hers? She shuffled along and placed a cushion between them.

Another smile touched his lips. “I'd love a cup of coffee, Miss Farr. Black, no sugar, please.”

“Call me Mattie. Everyone else does.”

“Of course. That's a beautiful necklace, Mattie. My mum loves pearls too. She says they instantly light up a woman's face.”

Mattie beamed as she touched her choker. “Thank you. It's my favourite necklace.” She leant in and smelt her armful of flowers. “Such a gorgeous scent. You chose well.”

Oh no. Becky was already a lost cause. Now her grandma was falling for Zak's charm offensive too, like most women he came across. Apart from Jessica. Definitely not her.

Her dad sat next to Becky on a smaller sofa on the opposite side of the room. They stared expectantly at her. She scowled back. Didn't Dad have work to do? And what about Becky's English essay? It looked like she and Zak had become the evening's entertainment. This
so
wasn't how she'd planned tonight to go.

“I'm sorry you were hurt.” Zak rearranged the cushions and shuffled round to face her. “I can't believe what happened. Neither can the other girls. Sasha was in pieces afterwards.”

Jessica glanced across at her dad. This was a good place to surreptitiously pick up their earlier discussion: the possible involvement of a Westwood girl in the undercover mission. “Where did you see her? What do you remember from that night?”

Zak looked puzzled. “Er, why?”

“Jessica's memory's a bit hazy,” Becky said. “She keeps forgetting things, like telling me she'd met you.”

Her dad buttoned his lips to suppress a smile. “It'd help if you could fill in the gaps from the time the lights went out.”

Zak paused as Mattie returned with a large crystal vase filled with his flowers. She placed them on the table in the centre of the room and left again.

“Of course, the blackout,” he continued. “That was odd. Do you think it was connected to what happened to Jessica? The newspaper said it wasn't, but I did wonder. It was quite a coincidence that so many things happened at once.”

“I'm sure the police will examine every angle,” her dad replied smoothly.

Zak didn't seem to notice that he'd sidestepped his awkward questions. “Yeah, sure. Well, the lights went off and everyone thought it was funny at first, but then a few people started to get nervous when they realized they weren't coming back on any time soon and we'd have to be evacuated.”

Jessica flicked her ponytail behind her back as Mattie returned with Zak's coffee. “Did you see the other models?”

He flashed another winning smile at Mattie and took a slurp of his drink.

“I spotted Natalia and Sasha over on the other side of the room. There was enough light from the buildings outside to see a little bit. But Bree, no. I didn't get a glimpse of her until after the armed police had gone up into the off-limits area. That's when I followed.”

“You actually went up? All the way?”

Zak smiled sheepishly. “Other people did too. We wouldn't have had another chance like that to get to the top. Plus, it was like something out of an action film: the helicopter, the armed police. It was hard to resist. The adrenaline started pumping and I followed like a sheep. Baaaa.”

The doorbell rang but Jessica ignored it. “That's when you saw Bree?” she pressed. “At the very top?”

“Bree was already on her way down when we were all turned back,” Zak said slowly. “She was upset and said someone had attacked you. I asked her if any other models were up there, but she said only you and she had made it to the top.”

That
was an interesting snippet of information. Her dad leant forward in his seat; Zak had caught his attention too. He'd placed Bree very close to the scene of the crime. Sure, they didn't get on, as Bree was always crying “teacher's pet” because of her family connection to Nathan, but was there more to it than that? She'd been a total cow ever since Jessica had caught her using her mobile in the ladies' loos during a surveillance training session at an MI6 centre where phones were strictly prohibited. It was confiscated later that day, along with Kat's, during a spot check on bags, and they'd both blamed Jessica, accusing her of dobbing them in to her godfather. She hadn't, but there was no reasoning with either of them.

Was Bree really talking to a friend in the toilets at the MI6 training centre or was something more sinister going on? She'd been texting constantly in the dressing room ahead of the fashion show and seemed tense. Had she been giving away confidential information to someone on the outside on both occasions? Was that why she really hated Jessica, because she feared she could piece everything together and out her as a traitor to MI6? Bree had definitely become her number one suspect.

“Why did you and Bree go to the top of the Shard?” Zak asked. “Did you see that guy go up there? You know, the one doing the publicity stunt? Was that when you were mugged?”

Jessica ignored Zak's barrage of irritating questions. First, she needed to go over the latest development with her dad and then Nathan. Maybe she could call him later tonight after Becky had left or she could ask her dad to ring and tell him what Zak had seen.

“I could kill whoever did this to you,” Zak continued. “Could you identify them? I'd feel so much better if I knew your mugger was close to being caught.”

“No,” she said quietly. Zak's titbit of information had made her highly suspicious, but she couldn't exactly have Bree arrested. Not yet, anyway.

“Jess?”

Geez. She hadn't seen her boyfriend walk in behind Mattie.

“Jamie!” She lost her balance as she stood up and had to touch Zak's shoulder briefly to steady herself. She felt her cheeks turn scarlet again.

Jamie frowned as he raked a hand through his tousled blond hair. “I didn't know you had another guest, sorry. I wanted to say hi and give you this.” He held up a white cake box with the name of a local baker printed on the side. “It's your favourite, you know, red velvet cupcakes. I thought you and Becky would enjoy them tonight.” His eyes flickered over the huge vase of flowers that Mattie had helpfully placed centre stage.

Jessica bit her lip “That's so thoughtful, thank you. Zak called in to see how I was doing. He's leaving now, aren't you?”

Zak studiously ignored her. He took another quick sip of coffee and slowly walked over to Jamie.

“Zak Dane, Jess's friend.”

The pair shook hands. “Jamie Tyler. Jess's boyfriend.”

“So she does have a boyfriend,” Zak drawled. “I had no idea.”

“She sure does.” Jamie pulled his hand back sharply, as if he'd been stung. He glanced back at Jessica, frowning.

She glared furiously at Zak. Why was he winding up Jamie? Did he get some weird kick out of it? He knew damn well she had a boyfriend, yet he'd deliberately implied she hadn't bothered to mention that fact. Now Jamie was acting all defensive. Not that he had anything to worry about. She wasn't even friends with Zak, let alone anything else.

Zak gently punched Jamie's arm, breaking the awkward silence. “Everything's cool, dude. I'll leave you two lovebirds alone with your cupcakes. I have to run through some Dolce & Gabbana promos tonight. Don't forget to add the flower food into the water, Jessica. It'll make the petals last longer.”

He couldn't resist showing off about yet another modelling contract
and
dropping in the helpful reference to his gigantic bouquet in front of her boyfriend. She'd put it in the bin after he left.

“Fantastic,” Jamie said through gritted teeth. “Knock yourself out,
dude.
”

“See you later, Jessica.” Zak hauled himself to the door, swinging his coat over his shoulder. “It's been a pleasure, Becky, Mr Cole, Mattie. Thanks for the coffee. Hope to see you all again soon.”

“Absolutely!” Becky exclaimed. “Hopefully really soon. Jessica has my number.”

He gave Becky a dazzling smile and winked at Jessica. She glared back. Who was he kidding? Their paths weren't likely to cross again. He wasn't booked on any of the shoots she had coming up, as far as she knew. Who'd given him her home address? Was it one of the other models? She'd forgotten to ask.

“He liked himself,” Jamie remarked as the door closed. He handed over the cupcakes, planting a quick kiss on her lips. The smell of fresh soap made Jessica's heart quicken.