I double-clicked on the attachment and there he was: in black and white, balding and sans cap, but I had no trouble recognising the man who’d been following me; the man who’d spoken to Ford. The same rough stubble covered his cheeks, the same dark eyes stared back at me. I shuddered. I’d known instinctively that he was trouble, and now it was confirmed. Ford’s suspicion about Angus Bright, combined with Grady’s criminal record, was far too convenient to be a coincidence.
I added my latest findings and suspicions to my other notes and put password protection on the document to prevent the possibility of any further theft. Then I shut down the laptop and tried to sleep.
I got straight onto the research first thing the following morning and managed to source a contact from Grady’s criminal trial: one John Harrington, intelligence officer with the National Crime Agency in the UK.
But before I followed up this lead, there was something else I needed to do. I had to make sure James couldn’t put the house up for sale without my consent. Before I did any more investigation into Ford, before I faced Nick again, I had to find a lawyer.
The problem was, I didn’t know any lawyers. Nor did I know anyone who knew a lawyer. I didn’t even know anyone who had a lawyer. In short, I had no idea where to start.
And so I did what any self-respecting scorned woman would do. I called my mum.
‘Hi Mum, it’s Sarah.’
‘Sarah? Where are you?’
‘I’m in Rome, Mum. I told you I was going away for work.’
‘You told me you were going to Spain,’ she said indignantly. ‘What if something happened and I needed to contact you?’
I raised my eyes to the ceiling. ‘You can call my mobile anytime, Mum.’
Mum had never, ever called me on my mobile. It’d probably take a nuclear holocaust for her to consider dialling anything but a landline.
‘Well, at least look up your great-aunt Gina while you’re there, love. I’d be mortified if she found out you were in Italy and didn’t visit for coffee and cake.’
‘Coffee and cake? Doesn’t she live in Naples?’
‘It’s only an hour and a half by train.’
I almost laughed. ‘I’m going to be moving on soon, so Great-Aunt Gina will have to wait until the next time I’m in Italy. Anyway, I need your help. I’ve finally heard from James.’
She made a humph sound and I knew she’d forgotten she was annoyed with me now that she’d remembered to be annoyed with James. ‘I always knew he lacked responsibility.’
‘Oh, you did not. You thought he was the Second Coming, until he was going.’
‘To just leave without saying anything!’
‘It gets worse. He’s going to put the house up for sale.’
‘Maybe that’s for the best, love,’ she said. ‘Why would you want to stay in the house with those nasty memories?’
‘He’s not going to get away with kicking me out of my own house. It belongs to me too. I need you to make sure he can’t do anything about it, at least while I’m away. I’ll sort it out when I get back.’
‘I don’t think you can afford it on your own, Sarah.’ That mother-knows-best tone had crept into her voice, which she should have known would just make me dig my heels in even harder.
‘I’ll decide what I’m going to do about it when I get home. In the meantime, could you contact a lawyer and find out what my rights are? I can’t really do it from here, and I need to concentrate on this story.’
She sniffed in response, and I could picture her pursed lips as she decided whether she should take orders from her daughter.
‘How’s Dad?’ I asked, hoping to smooth her ego.
‘He’s fine. He’s worried about you. You should call more often.’
This induced the usual guilt that our calls always ended on, which was part of the reason I didn’t call more often. ‘I will, Mum. I’ll call tomorrow, OK?’
‘Don’t call if you’re busy.’
‘I’ll call, Mum. I’ve gotta go, OK? I’ll speak to you tomorrow.’
After she’d hung up I took a few minutes to get my story straight in my head, then dialled John Harrington’s number.
‘Harrington.’ His clipped, professional tone answered almost immediately.
‘Hello, Mr Harrington, my name is Kate Smith. I’m a public defender in Sydney, Australia, and I have a client up on drug trafficking charges who keeps mentioning a William Grady. I know you were instrumental in putting him away—do you have a few minutes to talk to me about his case?’
There was a short pause before he spoke. ‘I’m not at liberty to discuss those details. The case is closed.’
‘Actually, I have reason to believe he’s involved in an international drug trafficking ring.’
‘Impossible. We’ve been keeping an eye on him since he got out of the clink. He’s clean.’
I pounced on this. ‘He’s been out for three years. That’s a long time to watch someone you think is clean.’
‘What I think is that you need to tell me who your client is and why he’s name-dropping Grady.’ Harrington’s voice was curt.
I thought fast. If I revealed too much, the whole story could be taken out of my hands. ‘I’m beholden to maintain my client’s confidentiality. But I know where Grady’s headed now, and it’s almost certainly got something to do with the drug ring. I’ll tell you if you give me the background on his case.’
‘I don’t do deals with lawyers.’ His tone was dismissive now. ‘You can tell your client
