‘Did you really think you’d get away with it?’ my adversary whispered from the shadows of the alleyway. ‘That I’d never catch up with you? Melbourne, Sydney, Miami, Monaco… closer every time.’
‘Not every time,’ I called back, a smile masking my terrified heart. ‘In Monaco I was gone before you even got the call.’
‘It was sloppy work,’ he said. ‘You may have been far away, but I was only in Monaco for two hours before I had your trail.’
‘What can I say?’ I shrugged. ‘Some widows make it too easy.’
‘You got greedy.’
‘I got tired,’ I spat. ‘I couldn’t do the whole charade anymore. Much easier to smash and grab and get out of the country than a long con with a clean break.’
‘Until it led me to you,’ my shadow said quietly. ‘Still worth it?’
I sighed and pressed myself against the dirty brick.
‘Be honest,’ I said eventually. ‘It wasn’t the widow in Monaco, was it?’
After a moment, he slowly shook his head.
‘Melbourne,’ I nodded. ‘It was the buyer’s agent in Melbourne who gave me up.’
He shook his head again. My face must have betrayed how surprised I was, as a chuckle echoed its way down the alleyway towards me.
‘I thought you were smarter than this,’ he laughed. ‘I thought I’d been matching wits with my equal.’
‘I didn’t,’ I smirked. ‘But go on then – if not the so-called best buyer’s advocate to help buy a home in Armadale, then who?’
‘Isn’t it obvious?’
‘Clearly not,’ I frowned, starting to get annoyed. ‘Who led you to me?’
He took a deep breath, punctuating the aching silence.
‘Your mother,’ he said eventually. ‘Of course. Who else could it have been?’
The blood drained from my face, and I felt my knees buckle slightly.
‘That’s… that isn’t… I don’t believe you. She didn’t even know!’
‘Oh, Clementine, my friend,’ the policeman said, not-unkindly. ‘A mother always knows. A mother always knows.’