The Liberation of Alice Love(70)
Author: Abby McDonald

Flora’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Sure.” Alice smiled, glad she’d suggested it. Time away together would, perhaps, encourage Flora to open up. Plus, her trademark innocence might be a useful tool when it came to investigating Ella’s past. “It could be fun.”

Flora hopped down from the wall. “What are we waiting for?” she exclaimed. “Let’s get on the road straight away. I’ll drive, and you book the hotel, and—”

“Whoa! Aren’t you forgetting something,” Alice grabbed her arm. “Your opening? The room full of people gushing over your life’s work?”

Flora bit her lip. “I’m sure they wouldn’t miss me. I’ve said hi to everyone there at least twice already.”

Alice frowned. “Flora, are you sure you’re all right?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Alice paused, noting the defiant angle of her chin. Flora clearly wasn’t in the mood for sharing now. “No, never mind.” She managed a smile, linking her arm through Flora’s as they began to walk back toward the gallery. “The investigation can wait, one night at least. Let’s get you back to your adoring fans.”

Chapter Twenty-four

They set off the next morning, equipped with five emergency-breakdown numbers and what seemed to be the entire contents of Marks and Spencer’s snack food section.

“So you think this Kate Jackson woman is really Ella?” Flora curled up in the passenger seat, slurping on a carton of juice. They were just emerging from the traffic of London onto the wide swaths of motorway that would take them to Bath.

Alice paused, careful to keep her eyes on the road. “I’m not sure. She did everything she could to cover her tracks after she left, but I’m hoping she wasn’t so careful, before.”

A person just didn’t emerge from the womb a criminal mastermind: they had to learn it. And along the way, Alice hoped, they made some mistakes.

“I still can’t believe you have to do all this yourself.” Flora made a face. “Can’t the police run, like, DNA tests or something?”

Alice grinned. “She’s not a murderer.”

“You don’t know that. She could be anything!”

“No.” Alice shook her head firmly. “I know her, she’s not that kind of person. And even what she stole from me—it was only what could be replaced. She doesn’t do this to hurt people.”

There was silence, and when Alice glanced over, she found Flora watching her with curiosity. “What?”

“You don’t even sound angry,” Flora said slowly.

“I’m not. Well, I was at first,” Alice admitted, carefully checking the rearview mirror before merging into another lane. “But what was the damage, after everything? The bank’s refunded my money, the credit card debt is being written off. And…” She’d been about to mention Safe Haven and all the good Ella’s donation was doing over there but caught herself just in time. Instead, she said vaguely, “And, perhaps she did something worthwhile with it, after all.”

“That’s very…Zen,” Flora said dubiously.

Alice smiled. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m sorry about all the inconvenience it caused for you, and Stefan, and everyone, but…” She shrugged. “She didn’t leave me any worse off, in the end.”

“But didn’t someone have to pay?” Flora asked. “Money can’t just appear, right?”

“So some multibillion-pound banking corporations had to eat into their profits.” Alice remarked with a grin, “Let’s all take a moment to weep.”

Flora giggled. “Alice!”

“What? You know it’s true.”

“I know, it’s just…Where did this come from?” Flora looked at her, clearly taken aback. “You’ve always been the one going on about rules and doing the right thing.”

“You make me sound so exciting,” Alice remarked drily.

Flora giggled again. “No, it’s good. I think. You seem…happier now.”

“See?” Alice flashed her a grin. “This mess hasn’t done me any harm at all.”

Perhaps Ella had even planned it that way.

***

When they were nearing the outskirts of the city, Alice had Flora call ahead to the first victim and set up a brief chat. Illana Mayers still lived at that same address as before and would be happy to talk to them. Soon, they were turning up Elmwood Avenue: the former home of one Miss Kate Jackson.

Flora climbed out of the car, looking around eagerly, but her face quickly settled into a more bemused expression. “It doesn’t look like a hotbed of fraud and deception…”

Alice had to agree. The suburban street was quiet, leafy, and entirely unremarkable. Semidetached houses lined the road, divided by hedges and freshly painted fences, and although there wasn’t anything as idyllic as children playing freely in the street, there were enough toys scattered in front gardens and bicycles leaning against garage doors to prove the area a family-friendly zone.

“Why would Ella bother living somewhere like this?” Flora followed her up the road. “It’s miles out of the city center.”

“I don’t know…” Alice looked around, trying to put herself in Ella’s mind-set again. By now, it was simple. “Maybe she wanted the peace and quiet. Or maybe she just figured people around here wouldn’t be shredding all their important documents.”

“Weird.” Flora shrugged. “I mean, what does she do—just pick a place, and show up, and start stalking people?”

“Not stalking,” Alice corrected. “Watching.”

“Like there’s a difference.”

The address from Nathan’s file was near the top of the road: a large Victorian with gravel in the front yard and four buzzers lined up beside the door, marking the separate flats. Alice tested the door before calling up, but it was firmly locked, no doubt an aftereffect of the fraud. Sure enough, when Illana buzzed them in, there was a pile of letters jumbled on the doormat and a simple hall table for post and other deliveries: an invitation for theft and mail tampering if ever she saw. No security cameras either, of course, and she would bet that the residents didn’t know each other well enough to guess if that nondescript woman slipping in behind them was a friend dropping by or an imposter set on stealing their life savings.