She frowned, then shrugged. ‘Sure.’

She pressed the button to unlock the main entrance door of the apartment block to let him in and wondered why he wanted to come up.

66

When she opened the front door of her flat, Dale’s eyes almost popped out of his head.

‘Holy crap, Bailey, you look amazing.’

She squirmed bashfully under his gaze, then gave him a reciprocal once-over.

‘You brush up pretty good yourself,’ she said.

He had clearly made an effort as well, with a grey herringbone blazer jacket, a button-down sky-blue shirt, dark-wash indigo jeans and a pair of tan loafers. And he seemed to have done something to his blonde hair to make it look even more lustrous than normal.

‘Why did you want to come up?’ she asked.

‘Do you mind if I quickly use your bathroom?’

‘Oh.’

He smiled sheepishly. ‘I drank way too much coffee today. Guess I should have gone before I left, but I didn’t want to be late.’

‘Sure,’ she said with a smile and a small roll of her eyes.

She waited in the hallway as he dashed inside. Glancing in the gold-framed mirror hanging there, she examined herself one last time, preening slightly, delighted at his response to her appearance. A short while later, she heard the toilet flush, and he reappeared.

‘Sorry,’ he said with an apologetic grin. ‘Right, let’s rock.’

They took the lift downstairs and went outside to his car, which was parked just in front of the building. The door handles of the dark metallic Tesla popped out automatically as they approached. He stepped forward with a gentlemanly flourish to open the passenger door for her.

She got in and settled into the spacious seat. The car had a sleek black interior with ash-wood panelling, cream-coloured seats and a glass roof.

Dale climbed into the driver’s seat and as he did so she caught a tantalising whiff of his cologne – hints of sandalwood and cinnamon if she wasn’t mistaken.

‘I don’t think I fully appreciated your car the last time I was in it,’ she murmured, glancing around, admiring the minimalist hi-tech design.

‘You had bigger things on your mind, as I recall,’ he said, tapping on the large touchscreen which dominated the dashboard, bringing up a route map.

‘So where is this restaurant?’ she asked.

‘It’s a little out of the way,’ he said. ‘Just on the edge of Epping Forest. We should be there in about half an hour or so.’

He pulled away smoothly from the kerb and she relaxed back into the comfortable seat, glad to be driven for once, marvelling at how quiet the electric engine was compared to a normal car.

He drove confidently, with the self-assurance of someone experienced in commanding patrol cars at high speed, deftly weaving through the evening traffic, keeping just within the speed limit, knowing exactly which parts of the road to use.

As they pulled onto the dual carriageway, he tapped the touchscreen again and music flooded the car. It was Berlin’s ‘Take My Breath Away’. She turned her head to him with a smile and he gave her a wink. He had her down when it came to music.