by Sarah Sky
“What is it?” Jamie mouthed, putting his hand on her shoulder.
“What happened?” Her tongue felt too thick and heavy for her mouth. She clenched her fist, screwing the photo of Margaret into a tight ball as Mrs Roberts continued breathlessly.
“Some maniac in a van mowed into Becky’s bike as she was riding to her play rehearsals. They didn’t stop. Can you believe that? Witnesses said the driver accelerated and deliberately aimed at her.”
Margaret. She’d got to Becky before Jessica could warn her.
“Can we come to the hospital?” Tears streamed down Jessica’s face. “I’m here with Jamie. We both want to be there when she comes out of surgery.”
“Thank you. Text me when you get to reception and I’ll give you directions to intensive care.”
She hung up and staggered to her feet. “We need to go. Becky’s hurt.”
Jamie hugged her close as she sobbed out the bare details of what had happened.
“This is my fault,” she said.
“How can it be? This has nothing to do with you.”
It had everything to do with her. This was Margaret’s revenge for giving evidence against her in court six months ago.
“Let’s go,” Jamie said. “We can hail a cab on the street. It’ll be quicker.”
Jessica nodded, brushing away her tears with the back of her hand. “Did Anne leave a mobile number, by any chance?” She rummaged in her handbag for a tissue. “I don’t think I have her up-to-date one.”
“No. But she did say she’d catch up with you soon.”
She followed him into the hallway. Margaret was coming for her. The last time she’d hurt someone close to her – Nathan – Jessica had sworn that she’d join Westwood so she could use all of MI6’s resources to bring her to justice. This time it’d be on her terms. She’d do whatever it took to catch Becky’s attacker, even if it meant breaking all of Westwood’s rules. She’d find Margaret herself.
This time Jessica would take her down for good.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’d like to thank the wonderful team at Scholastic, particularly my lovely editor, Helen Thomas, the press team, Rachel Phillips and David Sanger, and my patient desk editor, Pete Matthews. I’m extremely grateful to my former agents, Suzy Jenvey and Ajda Vucicevic and current agent, Sallyanne Sweeney, who have all loved Jessica Cole.
Thank you to the brilliant book bloggers on Twitter including Faye Rogers, Jim Dean, Lucy Powrie, Michelle Toy and Vivienne Dacosta and supportive fellow authors including Lindsay Antonia, Gary Meehan, Eve Ainsworth, Rachel Hamilton, Rachel Craw, Emma Haughton, Christina Banach, Lisa Glass and Helen Grant.
A special thank you to my mum who always reads my proofs, Darren who endlessly listens to my ideas for plot twists and a big hug for James and Luke. Finally a huge thank you to my wonderful readers who always make me want to come up with ever more exciting adventures for Jessica Cole.
Catwalk Criminal is Sarah Sky’s third novel in the JESSICA COLE: MODEL SPY series. Sarah is a freelance education journalist and a fan of martial arts. She is currently training for her black belt in karate after getting her brown belt/two white stripes and has a green belt in kick-boxing. She lives in London with her husband and two young children. She would have loved to become a spy but was never recruited by MI6. Or was she…?
@sarahsky23
Scholastic Children’s Books
An imprint of Scholastic Ltd
Euston House, 24 Eversholt Street
London, NW1 1DB, UK
Registered office: Westfield Road, Southam, Warwickshire, CV47 0RA
SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First published in the UK by Scholastic Ltd, 2015
This electronic edition published by Scholastic Ltd, 2015
Text copyright © Sarah Sky, 2015
The right of Sarah Sky to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her.
eISBN 978 1407 14563 1
A CIP catalogue record for this work is available from the British Library.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Scholastic Limited.
Produced in India by Quadrum
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
www.scholastic.co.uk
