Free Each Day I Wake: A gripping psychological thriller: US Edition by Seb Kirby Page A

didn’t know her?”
    “Could be any woman. Men have any number of photos of beautiful woman on their computers.”
    “Not this one. She’s Irish, like me. Three years older than me. Raven black hair. Shining bright, brown eyes. She’s wearing a pearl necklace. It’s unusual. Every fifth pearl is a black pearl. There can’t be many necklaces like that.”
    Montague’s eyes narrowed as he heard the description. “You want to tell me why she’s important to you?”
    “I’d rather you told me her name.”
    Montague leaned further forward, staring at Brogan as if he was looking at him for the first time. “You’re her brother, aren’t you? I can see the resemblance.”
    “So you do know who she is?”
    Montague brought his computer back to life and, after a few clicks of the mouse, brought onto the screen the image that Brogan had seen the week before. “Is this her?”
    Brogan stood and looked over Montague’s shoulder. “That’s her. That’s my sister. You know her name?”
    “She’s Stella DaSilva.”
    “You know where I can find her?”
    Montague nodded.
    Brogan could feel the optimism that he would again find his sister burning through him. But he knew enough to suspect that this might be yet another cruel building of hope about to be dashed. “So tell me where she is.”
    “There’s the small matter of what happened in this office last week and that piece of evidence you have.”
    So, as Brogan had predicted, there was no avoiding the matter of trust. Montague was a man whose reputation had been well-earned, they said. A man who would cheat and lie to secure any advantage while claiming that all he was doing was playing by the rules of the game. Brogan struggled to fight back the feeling that all along Montague was indeed his superior and that he would find a way to outmaneuver him.
    He recalled all he’d been through since being separated from his sister and decided this was no time to lose faith in himself. Instead, it was time to raise the stakes. “I’ll give you what I have if you tell me where to find her.”
    Montague could not hide a sneer. “You’re expecting me to trust you?”
    “Yes, and the fact that I could hand over what I have to the police.”
    “I could just report you.”
    “And there’s the trade.”
    There was a long pause as Montague assessed the odds. When he began again drumming his fingers on the desktop, Brogan knew he’d called the man’s bluff. “I just need to know where she is.”
    Montague opened a desk drawer, removed a business card and handed it over. “She’s here in London.”
    Brogan studied the card.
    Stella DaSilva - Diamond Escorts.
    Beneath the name, a phone number.
    Montague held out his hand. “Now, give me what you have.”
    Brogan knew it was time to honest. “I don’t have any evidence, as such. I just needed to find my sister.”
    Montague’s eyes flamed. “You’re playing a very dangerous game, Mr. Brogan. What’s to stop me getting you fired?”
    “For what? For telling you there was an intruder in your office?”
    “For not following procedure and not reporting a serious security breach.”
    “And not bringing in the police. I don’t think so.”
    Montague’s eyes moved left and then right. “You know I have friends who won’t like to hear you didn’t keep your word with me?”
    Brogan suspected that he had been successful enough in reducing Montague’s expectations that what little he had would now suffice. “I don’t have anything to identify the culprit, but I have a list.”
    Brogan explained that the intruder must have been one of the overnight stayers since no one had trespassed into the building that night. “The culprit is one of those on the list I made when I did my rounds. I think I have them all. You should be able to find out who it was.”
    There was almost a note of admiration in Montague’s voice as he accepted the list. “You’ve taken quite a risk, Mr. Brogan. But at least you’ve delivered