‘Shit, let me finish up and I’ll be back in half an hour.’
I hung up and rejoined Lucas outside. He was crouched over the trailer with a camera in hand.
‘Steve says he’ll be back in thirty minutes.’
Lucas frowned.
‘Sorry.’
‘I’ll give him thirty minutes. I’ll let you know when I’m through.’
I didn’t like leaving Lucas unsupervised. He didn’t exactly have my best interests at heart. ‘I’ll stick around if that’s OK.’
Lucas went back to taking photos. ‘Suit yourself.’
He spent the next fifteen minutes taking pictures and making notes. When he was finished, he stood and checked his watch, then looked at me.
‘Find anything?’ I asked. ‘Any signs of recent repairs?’
‘No. The trailer is clean.’
‘So I couldn’t have run her off the road.’
‘I haven’t seen the van yet.’
‘You won’t find anything there either.’
‘The victim could have overreacted to an aggressive manoeuvre you made.’
The word victim grated against my skin. ‘I thought you said she claims I crashed into her.’
‘She may have thought that, but after the bang on the head she took and crash she endured, I doubt she was aware of a lot that happened.’
‘It looks as if you’ve made up your mind regardless of the evidence and my statement.’ I put my hands together and held them out. ‘You’d better take me in.’
Lucas looked at my outstretched hands and frowned. ‘If there’s an arrest to be made, I’ll decide when it’ll be made.’
‘We pissed off a lot of people that day. They should remember the incident. Have you asked for witnesses?’
‘If that proves necessary, it will be done. You know what the shame of this is? It was her new car.’
‘New?’
Lucas jerked a thumb at my Accord. ‘OK, it wasn’t new-new like yours, but not everyone is as lucky as you. It was new to her. She’d had the car just two days before the crash.’
I found that interesting. Another milestone to be added to the timeline.
My mobile rang. It was Steve.
‘You need to pick me up, son. Some prick nicked the Transit.’
‘Shit,’ I murmured. This looked bad. Actually, worse than bad. ‘I’ll get over there as soon as I can,’ I said and hung up.
Lucas crossed his arms across his chest. ‘Problem?’ he asked.
‘I’d like to file a police report on a stolen van.’
Lucas’ look of disapproval said everything.
Lap Twenty-Four
‘It’s going to be OK,’ Dylan said for the third time.
We were driving to Ragged Racing. Today was the day I had to deliver the sponsor’s tuned-up Honda Accord to Germany. We’d spent the drive to Banbury discussing the significance of someone stealing Steve’s van. Dylan saw the theft as a potentially good thing.
‘Without the van, the cops can’t prove the case one way or the other.’
While that was true, the van’s disappearance didn’t look good to Sergeant Lucas. It appeared as if we’d stage-managed the van’s theft to prevent it from being examined. Without it, there was nothing left to investigate and it was put up or shut up time for the police. I had the feeling I’d be returning home from this trip to find charges filed against me.
We arrived at Ragged at six a.m. as instructed and found Rags stooped over the engine bay of the car I was to deliver. He had the engine plugged into his laptop.
‘Everything OK?’ I asked.
Rags unplugged the laptop and dropped the bonnet. ‘Just making sure everything is perfect.’
I hoped that was all he was doing. After Barrington’s revelations of drug smuggling, I wasn’t sure what I thought of Rags now.
He looked me over. ‘I like that you remembered to dress up.’
I’d put on a Ragged Racing polo shirt. If I was meeting a sponsor, then I had to make a good impression.
Rags jerked a thumb at Dylan. ‘He dropping you off?’
I wasn’t sure if I should read anything into that reaction. Did Rags want me to do this delivery alone for a reason? God, I was getting paranoid. It wasn’t surprising with all the puppet masters pulling my strings.
‘Germany is a long way. I thought it would be good to have a co-pilot,’ I said.
This wasn’t strictly true. Yes, the drive would take all day, but I was a little tired of getting ambushed by everyone and their brother so I wanted someone as a witness and backup. Dylan had seen the situation a little differently when I mentioned my logic. He’d said, ‘Great, I get to be your red shirt.’ It was a joke that cut to the quick. I had put Dylan in harm’s way before, and his unquestioning loyalty had saved my life.
‘Good thinking,’ Rags said, although he didn’t sound convinced. ‘But those five hundred euros will have to cover expenses for the both of you. Just be back by Monday. Your mate’s got a new job to start.’
‘No worries,’ I said, knowing the money was unlikely to stretch to two airline tickets. We’d more than likely be returning by rail.
‘All right, then. Get on with it and for God’s sake, don’t pick up any speeding tickets.’
‘Hey, I’m a professional,’ I said with a good amount of bravado.
That got me an eye roll and the flicker of a smile from Rags. Maybe I was winning him over.
He walked in the direction of his office and tossed a parting comment over his shoulder. ‘Let me know when you get there.’
I elected to drive the first leg and got behind the wheel. Dylan fed the sponsor’s address in the sat nav. At this time of morning, traffic was light and I kept my foot down. I wanted this car delivered and out of my life as soon as possible.
As soon as we were on the road, I called Barrington. My call didn’t seem to have awakened him. Maybe he didn’t sleep.
I’d clued Barrington in on this run to Germany the second after Rags had assigned it to me at the workshop earlier in the week. I’d felt Barrington’s excitement over the line. He had a plan in place, but Barrington being Barrington, he hadn’t bothered to share any of the details other than I’d be meeting his undercover officer en route.
‘We’re on the move,’ I said. ‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Drive to Dover and take the nine o’clock ferry.’
‘We were going to take to the Channel Tunnel.’
‘Not anymore you’re not. Take the ferry and my undercover agent will brief you.’
‘That’ll slow us down.’
‘Aidy, please do as you’re told. Be on that boat and wait in the restaurant. Your handler will contact you.’
I really was bought and paid for. ‘Is there a password?’
‘Cute,’ he said and hung up.
We arrived in Dover just in time to catch the nine o’clock ferry. I got in line for passport control.
‘I’m actually enjoying this. Foreign travel. Fresh opportunities,’ Dylan said.
I felt the opposite way. As we inched closer to the head of the line, my stomach churned. I’d put both of us at the mercy of others. I was operating on the assumption that everyone was playing straight with me. I was going on Rags’ word that this delivery run was on the up and up and I wasn’t playing mule in some drug trafficking scheme. I was going on Barrington’s word that he wanted me to deliver the car to Germany. This ferry ride could all be part of some elaborate portside arrest. I’d be a fool to believe Barrington was my friend in all this. The tosser had already tried to fit me up once. There was nothing to say he wouldn’t do it again, especially if this car was packed with drugs. I was at the wheel of a ticking time bomb and I couldn’t see the clock.
‘Just remember why we’re doing this,’ I said.