‘luv u 2. cu 2morrow. xoxo’
Nina grinned. Nothing to worry about there.
She was standing up to see what was happening with the phone when a door slammed shut in the passage and Paul careered into the living room, his face deathly pale and a sheen of sweat on his brow. Nina jumped back.
‘Paul! What’s happ- ?’
He grabbed her arm. ‘Quick! We have to go, now, bring the bag! That was the police on the phone – there’s a bomb hidden here!’
Nina’s legs began to shake. ‘Shit – no – what – ’
‘Come on, Nina!’
He was pulling her towards the door, and Nina grabbed the sports bag and her handbag and ran with him out to his car.
‘Sabine!’ she yelled over her shoulder.
‘She’s still on the phone. It was her police-boss who called. I knew she wasn’t really your friend, by the way. I wish you’d trusted me with the truth.’
Nina’s stomach lurched as she saw the hurt expression on his face. He propelled her into his car and she flung both bags on the back seat.
‘Paul, I’m sorry. They said not to tell anyone, not even family. Shouldn’t we wait for Sabine?’
He shook his head, pulling away from the kerb and gunning the car towards the main road. ‘She has to join her boss.’
Nina scrabbled for the seat belt. Would this affect the plan for tonight? And what would the police do about the bomb? ‘Where are we going?’
Paul’s voice was shaking. ‘He said to get well away for a while. They’ll be in touch. We’ll go to mine.’
They stopped at the traffic lights and Nina sat consciously relaxing her clenched fists. Thank God they’d got away safely. Paul turned into the High Street, and Nina looked out at people wandering along the pavement, on the way to the pub, maybe, or the cinema. Lucky ordinary people. She couldn’t hear anything, but the police must be blue-lighting to the house right this minute. Was there a bomb disposal unit on standby in a small place like Bedford? And actually, going to Paul’s might not be the best idea.
‘Paul, let’s go to Cassie Harrison’s,’ she suggested. It would be so great to be with Naomi again at last.
Paul pushed the car into gear as the lights changed and swung round the corner away from the High Street.
‘You don’t want to lead anyone who might be following us straight to Naomi, do you?’
His voice was grim, and Nina winced. He was right, they didn’t know what kind of people they were dealing with here. David Mallony thought only one person was involved – possibly George Wright – but of course there was no certainty about that.
Nina shivered. George Wright and bombs didn’t seem to go together, in fact it was difficult to understand why anyone would want to bomb John Moore’s house. Or – was she the target, not the house? Her and the money? Bloody hell, how improbable that sounded… and the blackmailer wouldn’t risk blowing up the money… Of course he might have counted on her leaving and taking it with her – and that was exactly what she’d done. Shit, maybe he was trailing the car. She turned in her seat to see out the back window, but everything looked quite normal.
A road sign indicating Cambridge loomed up and Nina gaped at it. A sense of direction wasn’t her strong point, but she did know that Cambridge was in the opposite direction to Newport Pagnell.
‘I thought we were going to your place?’
‘We are. This is a short cut to the best road there,’ said Paul, his eyes fixed on the traffic, and Nina gave up. He must be as stressed by the developments as she was. She turned back to the window. They were still in Bedford, driving past old houses now, each much closer to its neighbour than was usual nowadays.
Neighbours… The police must have warned everyone in the street, but she hadn’t seen any neighbours when she and Paul sped away from the house. But if people were told ‘there’s a bomb in the house next door’, they wouldn’t spend too much time gathering stuff together before leaving the building, would they? And – there were still no sirens to be heard, no police cars rushing to the scene, no fire engines… And had the police warned everyone by phone? Was that standard procedure?
She glanced at Paul. His face was pale, but there was a determined set to his chin that hadn’t been there before. He caught her eye and his jaw tightened. Nina felt her gut spasm. Something wasn’t right. Shit. What was Paul doing? She turned again to see out the back window – still no sign of police activity. Her stomach cramped as a new, horrifying thought entered her head.
David Mallony wouldn’t have called on the house phone. The police had radios to contact each other, and even if these hadn’t been working for some reason, Sabine had a mobile. Paul had lied about that phone call. Sweat broke out on Nina’s forehead – what the hell was going on here?
The car slowed down to swing round a corner, then headed east of town. They weren’t going to Newport Pagnell, so much was clear.
‘Paul, what’s going on?’ she managed, her voice shaking.
This man was her relation, she had trusted him, more than that; she’d been glad to find him in the horrible mess of her father’s paedophilia and her mother’s lie. She’d thought of Paul as a victim, like she was. Now she didn’t know what to think.
He blinked across at her, and she saw both pity and determination on his face.
‘I’m sorry, Nina. This wasn’t what I wanted, but you left me no choice.’
‘What do you mean? Paul, talk to me!’
He didn’t answer. Nina balled her hands. This was her cousin and she’d trusted him… and now he was taking her somewhere and she didn’t want to go.
‘I want to get out, Paul. Stop the car, please.’
He gave her a little smile. ‘Nina, Nina, it’s all right. Don’t worry. We’ll get things sorted.’
Nina felt panic rising within her. She grabbed Paul’s arm. ‘Stop! Let me out!’
He shoved her away and the car swerved across the road, narrowly missing a lamp post as it mounted the central island and then thumped back down on the road. A van going in the opposite direction blasted its horn. Nina shrank back in her seat, shivering so hard her teeth were chattering. Hell, she couldn’t make him stop the car, and starting a physical fight over the handbrake would be suicide.
They were driving round a run-down district now, and terraced houses lined identical streets. Few people were about. Nina swallowed. She was tensing herself to jump out and run for it at the next corner when Paul pulled up behind a solitary car parked at the roadside, and grabbed her forearm.
Nina could see determination and fear in the brown eyes fixed on her own . ‘We’re going to get out of this car and into the one in front. We’ll do it quickly and very calmly, Nina. I’ve got a gun.’
Nina gaped at him, her gut cramping. Sam had been right – she didn’t know Paul. The sweet, shy man she’d been so taken with was… it was odd, he wasn’t quite gone because she could still see him in there, but he was somehow stuck behind another Paul, and this one was a stranger.
Fear made her voice shake. ‘Paul – what are you doing? Let me get back to Naomi, please!’
He scrabbled in the glove compartment with his free hand and she recoiled in fright, dizzy with relief when he produced another car key. Dear God, had she really expected him to bring out a gun? Did he have one?
‘Do as you’re told, Nina. We’ll talk later, I promise.’
He grabbed the bag of fake money from the back seat and strode round to her side of the vehicle, gripping her arm again as soon as the door was open. Nina’s legs were shaking so hard she could barely remain upright as he hurried her towards the other car. She moaned inwardly. Her handbag – with her mobile – was on the back seat of the first car. Without that she was ten times more helpless. Shit, she was being abducted and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. Half a minute later they were driving away from the terraced houses.