`As long as that? They must have poked around a lot. I don't like it.'
`Then,' Lee continued, brushing her long mane of blonde hair, saw the fog coming upriver so decided I'd better hare back. Tweed and his friends were leaving, anyway. I nearly lost my way coming back up that bloody river.'
Did they see you?' Burgoyne snapped, indifferent to her problems.
`I don't think so. I stayed well back from them.'
`Thirty minutes at Moor's Landing,' Burgoyne repeated, jerking to a brief halt, then roaring round on to the main road. No, I don't like the sound of that at all. Tweed could ruin everything. He'll just have to be discouraged.'
`How?'
`I'll decide that,' he said grimly.
The fog had dispersed by the time Mordaunt brought the dinghy alongside the landing stage at Buckler's Hard. Paula jumped on to it before Mordaunt could offer his hand. To ease the tension out of her legs she left the others behind, crossed the catwalk, turned left along the river path and past the closed shop.
It was almost dark as she stood at the bottom of a wide gravel path leading uphill. On either side was a row of old terrace houses mounting steeply to the distant brow. They stood well back from a spacious grass verge. Mordaunt appeared beside her.
`I'd regard it as a great pleasure – for me – if you'd have lunch with me in London. Here's my card. Leave a message on the answer-phone if I'm out.'
`That's very kind of you. May I think about it?' `Think on…'
Mordaunt refused to accept any payment from Newman, even for the fuel. Thanking him, Newman hurried after the others. Tweed seemed to be in great haste to get away from Buckler's Hard.
`What's the rush?' Newman called over his shoulder as he drove the Mercedes uphill with Paula beside him. 'And Pete will be staying closer to us on the return trip in his Sierra. Doesn't want to lose us in the dark.'
`Stop the car,' Tweed said as they reached the top and turned on to the country road towards Beaulieu. want to listen.'
Newman signalled to Nield, stopped, switched off his engine. He looked at Tweed in his rear-view mirror. Tweed had lowered his window, sat with his head cocked to one side.
I thought so. I can hear that chopper again. Just taken to the air, I would suggest. After picking up whoever was watching us from the west bank with binoculars.'
`Does it matter?'
I advise you to drive very carefully from now on.'
9
Newman was heeding Tweed's warning, driving slowly down the steep winding hill close to the approaches to Beaulieu. His headlights showed up a road sign.
`Bunker's Hill,' said Paula, stifling a yawn. 'They got the name right.'
Tweed didn't take in what she'd said. Sitting in the left-hand seat he had his window lowered a few inches as Newman negotiated the dangerous turn, moving up another hill along the B3054 away from Beaulieu. Tweed again had his head cocked sideways, listening.
`Can't we shut that window?' pleaded Paula. 'Even with the heaters on it's freezing.'
`No, we can't. I sense danger. Please keep quiet…'
Paula sighed. Zipping her windcheater up to the collar, she closed her eyes, rested her head back, and went to sleep. Sitting next to Newman, the icy breeze played on her neck but she didn't notice it any more.
Ahead, their lights illuminated the lonely, hedge-lined road. They hadn't seen another vehicle since leaving Buckler's Hard. November, Newman was thinking. All the tourists gone. A heavy frost was forming. From the back of the car a hand reached over, shook Paula by the shoulder. She opened her eyes, blinked.
`What the hell is it now?'
You must stay awake, alert,' Tweed called out. `Thanks a lot.' Wearily she picked up the map. 'Where are we now?'
`We're approaching Hatchet Gate. It's just a handful of houses. If you remember, on the way out we passed that sheet of water by the roadside on our right – Hatchet Pond. Although it's quite large and more like a small lake.'
`Why did you wake me up?' Paula asked, studying the map.
`Because I can hear that chopper coming closer. It seems to be heading straight for us.'
`Just a chopper,' Paula commented. 'Incidentally, I see from the map we could take the left fork by Hatchet Pond and go back to Passford House via Boldre. It's a more direct route.'
`We'll try it then,' said Newman.
`It takes us across Beaulieu Heath,' Paula went on. 'I do remember that on the outward trip. It's very level and looks like a blasted heath, to quote Shakespeare, I think. Easier driving.'
That was when she heard what Tweed's acute ears had picked up. The steady egg-beater chug-chug of a helicopter. It sounded as though it was behind them and losing altitude rapidly. Worried, she woke up quickly. The chug-chug was a roar and now it sounded to be just above the roof of the car.
`What the devil is he playing at?' Newman snapped. `I don't think he's playing,' Tweed warned.
Newman rammed his foot down on the accelerator, swerved off the main road on to the left fork. As he did so the undercarriage of the chopper appeared just ahead of them. Paula stiffened. The damned thing was flying barely twenty feet above them.
Newman had just completed his swerve, was straightening up to drive along the road across the desolate moorland which showed up in his headlights. He also saw the so-called pond alongside the road to his right, stretching away for some distance. He was still moving fast, trying to out-race the crazy pilot.
`Brace yourselves…'
It was the only warning he had time to shout. Paula pressed her back into the seat, her feet against the front of the car. In the back Tweed took similar precautions, grabbing hold of the overhead handle. Newman braked furiously, bringing the Mercedes to a teeth-rattling emergency stop. He was jerked forward but held on to the wheel.
The chopper had dropped a projectile which hit the road in front of them and burst. By the lakeside another lake had spread – covering a large area of the road surface from verge to verge. In the glow of the headlights a dense dark glutinous liquid gleamed with a sinister reflection.
`Oil,' Newman said, releasing his seat-belt. 'If we'd hit that at the speed I was moving at we'd have ended up in Hatchet Pond. And we had heavy rain a few days back, so it's probably deep..
Behind them Nield, who had been driving at a proper distance from them, slowed, stopped, leapt out of his car. He hoisted the Walther he was gripping with two hands to aim at the helicopter, then lowered it without firing. All the passengers in the Mercedes walked towards him.
`No good,' Nield told them. 'It was out of range. You could have drowned.'
`I'm sure that was the idea,' Tweed agreed mildly.
`I'm going over to that house,' Newman said. 'Someone should inform the police about the mess in the road – or the wrong people could have a fatal accident…'
He returned quickly, carrying an illuminated hurricane lamp. By his side walked an old stooped man with a bushy moustache, carrying another lamp.
`We were lucky,' Newman called out. 'And Mr Harmer here is going to call the police when we've got these warning lamps in position.'
`I'll take mine other side of the slick,' Harmer said.
He walked on the grass verge, well clear of the seeping oil, placed his lamp on the far side of the oil lake. Newman had backed his car and placed his own lamp as the old boy returned.
`Spillage from some oil truck, I suppose,' Newman remarked before the others could speak.
`Come past my 'ouse like express trains,' grumbled Harmer. 'Where are you bound for? You won't get past
