‘She’s fine. We’re… we’re both fine.’
‘Good.’
Silence.
‘Look… d’you want me to come and get you?’
Silence. Phil could hear the world turning through the phone but not Marina.
‘OK,’ she said eventually.
He exhaled, not realising he had been holding his breath waiting for her answer. ‘Good.’ He looked at his watch. Weighed things in his head. ‘I’ll be right up.’
He heard her gasp. ‘Aren’t you in the middle of a murder inquiry? You can’t just… just leave everything and run off.’
‘You did.’
Silence. Phil thought he had lost her again.
‘OK. But we need to talk.’
‘I’ll be right up.’
He hung up, got in the Audi.
‘Yeah,’ he said aloud. ‘They can do without me here for a couple of hours.’
Still smiling, Doves coming out of the stereo, he headed off to Bury St Edmunds.
75
Suzanne heard more tearing, more creaking.
‘What’s happening?’ she said. ‘What are you doing now?’
‘Just… a bit… more…’
Julie had been working away. Suzanne didn’t know exactly what at, just that she said there was a way out and she was trying to do it. The tearing noise was the same as the one she had heard when she was let out of the box earlier. Suzanne was terrified. If their captors came back when she was trying to escape, she didn’t know what they would do to her. Didn’t even want to think about it. Didn’t dare.
‘I can see… daylight. It’s day outside.’
Suzanne felt her heart beating faster. That forbidden emotion, hope, welling up inside her. Daylight. And Julie nearly out. And once Julie was out, she could help Suzanne out and then they would both be free. She found herself smiling uncontrollably at the thought.
The noise stopped. Suzanne could hear her own breathing once more, feel her heart beating so fast it threatened to leave her body. She almost didn’t dare speak. Almost.
‘What’s… what are you doing now?’
Silence.
‘Julie? You there?’
‘I’m here.’
Relief flooded through Suzanne.
‘I’ve got the bottom of the box open. I don’t think they closed it properly when they let us out. It’s a bit… bit tight, but… if I can just, just… wriggle down…’
Suzanne listened, heart in her mouth. ‘Keep talking, Julie. Keep telling me what’s happening…’
More tearing and creaking.
Then silence.
‘Julie…’
Suzanne heard a sigh.
‘I’ve done it.’ She laughed, disbelieving. ‘Suzanne, I’ve done it…’
‘Brilliant! Yes!’
‘Yeah, now all I’ve got to do is…’
And then she screamed. Julie screamed, loud and long and hard.
Suzanne’s eyes were wide, staring. ‘Julie…’ She tried to block the noise, cover her ears with her hands but couldn’t manage it. So she had no choice but to listen.
‘No, Julie…’
The screaming died away.
Silence.
‘Julie… Julie…’
Nothing.
‘Julie…’
No response.
‘Oh God, oh God…’
Suzanne started sobbing. Hope. That bastard emotion hope. Suzanne kept sobbing.
Feared she would never stop.
PART FOUR
76
Brasserie Gerard was a French restaurant on the corner of Lower Baxter Street and Abbeygate Street in the old English town of Bury St Edmunds. Sunny, airy and light inside, it had a courtyard-like quality where a spring or summer’s lunchtime meal could easily slip into a leisurely afternoon of French hors d’oeuvres, good company and plenty of wine. How Phil wished he could be doing that right now. He imagined Marina felt the same.
They sat opposite each other, more distance between them than just the restaurant table. Both eyeing each other nervously, trying to smile, not sure whether to touch or not touch. Two tightrope walkers trying to keep their balance.
This is ridiculous, thought Phil. I should be at work, on the case. I shouldn’t be here, pulling a domestic. Then he looked at Marina, her perfect, dark features, her beautiful face, and their daughter lying asleep in her buggy at the side of the table, arms up, perfectly contented. And he knew why he had come.
‘You’re looking well,’ he said.
‘I look about as good as you do.’ Marina managed a smile, concern in her eyes. ‘But it’s nice of you to say so.’
She did look well, he thought. Yes, there was fear and worry etched in all her features but she still looked good. She always looked good to Phil.
Marina looked away, down at her menu. Wavering, her balance going. She sighed. ‘This is a bad idea. Maybe we should do this later.’
Phil kept his eyes on her. ‘Marina, if we don’t do this now, there may not be a later.’
She sighed once more, looked down at the table. The waitress chose that moment to arrive. Phil was about to wave her away but Marina was already ordering herself sea bass with a spinach and tomato salad. He quickly scanned the menu, ordered the first thing his eye rested on, the duck. And a large bottle of water. The waitress disappeared once more, leaving them alone with their silence.
Phil waited.
‘There’s… something between us,’ Marina said eventually. ‘Or, rather, someone.’
Phil forced an intake of breath to his body, steeled himself. He had imagined everything he could think of on the
