The man shrugged, his over-developed trapezius muscles hunching up and then down again. ‘The woman at the cab firm tells me where to go and who to collect.’ He clearly thought that was explanation enough because he said nothing further.
At the car, the man looked to see if Victor had any luggage. ‘No bags?’
‘Just me,’ said Victor, now wracking his brains to work out why the man looked familiar. ‘I work in the Clanger Café. Do you go in there very often?’
The taxi driver held the rear door open for Victor to get in and hit him with a broad smile. ‘Cor, yeah. I love a clanger. I think my favourite is the curry one with the mango dessert at the other end. Ooh, you’re making me hungry now.’
A smile split Victor’s face as he got into the back of the cab. The man had given him a satisfactory answer as to why he looked so familiar, but something in his head wanted to insist there was another reason his face stood out.
In the driver’s seat, Francis turned the key. It had been even easier than he could have dared to dream. He even enjoyed acting the part of clanger lover, improvising on the spot to convince his first target. With Victor Harris secure on the back seat – where he had already activated the child-locks and window lockouts to ensure he could not escape – he could drive him to the edge of town and get his phone. With that, because he felt sure the two targets were communicating with each other, he could lure the old man away from his dog. It was only late morning, his work was fifty percent done, and he could almost count the million pounds he would get when he delivered them both to the earl.
Looking out of the window, Victor shook his head. This wasn’t the way to the police station. He opened his mouth to say something but that was when it hit him. The taxi driver wasn’t lying about coming into the café; he’d sat by the window for hours a few days ago. Victor could remember the staff talking about it because there were two of them, one wearing what was almost an army uniform and the other … his eyes snapped up to look at the driver via his rear-view mirror. He hadn’t seen him last night, but he was the man sat in the café with the attacker he did get to see.
Francis felt as much as saw his target stiffen and reacted by flooring the accelerator. They were coming out of the residential area anyway. He’d been made, but it didn’t matter. He was always going to have to reveal himself to get the job done and now it was time to put his hardware purchases to good use.
Bluff
Albert left the dogs under the table when he shuffled off to use the gents. It was a risky thing to do because he knew Rex could easily drag the table his lead was hooked around clear across the café if he chose to.
Mercifully, neither dog had moved a muscle in the time he was gone. They appeared to be in some kind of food coma and, when he looked, it appeared they both had rather full and contented bellies.
‘I guess you didn’t need breakfast, after all,’ he commented to himself. With a mental note to give Rex a lighter portion of food for the next few meals and abstain from offering him treats in the pub, Albert wondered if he should wait at the café or take a wander back to his accommodation at the pub.
Time was beginning to slip away from him and that created a new problem. He would be dissatisfied if he failed to clear Kate’s name and identify the real killers, but he was due to meet Gary in York just twenty-four hours from now. If he didn’t leave tomorrow morning after breakfast, his son would find himself there alone. It would be unfair to cancel and unfair to not be there waiting, but how could he leave when he suspected the remaining one of the pair who tried to snatch Victor last night was still in town? The only reason for the would-be kidnapper to still be here was to make another attempt and that made no sense at all.
It was about the hundredth time he’d gone around the same conundrum.
Putting his phone away, he decided to wander across to the police station. It wasn’t all that far to go, and he could leave a message for DS Craig plus check to see if Victor had finished giving his statement. He’d been sitting in the café for hours …
The sudden flash of information made Albert jerk in shock. He only caught a brief glimpse of the men last night. They were both framed in the light coming from the inside of the van. With the rain lashing down, it had been about the only illumination in the dark courtyard, but it was enough to give Albert an impression of their faces. Only now had his spotty memory provided a link to where he had seen them before. He hadn’t even realised that he had until now, but they were at the table by the door two days ago when the police came in to arrest Kate. He’d even spoken to them because Rex found a crumb of something under their table.
One of them was dead; the smartly dressed one, Albert thought. Which meant the one wearing army clothes was still at large. Maybe Albert would be able to help a composite artist create an image. He closed his eyes and thought about the man’s features, but his concentration was interrupted by his phone beeping.
He had a text message from Victor.
Thumbing the button to show him the message, he then had to
