‘It’s me, Gil.’ Her voice crackles through the intercom.
I sigh. ‘Gil, can’t this wait until tomorrow? I’m exhausted, and Joel has just fallen asleep.’
‘No, Daniel, it can’t,’ she retorts.
I hit the button to let her in. When I open my door I’m met by Gil and Nicola. Their faces are pale, and their eyes are red and swollen.
What the hell?
Nicola shoots me a guarded look. It’s obvious she’s not thrilled to be here.
‘What do you want, Gil?’ I ask, masking my annoyance.
‘We need to talk,’ Gil says, pushing past me into the apartment. Nicola follows, avoiding my eyes.
‘Why don’t you come in?’ I say sarcastically. ‘And talk aboutwhat?’ I demand, closing the door behind them. ‘Don’t wake up Joel. I’ve only just got him to sleep.’
‘He’s at the end of the hall,’ Gil says.
It’s almost as if she’s trying to pick a fight. I’m starting to get a bad feeling about all this.
‘Gil, what’s going on?’
Heat creeps into her face. At that moment, the buzzer sounds again, and she and Nicola exchange anxious glances.
‘We called the police,’ Gil says flatly.
Anger thunders through me. ‘You didwhat?’ I’m trembling with rage now. How dare they? ‘You went behind my back, Gil. You promised me.’
Gil lowers her head. ‘It’s the right thing,’ says Nicola.
I turn on her, now. ‘As for you, you’re fired,’ I shout.
Gil gets up and buzzes the police in. At that moment, I want to throttle her.
A man and woman stand at my front door, and I’m relieved to see that they’re both in plain clothes, not uniform.
‘Good evening, Mr Neal. I’m DI Burrow, and this is DS Blackford. May we come in?’
I open the door for them and they come into the flat.
‘Mr Neal. I won’t beat around the bush. We have reason to believe that your wife has been kidnapped. I’ve worked on hundreds of kidnap cases, and I hate to tell you this, but once they’ve got your money, they’ll just keep pushing you for more. There are numerous potential mistakes that could put your wife at risk. If there is more than one kidnapper, then one could accidentally let another’s name slip. Your wife may try to escape and be fatally wounded. She might see her kidnapper’s face. All of these reasons and more are why they may never let her go, which leaves them with only one option.’
I feel my shoulders tensing. Nicola and Gil are looking at me.
‘Is she on any medication?’ asks DS Blackford.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. My wife is in France,’ I say. ‘She’s at a medical conference.’
Gil lets out a long sigh and looks like she is about to cry. DI Burrow pulls a pen from his jacket pocket and opens a notepad. ‘Where is the conference?’ he asks.
He’s being friendly and soft-voiced, but I can feel the perspiration building on my forehead. ‘In Paris,’ I say.
‘Right,’ he says thoughtfully. ‘The problem is, I’ve got a bit of a dilemma here. Your wife’s closest friend seems to think she has been kidnapped, and your nanny hasn’t heard from her at all, which is odd, as most mothers would want to speak to their child, especially at the child’s bedtime.’
I try to wipe my forehead discreetly. ‘Jo phones in the evening,’ I say. ‘I don’t need the police involved just because my wife is at a conference.’
‘For God’s sake!’ Gil explodes. ‘Tell them the fucking truth, and we might be able to save her.’
