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I flopped back against the kitchen cabinets as though I’d been sucker-punched.
‘Obviously, if the police want to view the tape, I’ll willingly surrender it to them. In the meantime, I’ve locked it away for safekeeping.’
Tears of disappointment stung my eyes, but I’d worked in journalism long enough to understand the laws protecting identity and personal data. Badgering this man into revealing information he wasn’t comfortable sharing would be stooping lower than I was prepared to go.
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t help you,’ the manager said, speaking slowly now, his voice deliberate and careful, as though reading from a script. ‘And I’ll tell you something else. I’m sorry I wasn’t working the late shift last Friday, because I used to be a really big fan ofStarsky and Hutch.’
32
The sky had darkened to the colour of an angry bruise. Rain was hitting the ground with the velocity of artillery fire. Through the kitchen window, I saw people in the streets below scurrying for cover. They ran with jackets, bags and briefcases held above their heads, but their attempts to stay dry were all futile. This was the type of rain that took no prisoners.
Despite the downpour, I opened the window, relishing the instant drop in temperature, however short-lived it might prove to be. The kitchen window had a low, deep sill, and I perched on it now, with my back to the elements. I could feel the rain splattering against my T-shirt, but I made no move to escape it. There was something wild and primordial in the weather that suited my mood right then.
I knew what I had to do. I’d known it even before the garage manager had covertly confirmed that Finn had been in the Foxton area on the night before our wedding. It was the reason I’d pulled the folder from my desk.
I looked down at my hands; in one was my phone, in the other Amelia Holmwood’s business card. I stared at her mobile number long enough for the digits to blur and dance. Rain was trickling down from the open sash above me. A few intrepid drops found the gap at the back of my thin black T-shirt and ran down my spine, but that wasn’t why I shivered. Part of me wanted to tear the business card into symbolic, confetti-sized pieces. But the saner part of my brain advised me to do no such thing. What if she knew the answer to the question I’d been asking all week? Did this woman know where Finn was?
And could I find the courage to ask her, when the answer ‘He’s with me’ would shatter my heart for ever?
You can do this, a voice in my head whispered.
My lip was trembling, and I bit down on it hard enough to hurt. The phone call I was about to make wasn’t just a random shot in the dark. I had no idea how or why I knew this to be true, but there it was. Call it journalistic instinct, or pure feminine intuition. Both of those had served me well in the past, and I hung on to that thought as I began keying in the number.This must be what it feels like, I mused,when you’re standing at the open door of an aircraft and someone yells at you, ‘Jump!’ All you can do is trust that your parachute will unfurl correctly and save you.
It rang four times before she picked up.
‘Hello.’ Her voice was low and throaty and exactly how I remembered it. In comparison, mine sounded like a poor man’s impersonation of Mickey Mouse.
Even though I knew it was her, I bought myself a few extra seconds before everything in the world changed. ‘Amelia Holmwood?’
‘Speaking.’
I was breathing fast, as though the truth might even now try to sprint away from me. ‘I’m not sure if you’ll remember me…’ I began, picking my words with care. There was just a chance, if she didn’t recognise my name, that this really was just a terrible misunderstanding.
‘My name is Gemma Fletcher.’
She gasped, and unless she’d been holding her breath too, I could only assume it was from shock. This was bad. Very bad.
‘You know who I am?’ It was more statement than question, because I already knew that she did.
‘Yes, of course,’ she replied, speaking slowly and drawing out every word. I could almost hear wheels within wheels spinning in her head. Whatever else I’d lost, the element of surprise had been all mine.
‘I’m a bit startled to hear from you,’ Amelia said.
I bet you are, I thought bitterly.
‘I didn’t think he was going to tell you yet. I thought he was going to wait for a couple more weeks.’
The assassin’s knife slid straight into me. ‘By “he”, I take it you mean Finn?’
She laughed then, as though I’d said something truly funny. ‘Yes, of course I mean Finn. I imagine it was quite a shock for you.’
Was this woman for real? How could she be so heartless?
‘That’s one way of putting it.’ My voice was dripping icicles, but she didn’t appear to notice.
‘This is such an amazingly clear line. You’d never know you were calling me from the other side of the world.’ I heard her words, I understood their meaning, but they made absolutely no sense to me. ‘There’s not even a delay, is there? I always imagined there would be. Is Finn there with you?’
That had most definitely beenmynext question.
