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.Wiggins.Can I take a message?”Oh dear God, thought Shand.Could the day get any worse?“Me?” said Saffron.“I’m Mr.Shand’s personal psychic.”Shand closed his eyes.It could.“Oh,” said Saffron.“He rang off.”“Leave, Satan! Drop!” shouted Marcus, wresting the dog away from Shand.“Come on, boy.Bone.Bone for a good dog.”The mention of food transformed Satan.He bounced away from Shand and presented himself behind the driver’s seat, sitting perfectly still, eyes alert, tongue lolling happily from the side of his mouth.Shand looked away and slumped in the corner waiting for his career to once more flash before his eyes.But saw something else instead.Movement at the end of the lane.Two men.They must have come from the track.“Down!” he said.“Someone’s coming!”He sank down in the back seat, trying to present the lowest profile.Saffron and Marcus did the same.Two men were on the far side of the road, walking fast, approaching the Molland house.One of the men looked like Lee.The other was of a similar age, but thicker set.He turned at the gate and looked almost directly at the car.Shand couldn’t believe it.“It’s the missing asylum seeker!” hissed Marcus.“It’s Marius Lupescu.”CHAPTER FORTY-FOURShand watched the two men disappear inside.What were they doing together? And what should Shand do now? He hadn’t expected Lee to have company.“Marcus, call for back up.”He watched the upstairs landing light come on in the house.Where were they going? Was the asylum seeker staying with Lee?Marcus called the station.It would be thirty minutes, twenty-five if they were lucky, before anyone arrived.Should they move in before? Cover the back in case Lee left by the kitchen door?Or make the arrest now? One cover the front, one go in the back?Indecision.He couldn’t afford anything to go wrong.If he went in early and was rushed by two men, could he hold them? He’d never had any form of combat training.Marcus would have, but could he guarantee that it would be Marcus’s door they rushed?Best to wait.Play it by the book.Two men on each door.“Should I check round the back, sir? In case they slip across the fields.”“Okay, but make sure you’re not seen.Find some cover and stay out of sight.”Marcus left, crouching low and scurrying towards the far end of the terrace.Satan watched intently from the back seat.“He didn’t need to go, you know?” said Saffron.“They’ll come out the front.”Shand ignored her, shutting everything out except for the house, his eyes fixed on the windows, looking for shapes, changes in the mix of light and shadow.Minutes passed.The landing light flickered, then went out.The front door opened.Lee came out, a hold-all in his right hand.Then came the other man.They turned left at the gate, towards the path at the end of the lane.Shand checked his watch, holding his wrist in the patch of moonlight that filtered through the rear window.Back up was fifteen minutes away.Fifteen minutes if they’d responded immediately and the traffic was light.The two men reached the end of the lane.Little time left to think.He’d have to follow.“Stay here,” he told Saffron.“When back up arrives tell them where we’ve gone.”“Shouldn’t I go with you? I can help find them if you lose them.”Shand closed his eyes.The last thing he needed was Saffron tagging along.“What about your new tights? The woods are full of brambles.”“I can take them off.”“No!” he said, louder than he’d meant.Panicked by the vision of back up arriving just as Saffron had her tights around her ankles.“Why don’t you stay here and…” He grabbed the first idea that came to him.“Scry.That’s it.You stay here and scry for them.Find out where Lee’s going and meet us there?”It appeared to work.Saffron reached behind her neck and unhooked her necklace.“I’ll use this as a pendulum,” she said.Shand’s mind was already elsewhere.The two men would be halfway across the field by now.Far enough away not to notice a light coming on from inside a parked car.He eased the rear door open and slipped outside, crouching down to push the door to and quietly click the lock home.The night was still, and silent except for the muffled sound of music from one of the houses and the distant cry of an owl.Shand slipped along the side of the parked cars then the fence line of the front gardens [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Wiggins.Can I take a message?”Oh dear God, thought Shand.Could the day get any worse?“Me?” said Saffron.“I’m Mr.Shand’s personal psychic.”Shand closed his eyes.It could.“Oh,” said Saffron.“He rang off.”“Leave, Satan! Drop!” shouted Marcus, wresting the dog away from Shand.“Come on, boy.Bone.Bone for a good dog.”The mention of food transformed Satan.He bounced away from Shand and presented himself behind the driver’s seat, sitting perfectly still, eyes alert, tongue lolling happily from the side of his mouth.Shand looked away and slumped in the corner waiting for his career to once more flash before his eyes.But saw something else instead.Movement at the end of the lane.Two men.They must have come from the track.“Down!” he said.“Someone’s coming!”He sank down in the back seat, trying to present the lowest profile.Saffron and Marcus did the same.Two men were on the far side of the road, walking fast, approaching the Molland house.One of the men looked like Lee.The other was of a similar age, but thicker set.He turned at the gate and looked almost directly at the car.Shand couldn’t believe it.“It’s the missing asylum seeker!” hissed Marcus.“It’s Marius Lupescu.”CHAPTER FORTY-FOURShand watched the two men disappear inside.What were they doing together? And what should Shand do now? He hadn’t expected Lee to have company.“Marcus, call for back up.”He watched the upstairs landing light come on in the house.Where were they going? Was the asylum seeker staying with Lee?Marcus called the station.It would be thirty minutes, twenty-five if they were lucky, before anyone arrived.Should they move in before? Cover the back in case Lee left by the kitchen door?Or make the arrest now? One cover the front, one go in the back?Indecision.He couldn’t afford anything to go wrong.If he went in early and was rushed by two men, could he hold them? He’d never had any form of combat training.Marcus would have, but could he guarantee that it would be Marcus’s door they rushed?Best to wait.Play it by the book.Two men on each door.“Should I check round the back, sir? In case they slip across the fields.”“Okay, but make sure you’re not seen.Find some cover and stay out of sight.”Marcus left, crouching low and scurrying towards the far end of the terrace.Satan watched intently from the back seat.“He didn’t need to go, you know?” said Saffron.“They’ll come out the front.”Shand ignored her, shutting everything out except for the house, his eyes fixed on the windows, looking for shapes, changes in the mix of light and shadow.Minutes passed.The landing light flickered, then went out.The front door opened.Lee came out, a hold-all in his right hand.Then came the other man.They turned left at the gate, towards the path at the end of the lane.Shand checked his watch, holding his wrist in the patch of moonlight that filtered through the rear window.Back up was fifteen minutes away.Fifteen minutes if they’d responded immediately and the traffic was light.The two men reached the end of the lane.Little time left to think.He’d have to follow.“Stay here,” he told Saffron.“When back up arrives tell them where we’ve gone.”“Shouldn’t I go with you? I can help find them if you lose them.”Shand closed his eyes.The last thing he needed was Saffron tagging along.“What about your new tights? The woods are full of brambles.”“I can take them off.”“No!” he said, louder than he’d meant.Panicked by the vision of back up arriving just as Saffron had her tights around her ankles.“Why don’t you stay here and…” He grabbed the first idea that came to him.“Scry.That’s it.You stay here and scry for them.Find out where Lee’s going and meet us there?”It appeared to work.Saffron reached behind her neck and unhooked her necklace.“I’ll use this as a pendulum,” she said.Shand’s mind was already elsewhere.The two men would be halfway across the field by now.Far enough away not to notice a light coming on from inside a parked car.He eased the rear door open and slipped outside, crouching down to push the door to and quietly click the lock home.The night was still, and silent except for the muffled sound of music from one of the houses and the distant cry of an owl.Shand slipped along the side of the parked cars then the fence line of the front gardens [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]