by Rachel Green
Margot kept her head held high. The only coldness inside her was a determination not to be defeated. Nothing he could say would injure her.
“But I guess you’ve made it easy for me. I doubt your friend will be so callous as to let you suffer. I’m guessing he’ll sing like a canary rather than see that pretty face of yours get messed up.” He weighed the hammer in his hand. “But not with this.” He handed it back to the goon. “I’ve got something special lined up for you.”
He turned his head and clicked his fingers. Paolo stepped out of the shadows.
“I believe you two have met.”
Margot and Paolo locked eyes. He wore the same blank expression as when she’d met him in the garage that day, unblinking eyes staring straight through her.
“My brother here’s got a score to settle. You’re the reason his best friend’s in jail.”
“That’s not true!” Margot blurted out. “Etienne’s not a murderer and you both know it.”
“Suddenly she wants to talk.”
“I know you planted the wrench in his hut. The only reason you would do that was to save your own skin. Or his!”
The cockiness drained from Enzo’s face. He clearly hadn’t realised she knew so much. He leaned in to his brother’s side. “It sounds like she’s accusing one of us of murder. I think it’s about time we shut her up, don’t you?”
Paolo balled his fists. Margot braced herself as he moved a step closer. She’d never been hit since her school days, and then she’d given as good as she’d got. But she wasn’t afraid. She would tell them nothing.
“Go on, Paolo – hit her.”
Raul cried out, but one of the goons kicked his chair and toppled him for a second time. This time they left him on the floor.
“You can do whatever you want to her,” Enzo went on. “No one’ll find out.”
Paolo shuffled his feet, limbs rigid, jaw set tight. Margot bared her teeth, ready to take what was to come. She recalled the pictures she’d found in his garage: the women tied to chairs, strung up from chains. This must have been a dream come true for him and he was going to enjoy every last second. It seemed like every pair of eyes in the room was on the younger brother, waiting to see what he would do. But the seconds slowly passed, his arms stayed locked. His eyes seemed to lose focus as he looked back at them all. Enzo shuffled his feet, growing impatient.
“Come on, Paolo. If she hadn’t stuck her nose in none of this would have happened. It’s all down to her. Teach her a lesson she won’t forget.”
Despite Enzo’s goading, Paolo’s feet remained rooted to the spot. He lowered his eyes and unclenched his jaw. Margot remembered him standing on the other side of the door when she’d been in Enzo’s office, just a few hours earlier. He’d surely known she was there and yet had said nothing. Whatever conflict was going on inside him she could only be grateful. Enzo exhaled angrily.
“Look. She’s all tied up, just how you like them. Shall we strip her for you? Would that help?”
Enzo cocked his chin to the two goons who readied themselves. But then his mood changed and he seemed to find something funny.
“Maybe we should have brought you a camera. Then you could have taken some pictures.” He directed his joke at the other two men who joined in with the amusement.
But Paolo wasn’t laughing. His face contorted into a look of pure hatred and in one swift movement he spun round and punched his brother full in the face.
Enzo staggered back. His head had taken the full force of the blow and blood dripped from his nose. The goons tensed, unsure how to respond. Paolo glared at his brother, face still full of fury, while Enzo stood there, head turned away, dazed and confused. He rubbed his jaw; ran an exploratory tongue over his front teeth. Everyone in the room waited for the inevitable response. But Enzo merely straightened his back, took the handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped the blood from his face. He stepped back into the light and, ignoring his brother completely, unrolled his shirtsleeves.
“Get him out of here,” he said. The goons promptly escorted Paolo up the stairs.
The basement fell silent. Enzo seemed uncharacteristically lost for words and when he’d finished fussing with his shirt he faced Margot with a look of contempt. He sniffed.
“Don’t think this is the end of it. We’ll see how you’re feeling after two days down here.”
He spat on the floor, narrowly missing her leg, and then charged off up the stairs.
Chapter 30
The light switch flicked, plunging the basement into darkness. It was like they’d exited a negative nightmare – light and horror replaced by darkness and relief, the pungent smell of old seawater a clear signal that this world was the real one.
“Margot – are you all right?”
Raul’s hoarse voice came from somewhere close to her right. Margot couldn’t see him, but she had a clear image of him lying on the ground, still tied to the chair, his face a beaten-up mess. She felt awful. “Oh, Raul. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“It’s all my fault.”
“We can argue about that later. Let’s just get out of here before he changes his mind and comes back.”
Margot pinched shut her eyes to try and clear her head. She wriggled her arms inside the bindings, but every small movement caused the ropes to dig deeper. Her waist and thighs were bound to the chair with a separate length of rope. The only parts of her body she could move freely were the bottom halves of her legs; with a little careful coordination she managed to hop the chair backwards, one small fraction at a time.
“How badly hurt are you?” she asked.
“I’ll live, though I’d say my dancing days are over.”
“Is anything broken?”
“Only my pride.”
“Stay where you are. I’m going to topple over and lie down beside you.”
As her eyes adjusted to the dark, Margot made out his lumpy outline spread across the floor. She gave a firm push with her feet; the chair slid jerkily backwards until one of the legs got stuck on a low-lying slab. Pushing with her right foot, she tilted the chair onto its side and then let it unbalance. Her shoulder took the brunt of the impact, acting like a pivot and swinging her head onto the slabs.
“Ow!”
“You okay?”
She gritted her teeth. “Fine. Shuffle closer.”
They both shimmied until they were back to back. Margot felt his fingertips roving over her hands, exploring up her wrists. “Can you reach the knots?”
“I think so.”
He started to undo them.
“You know, Margot, I never imagined the first time we laid down together it would be like this.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you.”
“I thought I’d at least get dinner and a movie first.”
“When this is all over I’ll buy you dinner at the Georges V. Now hurry up and get these knots undone.”
It took several minutes but Raul finally managed to pick apart one of the knots. Margot loosened her arms, and with a little more wriggling slackened it enough to open her shoulders.
“Almost there.”
He freed her hands and she quickly untied the rest, rubbing her arms to get the blood to circulate. A minute later they were both untied. She righted his chair and then helped him feel his way into it. It was a relief not to be able to see what they’d done to his face.
“You sure you’re okay?” she asked.
“Just turn on the lights.”
Margot felt her way to the bottom of the stairs and then cautiously ascended. She flicked on the light and tried the door handle, unsurprised to find it locked. She pressed an ear to the woodwork, but there was no sign of anyone still out there.
Raul was still slumped in the chair when Margot went back. Her heart sank in despair. The flesh on his face looked so tender she didn’t dare touch it. “Oh, Raul. I’m so sorry.”
“At least you came to rescue me.”
“You’r
e not rescued yet. I promise they won’t get away with this.”
Raul wearily shook his head. “Just get me back on my boat. That’s all I ask.”
If only she could.
Margot stepped back and surveyed the space they were in. The basement was much larger than it had initially seemed and the ceiling was quite high. The only way out appeared to be the staircase, until Margot spotted a small, half-moon window high up on one side.
“Do you think you could climb out of there?” She pointed.
Raul twisted his neck. “If the only way out of here was to climb Mount Everest I’d do it.” He groaned as he got to his feet. “We’ll need something to stand on.”
There were plenty of crates. Margot shifted some of the furniture out of the way to make space and together they dragged two of the packing crates across to the window. It wasn’t quite high enough, but with a coffee table on top Margot managed to reach. She cleaned a circle in the grime with the sleeve of her coat and peered through. The window looked onto the courtyard, the shiny cobbles now bathed in moonlight. Her eyes were almost level with the ground so it would be easy to climb out, but as she looked more closely Margot realised the window was just a glazed panel with no obvious means of opening it.
“I’ll have to break the glass.”
“Is anyone out there?”
“There’s a car. A dark blue BMW. I don’t think anyone’s inside.”
She waited a few moments, scanning carefully from left to right just to be sure. Then she looked back down and searched with her eyes for something to break the glass. “Hand me that poker.”
Behind where Raul was standing was a galvanised bucket with a hefty black poker sticking out. He passed it up and Margot turned back to the window. The glass was only thin, but if anyone was still in the building there was a good chance they would hear. “Once we climb out we’ll need to get a move on.”
“Margot.”
A hand on her elbow caused Margot to turn sharply. She was surprised to find that Raul had climbed up beside her. “What?”
“You wouldn’t really have let them hit me with the hammer, would you?”
He looked at her with puppy-dog’s eyes. Margot softened. He had no idea how guilty she already felt. “I was bluffing.”
“You were very convincing.”
“I used to play cards.”
Raul gave a measured nod of his head, apparently reassured. “Remind me never to play strip poker with you.”
Despite the circumstances, Margot smiled. “That’s a promise.”
She turned back to the window: one sharp tap with the head of the poker and the glass shattered. It broke messily, leaving jagged fragments still stuck in the frame. Margot carefully removed them all and then hauled herself through. She turned, crab-like on the cobbles, and reached back to give Raul a hand, but he brushed her aside and climbed out to join her like a man who thought he had something to prove. They rose to their feet and faced the courtyard as one, ready to take on the world. But the place was lifeless, their foes disappeared. If anyone was still inside they certainly hadn’t heard.
“This way,” Raul whisper-shouted.
Margot turned to see him running towards the gates. She quickly caught up and joined him at the wall, hunkered down like a pair of commandos. The gates were unlocked and one leaf was already ajar. Margot eased it a little more open and peered through. The harbour was right there in front of them, beyond it an expanse of moonlit sea. The jetty was no more than a hundred metres away, but when she leaned out a little further she spotted the goon with the buzz cut, smoking by the wall. There was no way of getting to the jetty without being seen. She jerked back, almost bumping heads with Raul.
“What is it?”
Margot held a finger to her lips. With the utmost care they both leaned out. The man was at least ten metres away but he was swinging his foot at something on the ground, looking bored.
“I’ll try and distract him,” Raul said. “You make a run for it.”
But Margot grabbed his arm. “We need him to come in. He’s got my phone.”
“We’ll have to leave it.”
“We can’t!”
“Mar—”
“Rattle the gate and then get behind me.”
“And then what?”
“I’ll hit him with this.” Margot raised the poker she still held in her hand. But Raul shook his head.
“No. Give it to me.” He brusquely took it out of her hand. “I’m not a violent man, but after what those bastards did to me …”
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Too late for that.”
He ushered Margot behind him and then gently rattled the bolts.
The timber was too thick to hear any footsteps. Margot’s pulse quickened as the seconds ticked by. Instinct had her clutching Raul’s arm, though when she realised what she was doing she immediately let go. Ten seconds passed, maybe twenty. Margot began to fear he’d twigged what was going on and would find another way in, but then a shadow appeared in the gap between the gates. A hand reached in. Raul raised the poker over his head, and the moment the goon appeared he brought it down hard and heavy in the centre of his bristly black hair. The man dropped in an instant.
They dragged him inside. Margot got down on her knees and searched his pockets – two iPhones, one of which, she was relieved to see, was her own.
“Watch out, he’s coming round.” Raul stepped back, gripping the poker. “Shall I hit him again?” He readied himself for a second attempt.
But Margot stayed his hand. “Let’s just get out of here, shall we?”
They ran through the gates and into the harbour. Margot threw the poker into the water as they turned the corner onto the boardwalk and was fizzing with relief as they raced up the steps onto Carpe Diem.
“They’ve taken the key.” She showed him the empty slot.
“Don’t worry – there’s a spare.”
Raul blundered around below deck for a few short seconds and then emerged, breathless but brandishing a key. He slid it into the slot and started the engine, but then stepped away from the console. Crouching next to one of the deck lockers, he started rummaging through; Margot was alarmed when he pulled out a fearsome-looking dive knife. “Wait here,” he said and went back down onto the boardwalk.
“Where are you going?”
Margot feared the bloodlust had got to him and he was about to do something foolish, but instead he halted just a few metres away where a large powerboat was moored up. He forced the cover on the outboard motors and then hacked at the wires inside. Pleased with his handiwork, he came back grinning.
“That was the boat they used to board me,” he explained. “Let’s see them come after us now.”
Raul opened up the throttle and Carpe Diem moved steadily out to sea.
Chapter 31
They motored directly out to sea and didn’t stop for several hours. When they finally weighed anchor, the navigation console showed their position at around sixty kilometres off the coast of Spain. But there was nothing, not even the faraway blink of lights, to signify dry land.
Raul was horrified by the mess they’d made of his boat and as soon as they went below he started tidying up. Margot grasped his arm.
“We can sort it all out in the morning,” she said calmly. “You really need to lie down.”
His left eye had swollen to the size of a tennis ball.
The effects of the beating must have caught up on him because he didn’t protest when Margot led him through to his cabin. She made him take co-codamol and then dressed his wounds as best she could.
“You really need to go to a hospital.”
“Please don’t fuss.”
She fetched a packet of frozen peas from the freezer and wrapped it in a tea towel. Raul groaned when he lay down on the bed with the packet on his face, but slowly he began to settle.
“Margot.”
His left arm swung droopily over the side and he emitted a stra
nge kind of groan. Clearly the painkillers were starting to kick in. “Did I ever tell you that you’re a very … very …. beautiful woman?”
Margot folded his arm back onto his chest. “Shush,” she said, and kissed him softly on the forehead. And she remained there solemnly for several minutes. If only she could have been there for Hugo when he lain in the alley, breathing his final few breaths.
***
Several hours later Margot opened her eyes to an image that could have come from a dream: a blazing white disc in a perfect blue sky. Carpe Diem rocked gently on the calmest of seas. Littering the space around her were crumpled cushions, a screwed-up jumper, a few dirty plates; she quickly realised she’d fallen asleep in the deck salon. She had no idea what time it was; perhaps mid-morning judging by the position of the sun. Pain sliced through her neck when she eased herself out of her bed of cushions, and every joint ached. She moved to the stern and stood with a flattened palm to her brow, scanning the horizon, but there was no land in sight. Apart from a far-off container ship she might have been the only person left alive on Earth.
The tranquillity was a tonic to her frayed nerves but she went below to check on Raul. Peering into his cabin, she was relieved to find him still zonked out. She left him there while she tidied up the salon, and when she’d got it looking a little more presentable she retired to her cabin. Checking her phone, she was dismayed to find there was still no signal.
Two hours later Raul woke up shouting. Margot hurried to his bedside and found him sitting bolt upright, panting like an animal, gazing around the cabin in a state of confusion.
“It’s all right. It was just a bad dream. Go back to sleep.”
She tried to settle him down but he was determined to get up. He fought past the pillows she tried to plump up for him and hauled himself out of the bed. He staggered into the salon where he dropped heavily onto the sofa, head in his hands. “Have I died and gone to hell?” he groaned.
Margot trailed along and sat down beside him. She couldn’t help feeling awkward. Bedside manners had never been her strong point. “Can I get you anything?”