Glancing occasionally over his shoulder, Nathan proceeded on shaky legs to a vacant taxi outside the front door. As he got into the back of the car, lugging his case behind him, he noticed a blue Mini ahead in the road with a Union Jack roof. Nathan stared anxiously after the car as it drew further away, but he made out the registration plate. It was definitely Lorie’s car. Nathan was tempted to yell the clichéd ‘follow that car’ line, but he was worried he might be recognised. Staying in character was essential.
He had no thinking time, so he said as calmly as possible, ‘A friend should have collected me but I was late out. I can see her car straight ahead. Can you try to catch her up so I can hitch a lift back?’ The driver did an impressive wheel skid and set off in pursuit.
‘Why don’t you call her?’ he suggested as they gained ground.
Nathan hadn’t decided if he wanted to let Lorie know he’d seen her or not. What he was definite about was the need to know where she was going. Had she seen him? He thought not. He suspected she’d come to the airport to check out whether or not he’d returned, and given up once he’d failed to come through the terminal. No, on balance, he decided it was more advantageous to track her from a distance, so he slunk back in his seat and made a mock call on his phone.
‘She isn’t picking up,’ he told the driver.
‘Sensible.’
‘Just follow her please.’
‘Shall I honk my horn?’
‘Best not. I don’t want to startle her,’ Nathan said, honestly.
Nathan was close enough to see Lorie’s long dark hair with her new extensions. In the mirror all he could see was a large pair of black sunglasses. If he’d been driving the taxi, he’d have been tempted to ram into the back of her hard. Being this close to her made his insides simmer with hatred and – he couldn’t deny it – hope. Pursuing Lorie was as good as following his money and now she was in sight, so was the cash. He was going to corner her and make her sweat. And for her greed, she’d get nothing. He’d have to pay Solomon an outrageous sum to appease him. Any amount was a small price for freedom. Plus, he’d taken life insurance cover with Naomi. There was another pay-out to look forward to later on.
As expected, Lorie picked up the M56 and progressed towards Manchester Centre. He wanted to ask the driver to create some distance, but daren’t. Conscious that the driver might work out who he was before long, he stayed cool and detached, answering questions in minimal sentences to keep up pretences.
A few minutes later, it occurred to Nathan that the taxi was being followed by the same model of a black Volvo he’d seen at Solomon’s place. He shifted behind the driver’s seat until he could watch it in the wing mirror without turning round. He hoped for a coincidence until the car got so close, he could make out enough of the driver to recognise him. One of the crew. A huge guy like Carter, this one a red-haired guy called Leon Chambers.
Nathan slid a little further into his seat and nursed a growing sense of dread. Lorie signalled to come off at junction six. Where the hell was she going? He’d hoped she was going home, but she was heading for the A538 which led through Wilmslow to Alderley Edge and the Hamiltons’ house. He couldn’t follow her there. What was she up to, the conniving little cow? It was time to call off the chase. It wasn’t all bad news. He knew where she was heading.
Nathan suddenly remembered he was exhausted. He smothered a series of yawns. He had to collect his car and hunt Lorie down before taking a much-needed rest. He’d have instructed the driver to take him home, but he needed to shake off Chambers. Wearily, he told the driver to stop following the Mini and head for the city centre instead. Once he’d shed the shadow, he’d jump on a Metrolink tram back to the Quays.
To save time, he paid the driver over his shoulder just before the car stopped at traffic lights. He jumped out without looking back, and headed for the nearest department store to get lost. It was two minutes before he realised he’d left his case. He cursed under his breath and his mind ran over what he’d lost. His flat key was in his wallet in his pocket, beside his phone and passport. With a million quid, he could replace shorts, T-shirts and beach towels. The priority was to get to Lorie.
Nathan wasn’t being pursued. He grabbed a navy baseball cap from a bargain bin and parted with a couple of quid for it, saving enough for the tram. The giant shop had four floors and three doors on the ground floor. He took the exit on the opposite wall to where he’d burst in fifteen minutes before and found himself on a quiet side street. He put the cap on and worked his way cautiously to the main road to check if the door was being guarded. It wasn’t. Not long later, Nathan jumped off the tram at Salford Quays and searched for the parked Volvo, which he couldn’t see.
Result. With some relief, Nathan entered his apartment building at ten-forty and made his way to the second floor. His hand was unsteady as he unlocked the door and hurried into the hallway. Back against the closed door, he stood for a moment absorbing the blissful peace of home. During a few deeply drawn breaths, he detected a whiff of floral perfume. It was so subtle he lost it straight away and couldn’t recapture it. Nathan wandered towards his bedroom and stood in the doorway. Naomi’s things had vanished. Lorie had taken every last stitch of it.
He checked the cupboards. Not a trace. Fury rose in him again. He’d been planning to visit the Hamiltons with a few items of Naomi’s clothing, a nice gesture as Lorie herself had told him. Keep them sweet. Tiredness fled from him. He was going to find Lorie. Immediately. Nathan snatched his car keys from the side of his bed.
‘Going somewhere?’
His heart flipped.
Vincent Solomon was leaning against the doorframe, hands in smart trouser pockets. He always looked ready for a business meeting. The fact that he’d come without sending someone wasn’t good.
‘How did you get in here?’
‘Does it matter?’
‘Look, it’s not my fault. Lorie was meant to pay you and she took off with the money, but I know where she is and I’m going to track her down right now. Then I’ll come straight over to your house, I promise.’
He eyed Nathan carefully. ‘I’m tired of excuses, Nathan.’
‘I’m going to get you the money.’ He held up his keys. ‘Now. First opportunity.’
Solomon’s smile chilled Nathan. ‘Because I’m a reasonable man, I’m going to keep this simple. You have until midnight tonight to get my money, and you can add twenty thousand for my trouble.’ Nathan was surprised it wasn’t more. ‘Fifty thousand, Nathan. For one hundred thousand, you can have your brother back.’
‘You have Dan?’
Solomon didn’t reply.
‘So that’s how you got in here.’
Solomon straightened up.
‘Locate Lorie. Get my money. Bring her to the cemetery around midnight. I’ll meet you there with Dan.’
‘Cemetery?’
‘Yes. I don’t want you at my house, not now you’re a celebrity. Besides, your wife will appreciate a visit I’m sure. Don’t fail. Final chance, I promise you that.’
Nathan nodded, relieved. Solomon left.
<><><>
Dan locked up the cottage for the last time and posted the keys through the letter box as the landlord had instructed. He threw his bags on the back seat, glad to be leaving. Lorie was secured in the boot as Naomi had instructed. There was one more thing still to do.
Dan opened the boot to find Lorie squinting into daylight on her back. Her hands were tied in front. She was lying on the pillow Dan had provided out of charity. He stared at her. She tried to yell something, frustrated as hell with the inability to form words.
Dan calmly delivered his carefully planned line. ‘Nathan’s dead, Lorie.’
Saying the words out loud had an impact on Dan, even though he knew they weren’t true. His eyes swam. Lorie’s spurted tears. She made as much noise at the cloth around her mouth would allow.
Dan shut the boot and wiped his eyes as he climbed into the driver’s seat. He turned
on the radio to drown out his thinking. Two weeks had felt like two months. He swigged a can of Red Bull to keep him sharp. It would be evening by the time they got back. Dan shoved his car into first and pulled away from the cottage without a desire to look back.
<><><>
Nathan had been desperate enough to ring the Hamiltons. He’d spoken to Henry and under intense pressure, had had to act the grieving husband all over again. He’d rung for one purpose only: to find out if Lorie was at the house. After an excruciating twenty minute conversation where Henry had wept like a baby and Nathan had felt obliged to join in, he’d manoeuvred the conversation onto discovering that Lorie hadn’t visited for several days.
What? Where the hell was she?
Nathan had been to Lorie’s flat. No joy. He’d rung her a dozen times and not got a response. He’d sat outside the flat until late afternoon before giving up and driving by every other place he could think of. She was in none of them. He’d even, heaven only knew why, driven past Simple Simon’s in the fading late-afternoon light. No Mini. He went back to recheck the flat – hers, then his. No sign. He tried her phone another dozen times.
Hungry and exhausted, he’d driven aimlessly round the city centre until every street and every person looked the same. Necessity halted the search. Nathan crawled into a station and filled his car with enough petrol to leave his bank account running on fumes. With a cheque for one point one million going in, he hadn’t arranged an overdraft facility. He begged the use of the toilet and bought an energy drink and a bar of chocolate and used them quickly.
He returned to his car, noticing that the sky was moonless and that the onset of darkness had brought a stern easterly wind that cut through his coat. Crispy leaves were blowing into the forecourt. Nathan hunched into his jacket and zipped it to the top. He glanced at his watch. Almost nine-fifteen. He screeched out of the station to begin another desperate search, not daring to count how many hours he’d been awake.
At ten-thirty, Nathan stopped by the side of the road. Which road? He didn’t even know where he was. Confused and disorientated, he smashed his hands into the steering wheel with both hands and shook it violently, screaming every foul word his vocabulary could muster. Tears of rage blinded him.
It helped release some tension, but he felt an idiot, even alone. He hadn’t cried in a decade, maybe more. ‘Man up,’ he yelled to himself, clearing his eyes. ‘Quit acting like a fairy.’
The mist cleared from his mind. No time for self-pity. He scrambled a plan. He hadn’t been to Alderley Edge, the last place Lorie had been headed. He had no real hope of finding her there. She could be in Timbuktu by now and probably was. The clock was speeding up. For the hundredth time, he cursed himself for not following her while he had the chance, and set off in search of a road sign. Last throw of the dice. Plan B was to get as far away as possible. It would be a death wish to show up at the cemetery without Lorie. He had no wish to die. Dan had made his position clear, so Dan was on his own.
Nathan had the sneaky suspicion he was being followed from a distance, but couldn’t prove it. It was more of a hair-raising feeling. He found and trawled the streets of Alderley Edge and roamed round the deserted centre. Why had Lorie come here? Maybe it was a decoy to throw him off course. Maybe everything he’d done today had been a big fat waste of time and petrol. It was gone eleven by now. The roads were as empty as Nathan’s head; the sky as dark as his mood. He sat at a crossroads. Quit the search or run? Two minds weren’t better than one. His phone signalled a text. He was alone on the road. He jerked the handbrake up and opened the message. It was from Solomon. It read: ‘Time’s almost up. You’re being shadowed. Don’t try and run. And don’t be late.’
Nathan stared at the words and panted hard. He had nothing to say in return. Suddenly conscious that he was at a T-junction and wondering who was trailing him, he snatched a look in his rear-view mirror to check for cars. Nathan caught sight of a small car turning down a side street. It looked like a Mini. It was a long shot. Nathan, fired and desperate, did a U-turn and screeched down the street in pursuit. He made a right turn and ahead of him in the road was a blue Mini. He sped along until the registration plate was in view. It was Lorie’s car. No doubt at all. He could see her in the front seat with her new hair extensions.
Unable to believe his fortune or keep composed, Nathan laughed out loud. Time to let Lorie know the game was up. Nathan found her number, dialled. He watched her reach across to the passenger seat and look at her phone.
‘Pick up,’ he whispered. ‘There’s a good girl.’
Nathan flashed his headlights at her three times and positioned himself just inches from her back bumper. Eventually, Lorie put the phone to her ear and answered without speaking. Nathan smiled. ‘See the car up your backside, Lorie? Guess who?’
It was too dark to see her face. She said nothing. ‘Make one wrong move and I’ll hit you so hard, that flimsy little box will fold like cardboard. So we’re taking a little detour to Naomi’s cemetery where Solomon is waiting to collect his cash. Do you have it with you?’
After a short pause, there was a murmur. ‘Mm.’
‘That’s good. Lead the way. No more smart moves, Lorie, or you won’t see another daybreak. I’m pretty certain I’m being shadowed too. You don’t have a hope.’
Nathan cut her off. He wanted her to sweat. He hoped her hands were shaking. He hoped she was going to suffer badly. He steadily kept about a metre or so behind. The cemetery was a half hour drive. He’d make it before midnight, just. He was alert, always expecting her to make a break for it, but she kept moving steadily, glued to his front. He saw her looking regularly into her mirror and regretted he wasn’t close enough to see the fear in her eyes.
<><><>
Naomi led Nathan down a route she’d travelled two weeks before, a route she’d never seen. Her heart was pounding erratically as she drove down the eerie country roads that led, as her sat-nav promised, to the tree-lined stony lane. Solomon’s car sat at the end of it close to the imposing pair of locked gates.
Damien Carter emerged from the Mercedes as she pulled up with Nathan close behind. Carter strode over and pulled her from the car and put something over her head that felt like a rough sack. Some small holes had been picked so she could see. Otherwise, she could have been going to the gallows.
Naomi had no script from here, no plan. A reunion at the cemetery had been discussed, no details. The police were supposed to take over from there, but how events would transpire was worrying her now. Nathan arrived by her side. Carter ordered him to get the money. Nathan opened the boot. She heard him unzip the bag then zip it up.
‘Solomon’s waiting in the graveyard.’
Naomi could see to walk, just. She took the familiar route to the broken railing and was ordered to climb through. The stinging nettle that caught the back of her hand was the least of her problems. Nathan followed with Carter. They weaved through bushes and picked up a concrete path where they walked in silence. The memories made a powerful return as they turned onto a narrower path then filed through gravestones across the grass. The earth was soft underfoot. The scent of fresh flowers belonging to the dead, hung in the air.
‘So this is where my wife’s been hiding,’ Nathan said, trying to break the ice with Carter, who didn’t want conversation. Naomi could feel the tension between them.
Carter let go of Naomi’s arm and told Nathan to guide her the rest of the way. Carter moved ahead. She couldn’t see Nathan, but she felt him brutally take hold of her left arm. It was the same arm he’d lightly touched the night they’d met.
‘You crossed the wrong person, Lorie. I can’t even begin to understand why,’ Nathan hissed in her ear. He was squeezing her arm painfully now and she was gasping and trying to pull away. ‘I don’t know what Vincent’s got planned for you, but I’m going to enjoy watching.’ He leaned closer until she could feel the warmth of his breath through the rough canvas. ‘And just so you know, she beat you in every way: ho
tter, sexier, younger and richer. And I loved kissing her. And it didn’t stop there. The hotel room on the wedding night. She was gagging for it. Pity she never got chance to tell you every sordid little detail.’
They stopped walking. Nathan stopped talking and released her by shoving her forward. Naomi’s mind was on Solomon. She’d put her trust in a psychopath who couldn’t be trusted. The insanity of it occurred to her about now. Where was Dan? Naomi swivelled her head until she found Vincent Solomon standing by a grave. The moon had shown up too, plus one bright star. There was a spade thrust into the loose earth at the top. Her pulse responded.
‘Nathan. Good to see you again,’ Solomon said, voice light and unconcerned, taking charge. ‘Good day?’
‘It’s turning out better than it started.’
‘For me too.’
‘So this is where my wife is?’
‘Exactly. She’s listening to every word.’
Nathan sniggered. ‘Carter has your money,’ he said with confidence. ‘If we can finish the job, I can get to bed.’
‘I think we should finally put this business to bed. It’s gone on long enough.’
The bag changed hands.
‘How much?’
Nathan cleared his throat, stalling. ‘Unless she’s taken any, there should be fifty grand. If there isn’t, I’ll make it up, you have my word.’
A slight pause. A raised eyebrow. ‘And what about your brother?’
‘What about him?’ Nathan shot back, rhetorically. ‘Where is he?’
‘Close,’ Solomon said. ‘Very close.’
‘As close as my wife?’
‘Almost.’
Naomi’s heart was hammering beneath the sack, which was scratching her face. Her head felt hot and itchy. Maybe it was time to unveil herself and get the hell out of there. Maybe Nathan and Lorie had been punished enough. She found she couldn’t move.
Either Side of Midnight Page 38