Another image of the kidnapper and Larsha appeared in the air and Nick and his team walked through it on their way out, the solid-looking figures as insubstantial to touch as ghosts. As they left the ship and walked to Uxor’s room, passing several alien guests on the way, Nick said, “Perhaps he’ll understand. It’s obvious she’s scared for her life.”
“I hope so.” Reese didn’t sound hopeful.
“We have to be honest with him – he’s our client,” Poppy said and it sounded as if she was trying to convince herself this was the right thing to do.
They got to the now familiar room number and, when Reese knocked on the door, Uxor opened it at once, as if he had been waiting for them. He was alone and they didn’t suggest that his wife and Larsha’s friend be sent for. This wasn’t exactly good news.
“Is she die?” Uxor asked and Nick wished Tanya’s answer had been different. He must have been terrified of getting bad news about his daughter for the last three days; it seemed cruel to show him the recording and damage his already shaky relationship with her.
As they all came into the opulently furnished room and closed the door, Poppy glanced at Nick before answering, “Larsha is definitely still alive and we’ve found out the identity of her abductor. We managed to obtain some recent footage that you should see.” She got her computer out of her jacket and pressed a button on it. The scene showing Korloff and Larsha came to life in the room around them, the tiny figures speaking and moving about again, as if they were just characters in a film.
Uxor watched it all without comment and remained silent when it ended and the images vanished.
“Obviously she’s afraid that Korloff might kill her and suggesting this out of desperation,” Nick said quickly to the man, hoping to mitigate the damage of what the recording had shown.
Uxor didn’t even glance at him and seconds inched by before Uxor turned to them and spoke. “You are not need to investigate anymore. You leave.”
“I can understand that you might feel hurt by what you’ve just seen but my brother’s right,” Poppy said. “Larsha was upset and scared. I’m sure she didn’t mean it.”
“No investigate now. Leave.” Uxor walked over to the door on his crab-like legs and opened it for them.
Nick tried to think of something to say change his mind but Poppy was already going, so he reluctantly followed. The door swished shut behind them and they were left alone in the corridor. Reese swore fluently – Nick’s translator couldn’t even interpret half the words he used.
“We won’t give up,” Nick told him and Poppy rounded on him angrily.
“Didn’t you hear what Uxor said? The investigation is over. We’ve failed.” She stalked off and, without even glancing at Nick, Reese turned and headed in the opposite direction.
Nick could only watch them both vanish and wonder how the hell to salvage the situation. They had enough information now that he was certain that they could catch Korloff and, hopefully, free Larsha unharmed but then what? The relationship between Larsha and her father wasn’t something his people could fix and he was beginning to think that she felt so unloved that she really did hate Uxor. Perhaps it would be better for her if they left matters alone and she was able to get away and begin a new life away from her family but, even if she did help Korloff steal money, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t still kill her.
He had wanted for this case to have a positive outcome, with everyone happily reunited, but that seemed impossible now. It wasn’t something he had control over, but he could at least get Larsha safely away from Korloff.
Not knowing where his companions had gone, he got his hy-phone out of his jacket pocket and called Reese first. When he heard the familiar voice, he said, “Come back to the ship. We need to speak to Tanya about this.”
“You’re with me about the investigation needing to continue?”
Nick smiled at the evidence that he and Reese saw the situation the same way. Reese had always managed to support him whenever he badly needed it. “Yes, I’m with you.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
REESE SAW Nick arrive at the ship just ahead of him and called out to him. Nick turned and smiled – the warm smile that transformed his face and that he only seemed to use with Reese and, occasionally, Poppy. Reese had felt sick at the thought of abandoning Larsha, every instinct telling him they were her only hope of surviving the kidnapping. He had gone off alone to think through what they had learned so far, so he could tell the captain they were close to resolving this, but it wasn’t true. Their progress was disturbingly slow, considering the stakes, but, with Nick supporting him, he thought they could convince Tanya to stay here.
They walked inside together, remaining side by side as they headed through the docking bay into the silver corridor. They found Tanya in the control room talking to Poppy – who must have come straight back here after the conversation with Uxor – and they entered, ready to make an argument over keeping going with the case.
“A lot of things have been revealed to the crew while we were concentrating on the kidnapping,” Poppy said to him. “Is it true that you were raised a nameless orphan and that you stole and swindled money from other people?”
Reese stopped abruptly, utterly unprepared for this. She laid out the private information in a stark way and, with no mention of why he had had to commit crimes, it sounded unforgiveable. His lies were all exposed and he had never felt more vulnerable. This was what he had most feared: for Nick and the others to know he had been so unwanted and mercenary. He had even created another identity for himself – someone as unlike the unloved child he had been as possible – to make people think well of him. Now they would all see what a pathetic fake he was.
He struggled to meet Poppy’s cold gaze, trying to think of some way of explaining his past behaviour that might at least make Nick think less badly of him. He had been an angry, outspoken child, who always asked the wrong questions or said too much and he’d been beaten almost constantly. He could feel the belt on his back, cutting through flesh. He’d wanted only to stay alive and he didn’t have the words to explain how alone and desperate he’d been. The thefts he’d committed had barely touched his conscience, but he’d never forgive himself for the kids he’d left behind, who’d gone on suffering while he gained his freedom.
“That’s enough,” Tanya said softly and he swallowed, a lump in his throat. It was too late. He knew all about starting over but it was the last thing he wanted now he had Nick in his life. It was ironic that this ship and its rough crew felt like the home he’d always searched for, that Nick filled a need he hadn’t even recognised in himself until now.
He turned to Tanya but she wasn’t looking at him and it struck Reese that her words hadn’t been for him after all, but for Poppy, who turned to stare at her with an incredulous expression.
“You can’t still want him aboard this ship?”
“That’s my decision – it has nothing to do with you so I suggest you focus on your job. For the moment, I have to choose whether or not to end this investigation and, without a client, I don’t see that we can go on with it.”
“We have to,” Reese said, linking his hands behind his back to hide the fact that they were shaking. He didn’t dare look at Nick and see how he had reacted to these revelations or he might lose all confidence. “Uxor is angry and upset over seeing the recording. Uxor and Larsha always seem to have had a difficult relationship and she was convinced from the start that her father didn’t love her enough to pay her ransom. She’s scared and lashing out at him in the footage. That’s all.”
“Their relationship isn’t any of my business,” Tanya said, no hint of gentleness in her tone. She wasn’t keeping Reese here to be kind, so he couldn’t make sense of her reaction. “We were hired to do a job and if Uxor doesn’t want Larsha found any longer, that’s his decision.”
“What if he changes his mind?” Nick said, stepping forward. “I’m sure he does love his daughter and, if we leave and sh
e’s later found dead, he might blame us and damage the agency’s reputation.”
Nick’s last word made Reese remember something. “And, even if Uxor doesn’t want us here now, Paul Ninety might pay us to stay. This space station’s reputation is also on the line – if it can’t protect its guests, it might lose custom and fail altogether.”
“That’s a good point,” Tanya said. “Take a break for an hour or two and let me speak to Paul Ninety and Uxor. I’ll let you know then what we’re going to do.”
They went out and Reese hoped they’d said enough to convince her. He couldn’t bear the idea of Larsha dying for no reason. She had been wounded by her father’s apparent indifference – she hadn’t known that her brother had died even though a ransom was paid – and her words to her captor had just been a reaction of hurt and pain and the desire to live. He knew all those feelings.
“Reese...”
He went cold at the sound of Nick’s voice, thinking of Poppy’s earlier accusations. He slowly turned and their eyes met. Nick was frowning but he looked more worried than hostile over what he had heard about Reese; he probably wanted to believe that it wasn’t true.
“I need to speak to you now,” Poppy said to her brother, her hand on his arm, tugging him.
For a moment Nick didn’t move, instead continuing to look to Reese for an explanation he didn’t have, then Nick let his sister pull him away.
Reese felt sick. He could never make Nick understand the misery of his life growing up; of being forced to work in a factory from the age of seven and treated by the adults around him as nothing more than an unimportant tool that could be used until it wore out and that he would then have been discarded. It had been too much to cope with: he’d seen one child crippled permanently from the heavy machinery and another had died after falling ill. He’d been unpopular with the adults and he’d known he would never survive into adulthood. He’d had to escape.
He remembered Iain’s accusation of considering no one but himself and felt a stab of guilt. Although he’d thought of taking others with him, he hadn’t been confident enough about escaping to do so. He’d thought about them daily – hating the thought of the misery they still had to put up with – but he’d done nothing to help them. Iain had been right – he had been so desperate to get away from that life that he’d betrayed his friends. He wondered how many of them were dead by now, destroyed by one family’s pursuit of wealth. Perhaps he didn’t deserve a good life or for Nick to care about him.
He turned towards his quarters, wanting to be alone, but Siglinde came out of her shop to speak to him. He looked up at her helplessly before giving up on the chance of a few minutes’ reprieve. “All right. What have you heard about me?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“HE’S A con artist and a thief,” Poppy said to Nick as they sat in the canteen a few tables away from the handful of others in there and spoke in hushed voices.
“That was in the past.” Reese had said that he had changed and Nick believed him. “Our lives were easy compared to his and look what happened to us? People can make mistakes or get into trouble and it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be given another chance.”
“You’re too good-natured and, where he’s concerned, you’ve blinded yourself to the truth from the start, only seeing the man you want to believe he is. He saved your life on Ocean so you tell yourself that he must be kind like you. Wasn’t he saving himself at the same time? I don’t know why Tanya didn’t fire him on the spot.”
“Perhaps because he was largely responsible for us catching a murderer on Ocean and because he’s doing reliable work here.”
“Reliable?” she scoffed. “A thief?”
He ignored this. “What was it you said before about him being an orphan? What was that about?”
“His parents abandoned him as a baby apparently. He was raised in an orphanage owned by some Scottish lord along with a hundred or more other kids. He made up some kind of lie about having information to sell about the lord and swindled a few thousand credits, then stole some other stuff and took off. There were warrants out for his arrest but he vanished and they never caught up with him. Until now.”
Nick stared at her in horror. “What do you mean? You’re not planning on turning him in?”
“I don’t have to. Do you really think the captain isn’t reporting him right at this moment?” He went cold at the thought and jumped up, ready to go and plead with Tanya, but Poppy pulled him back down again into his seat, her fingers digging painfully into his arm. “Don’t you dare try to help him. He’s brought this on himself and I won’t have her doubting our loyalty.”
Nick pulled free of her restraining grip. “He’s my friend.”
He got up and, ignoring her protests, he hurried to the control room but Sycophant Two was the only one there. “Where’s Tanya?”
“I’ve no idea,” Keith said, pausing the recording he had been watching of Korloff and Larsha at an earlier time.
Nick made a move towards the door and stopped. It was no good – he would never find her. “Did she contact anyone about Reese before she left?”
“Not that I saw, although she could have gone to her room to make a call. Is it true that he’s a criminal?”
Nick glared at him. “Have you found out anything else from the recordings?”
“No. Not so far. Larsha was just trying to convince Korloff to let her go, that he would just end up getting caught and going to prison. He seems to have a pretty volatile temper. He hasn’t hurt her yet but he’s thrown furniture about over not getting the ransom money. If he doesn’t go for her idea to rob Uxor...”
Korloff would have no reason to keep her alive. “Then let’s hope he does. It might be our best chance of setting a trap for Korloff and rescuing Larsha safely.”
Another voice spoke. “That sounds like a good idea.”
He whirled round and saw Tanya standing in the doorway. “About Reese...”
“Tell Poppy and Reese that Paul Ninety, the station owner, reacted as Reese predicted and asked us to be his clients and solve the case if Uxor won’t change his mind which, at the moment, he won’t.”
“Then Reese is still part of our team?” he ventured.
“Just get this case solved.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“I HAVEN’T done anything dishonest in years,” Reese told Siglinde as they stood inside her store, shelves of goods around them making it feel as if the walls were closing in on him. “It was just the only way I could stay alive as a child.”
“You said you before that you were in British police.”
He grimaced. “Yeah, that was a lie.”
“So not always honest?”
“Not about my past. It’s not something I ever wanted people to know about – I wanted them to see me as someone successful and popular, not as the unlovable child I used to be. I’ve fought for years to change my image and get a better life and now...” He broke off and sighed heavily. It was over and it had all been for nothing.
There was a movement in the doorway and he looked round. Nick was standing there, watching him closely. “You were right about Paul Ninety. He’s taken over as our employer for the case. Tanya has just told me to get it solved.”
“And me?” He knew Jolly wouldn’t let him be imprisoned but he couldn’t see any reason for Tanya to keep him aboard the ship now.
“I don’t know what her long-term plans are where you’re concerned but she said that the three of us should continue to work together to solve this case.”
Reese stared at him, doubting his hearing. As far as the captain was concerned, he was a criminal, no different from the ones the team caught all the time and he’d only stayed on the ship in the first place by sleeping with her husband. It didn’t make sense, unless she intended to sack him when the case was over. That must be it. It was a disturbing thought but at least he might manage to talk to Nick before he left, so that Nick didn’t hate him.
“What doe
s Poppy say about this?” he asked.
“I haven’t told her yet.”
“Then let’s go.” He put a smile on his face. “I’m sure she’ll be delighted.”
“Lying again,” Siglinde said and it was impossible to tell from the translated words but he thought there might be amusement in her voice.
“I’ll have to be more careful about that,” he told her. He still wasn’t sure what she thought about everything he had told her and it was a lot to ask that anyone on the ship support him now but it would have been nice to know that she didn’t think too badly of him.
He left with Nick who said, “Do you mean that you’ll be careful not to lie or not to get caught lying?”
It was the latter but he didn’t want to admit it. “I’ll only tell a lie when I absolutely have to.”
“Then try not to say any more lies to me.”
He thought of the murder case of Baltid Athens that was his real reason for being on the ship. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t tell Nick about that and he wasn’t close to finding the killer just yet. “If you’ll give me a bit of time and a chance then I promise that one day I’ll answer any question you want to ask me honestly.”
He could see that Nick didn’t miss the fact that Reese would need to continue to be dishonest over certain things until that unknown time.
Poppy walked out of the canteen and saw them together. She marched over to them but, before she could speak, Nick said, “Tanya’s just told me that we’re to continue with the investigation. All of us.”
Poppy shot Reese a poisonous look. “Did you offer to have sex with her too?”
He hadn’t even considered that this might be what she wanted but he hadn’t ever got the impression that she had any interest like that in him, so it seemed unlikely. “No.”
“Would you, if that was what it took?”
Ensnared Page 9