Miss No One Mark Ayre (children's books read aloud TXT) 📖

save my daughter? I'm not sure she'll thank you."

"I won't kill you," said Abbie. "But if you don't do what I say, I'll put a bullet in each of your legs. It'll hurt. A lot."

Keeping the gun steady, Abbie offered the paper clip to the detective.

"There's a tiny hole on the side of your phone," she said. "Prod the end of the paperclip into it, and your SIM card will pop right out."

"You're not taking my SIM,” said Ndidi.

"Very astute, now do as your told."

He stared at her. His eyes were on the barrel of the gun, which was aiming at his chest. Not very persuasive when Abbie had already said she wouldn't kill him. She lowered her aim to his right knee.

"While we're young."

Still, he hesitated. When Abbie stepped forward, he got the message and grabbed the paperclip.

"You'll never get away with this," he said.

Abbie made a non-committal noise and looked across the room. There was a picture of Ndidi, a woman that had to be his wife, and Isabella, all three beaming. The smiles looked genuine.

"I'm sure you miss your daughter with all your heart," said Abbie. "I promise you'll see her again."

"I know," he said. "But not because of you."

The SIM case popped out of the phone. Before Ndidi could do anything, Abbie had grabbed the handset and yanked it from the detective's hands.

"Don't panic," she said as he squeaked. "I'm sure this is the phone the kidnappers will ring if they need to get in touch, and I don't want you to miss that. But I need a headstart before you call your copper mates on me. You understand."

Removing the SIM from the casing, Abbie rested it on her thumb, then flicked it as she might flip a coin. It sailed through the air and disappeared down the back of the sofa. Abbie dropped the casing to the floor and turned off the handset.

"Pretty soon," said Abbie, "I believe we're going to become allies. We'll work together to save your daughter. I'm looking forward to that."

"In fifteen years, when I'm watching my daughter graduate university, you'll still be rotting in a prison cell."

Abbie gave a contemplative nod.

"Maybe we'll both be right."

Ndidi said nothing. He was a ball of seething resentment, anger and worry.

"I am sorry about this," she said, handing over the phone.

He took the handset. Opened his mouth to spit some vile insult Abbie's way.

And she smashed her gun into his face, sending him spinning to the floor, blood spraying from his nose."

She closed her eyes, allowing guilt for the sudden attack to wash over her for two seconds and no more.

"Catch you in a bit," she said and rushed out the back door as fast as she could.

After all, she had another meeting to keep.

Twenty-Four

Abbie made the pickup. Exact time, exact place. The car had barely stopped when Abbie opened the door and dropped inside. Then they were off.

Ana's hands remained tight on the wheel as she drove. The strain of frustration and nervous energy on her face did nothing to diminish her beauty, which was annoying. Unfair. Abbie sometimes felt as though her lifestyle had aged her prematurely, though she still drew an eye or two. Not that it had ever mattered. Dating had been off the cards until she met Bobby, and he was different.

"I disposed of the evidence," said Ana as they drove. It took Abbie a few seconds to realise what she meant. Had they murdered someone? If so, Abbie had forgotten, which was alarming.

Then it clicked.

"The mugs?"

Ana nodded.

"Oh, for God's sake."

"I was careful not to touch anything else," said Ana. "You were reckless, as noted, but at least I’ll be free to represent you following your arrest. I won't be fighting my own conviction."

"You need to calm down," said Abbie. "Ndidi is busy worrying about his daughter and he’s afraid of what I might tell the police if they catch me. He won’t call his colleagues until all this is all over. Once it is, whether I was or was not in Ndidi's house will be the least of my worries. I'll be facing a murder charge."

Ana drove on. Their destination was a block of flats a ten-minute drive from Ndidi's place. Though it was unlikely the police were looking for Abbie's lawyer's car or that they would recognise it, Ana parked half a mile out. By the time they got out and closed their doors, the sun had given up on this late March day, and a half-moon had taken its place. There were probably police about, searching for Abbie, but they should be okay so long as they were careful.

As they made their way towards the flats, Ana spent more time checking for oncoming police than did Abbie.

"People who murder police officers tend not to stick around," said Abbie. "Most police resources will have gone into blocking the roads out of town. By now, they're probably concluding that I've escaped. They'll keep a presence locally but spend more time sending my face around to stations across the country, for wherever I turn up next.

Again, Abbie thought of Ben. Not for the first time, she wondered how he'd be dealing with this. It was easy to fall into the trap of telling herself if she'd had the strength to ditch Bobby, she wouldn't have the cops on her trail now. Of course, this wasn't true. Everything would have gone the same. Right now, Ben's teams would be working to mitigate the damage. Still, even the organisation that had so recently fired Abbie had its limits.

With Ben or without, when this was over, Abbie would always have had to face the music.

In some ways, that was comforting.

She wondered how long after her conviction Bobby would dump her. Then pushed that thought away. She had no use for it now.

They turned a corner, and the block of flats loomed over them. Another car passed, and Ana flinched.

"Are you sure this a good idea?" she asked as the car turned