‘Oh, you think?’ Naomi lashed out and back-handed Lorie across the face. Lorie struggled to fight back, but Dan held her tight. ‘That one was from me.’ Naomi slapped her hard across the other cheek. ‘And that was from my parents who’ve loved you like you were their own daughter.’
‘Bitch,’ Lorrie screamed.
Naomi moved closer. ‘Well, it’s amazing what it does to a person being tricked into marriage, then being snatched and buried alive, then being taken and tied to a bed and being left for days with nothing to do but think. And then finding out that the people you loved most were responsible, and the person you loathed most was your only real friend. You kind of find yourself in a situation like that. I recommend it. In fact, I’m betting Dan could arrange the same treatment for you too.’
‘Let’s do it,’ Dan said, pressing the blade of the knife into Lorie’s neck until she didn’t dare move. She drew shallow breaths.
‘I know you won’t hurt me, Dan. You haven’t got the guts.’
‘I’ve sliced into dead people plenty of times, and you’re dead to me already.’
‘Take her to the house. I’ll bring the car,’ Naomi said.
‘We can’t stay here,’ Dan said, panic in his tone. ‘Not now. Don’t you see?’
‘We can’t go anywhere tonight, Dan,’ Naomi argued. ‘Besides, we have a hostage which gives us some leverage. We’ll use her if we have to – if she’s worth anything to anyone.’ She stretched out one hand in Lorie’s direction for the keys.
Lorie glared at her and held on to them. ‘You unbelievable bitch.’
Naomi took a step closer and leaned her head forward until they were almost nose-to-nose. ‘I haven’t even started yet, but I think I’m learning the ropes. I’m not that innocent girl you followed up the aisle in my sister’s place before you took off with my husband, Lorie.’
‘Husband,’ Lorie mocked. ‘He was never yours. He was never even attracted to you.’
‘Sure about that?’ Dan cut in. ‘What if Nathan enjoyed having two girlfriends?’ he shot into Lorie’s ear. ‘Nothing turns him on more than playing games with peoples’ heads. You know that better than anyone. When your jealousy didn’t drive him crazy, Lorie, it amused him quite a lot.’
‘You know nothing about our relationship,’ Lorie yelled.
‘Then how would I know this, “Do you enjoy kissing her, Nathan?” And he never answered your question because it entertained him too much to see you beg and then throw your little tantrums.’
Lorie tried to lash out, but Dan restrained her. The knife cut into her neck and started to ooze blood. ‘So I’ll answer your question, Lorie, seeing as Nathan never will. He loved being with Naomi and especially kissing her. She never tried too hard to impress him the way you had to, and the fact that he could never have her meant she drove him wild. So he was never yours either.’
Lorie, who’d been flicking her attention away from Naomi’s eyes, glared into them now without blinking. Naomi said, ‘I was with him for an hour in that hotel room, Lorie. He didn’t expect me to live, so how do you imagine we passed the time?’
Lorie shook her head and breathed hard. ‘You did nothing.’
Naomi managed to smile. ‘Nothing? All that pent up frustration over months. What, you think he turned me down when I stepped out of the shower and didn’t bother to get dressed?’
Tears of rage pricked Lorie’s eyes.
Naomi carried on. ‘You think I didn’t know how to seduce him? The fact that I had no experience was what made him want me most.’
‘The only way he wanted you was dead.’
‘You know, looking back, it didn’t feel that way to me. Nathan was very keen to make the most of what time we had left.’
Dan leant into her ear again. ‘Nathan uses people, haven’t you noticed? You served his purposes once, and now you’re no longer useful to him. Knowing Nathan, I’d say the relationship has run into a dead end.’
‘You’re lying, both of you,’ she yelled, eyes still on Naomi. ‘We’ll soon find out where Nathan’s loyalties lie. I know he loves me.’
‘He doesn’t know the meaning of the word,’ Dan replied. ‘Now move it. Time for bed.’
‘I have to get the money to Solomon.’
‘You should have thought of that before you came here.’
‘I have to settle it by tomorrow. Let me go.’
Dan hesitated, so Naomi stepped forward. She took hold of Lorie’s arm and prised the keys from her hand. ‘You’re going nowhere.’ Dan started to march her away, but he looked anxious as he glanced over his shoulder.
‘Lovely view from the window,’ Naomi called.
Naomi got into Lorie’s car, blocking the verbal abuse Lorie was hurling back at her. Satisfied she’d convinced Lorie that Nathan would send a search-party, Naomi found a smile had settled on her lips as she considered the real truth: that Nathan knew nothing. The battery had dislodged as soon as Lorie dropped the phone. Naomi assembled it and switched it on. There was a message from Nathan, which said, ‘Why aren’t you picking up? What the hell was the screaming about? Any news about Dan’s girl?’
On the screen in bubbles were the previous few messages they’d exchanged. Naomi got the picture pretty quickly. She pressed the screen to reply. ‘Tripped in the dark. Hurt my ankle. Dropped my phone. Dan was bluffing about the girl. Nothing happening. Staying in B&B. Off to bed now to put my leg up. I’ll set off early tomorrow to deliver the money to Solomon.’
Boiling inside, it took a few seconds for Naomi to muster the composure it took to finish with two of Lorie’s signature kisses. Having managed them through gritted teeth, Naomi sent the message, switched off the phone and fired the car engine.
<><><>
After an hour of yelling and stamping her feet, Dan went up to the room where Lorie was secured, and sedated her. Dan re-bolted the bed to the wall and moved it so she could use the bathroom. He returned to Naomi in the small sitting room. They looked at each other for a few moments without speaking, then he sat beside her on the sofa, arms spread over the back either side. He looked exhausted.
‘She’s right,’ Dan began. ‘We’re out of our league with no way out. And we’re not safe here anymore.’ Naomi half smiled back at him. ‘What do you know that I don’t?’ he asked.
‘Nathan knows nothing. No one’s coming to save her skin.’
Dan sighed in relief. His head dropped forward and he pushed both hands through his hair. Naomi produced Lorie’s phone and showed him the recent messages, stopping before the one she didn’t want him to see.
‘However much she winds you up,’ Naomi continued, ‘do not tell her that Nathan isn’t coming.’
‘I won’t.’ He relaxed and tipped his head back against the Chesterfield sofa. ‘Why did you lie when I asked you about it?’
‘Instinct. I thought we could use it.’
Dan reached out and found her hand. He covered it with his and squeezed. Dan’s hand was strong and warm. Naomi looked down as Dan tentatively weaved his fingers through Naomi’s and held them there. Naomi allowed it. Seconds stretched on until, eventually, Dan let go.
‘Sorry,’ he said.
She was watching him. ‘I’m not.’
He looked at her now with his piercing blue eyes, expression serious. ‘Naomi, you know I have . . . feelings for you. I know the circumstances are awful, but I can’t help it. I’m not expecting –’
‘Dan,’ Naomi absorbed his gaze. ‘Things are . . . complicated, you know? I’m not even sure who I am right now.’
Dan nodded reflectively. ‘Well, I think you’re amazing.’
Naomi half smiled. ‘Nathan said that to me once.’
‘Difference is, he didn’t mean it.’ Naomi went silent a beat. ‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Sure.’
‘On the wedding night, did you and Nathan actually –’
‘No.’ She dropped her head. Dan stroked her hand.
‘Sorry to ask. I just needed t
o know. I wouldn’t put anything past Nathan.’ He paused. ‘I’m so relieved.’
‘Me too.’ Naomi swallowed, gathering the courage to voice what was troubling her. ‘Dan, tell me the truth, did Nathan really enjoy being with me?’
Dan closed his eyes, opened them. ‘Honestly, I don’t know. I’m sorry. I heard her asking him a couple of times. I heard him dodging it in his typical way. I know Nathan and how he thinks. I wasn’t going to let her humiliate you, so I unleashed some ammunition I knew would hurt.’
‘You and me both.’ She couldn’t add anymore. She should have despised Nathan, but it was easier to blame Lorie and see Nathan as a victim, which was also stupid and illogical. Time to start thinking with her head.
‘I’m sure of something though,’ Dan said, pulling her from her thoughts. ‘For what it’s worth, kissing you was the best moment of my entire life.’ He paused. Their eyes locked. Naomi found herself mesmerised by the colour and intensity of them. ‘Even though you thought I was my brother.’
Naomi shook her head. ‘At some subconscious level, Dan, I knew you weren’t Nathan.’
‘Really?’
Naomi smiled weakly. ‘Nathan has never kissed me like that. I don’t think he’s ever wanted me that badly.’ Her smile fell away and she eyed Dan seriously. ‘And I’ve never wanted him as much as I wanted you that night.’
There was a charged silence where the only sound was the measured persistence of the hall clock. Eventually Dan cleared his throat and looked away and changed the subject. ‘So, what are we going to do about her?’ He flicked a finger towards the ceiling even though Lorie’s room was not directly above.
‘We’re going to finish her. Finish this. Clear up the mess somehow.’
‘And how’re we going to do that without ending up with a bullet in our necks or the police believing you were as much involved as Nathan?’
‘I have an idea, but I want to think it through. Do you have a computer?’
‘Course.’ Dan rushed to his room and appeared within seconds with an iPad. ‘What now?’
‘A few days before the wedding, my parents gave us a lot of money. We set up a joint bank account and deposited the cheque.’
‘Why didn’t he just transfer Solomon’s money to him?’
Naomi shrugged, but her mind got working. ‘I’m guessing a guy like that strictly wants cash, which I’m guessing takes time. I’m also guessing Nathan wanted me out of the way before he took a chunk like that out of our account.’
Dan squeezed her shoulder.
‘Let’s hope he hasn’t changed the password,’ Naomi added.
‘He thinks you’re dead. Why would there be a need?’
Naomi logged into the bank’s website and tapped in a user name and password. The screen went blank. Naomi held her breath.
‘Thank goodness,’ she said as the account details flashed up on the screen. A transfer had been made six days before, of fifty thousand pounds payable to Miss Loretta Taylor. There was still more than a million in the account.
‘Bingo,’ Dan whispered, looking over her shoulder. ‘This is proof of Lorie’s involvement. It’s taken her a few days to convert it into cash. Twenty for me, the other thirty for Solomon. She must have it with her.’
‘Give me your bank card, Dan.’
‘What for?’
‘I’m about to transfer a large sum of money.’
Dan reached inside his pocket for his wallet and produced a bank card. ‘Do you know what you’re doing?’
‘Yes. I’m stopping Nathan from getting his hands on my mum’s inheritance, so it’s going into your account for safekeeping.’ She looked steadily at Dan and tried to take the card off him, but he held on. ‘I know I can trust you.’
‘Of course you can trust me,’ Dan said. ‘But when Nathan notices it’s gone –’
‘It will be too late,’ Naomi said.
‘Too late for who?’
Naomi eyed Dan, but dodged the question until he finally let go of the card.
‘I’m only sorry I won’t see his reaction.’
‘You’re making me nervous, Naomi.’
Naomi made no comment as she read Dan’s details and emptied all the money into his account except the twenty pounds Nathan had put into the account to activate it. She handed the iPad to Dan. ‘Done. I’m tired now. I need to sleep. Can we talk tactics tomorrow?’
‘First thing,’ Dan said, standing up. ‘I’ll go and change my bed for you. I’ll sleep down here.’
Naomi stood up too. ‘No need. I’ll be fine down here.’ She looked at him and could see the objections in his eyes. ‘I don’t want to be anywhere near her upstairs. I don’t trust myself.’
Dan considered it a moment and his face softened. ‘OK.’
<><><>
It was impossible to know when the right moment to leave would arrive. Naomi was lying on the sofa the way she had been for hours: on her back, wide awake, fully dressed, afraid of making a noise. She was clutching Lorie’s car keys and her phone – her only source of telling the time – which she was checking every few minutes. For what seemed like an age, Naomi had stayed still and waited, listening, distracting herself by going over fine details in her head. It was almost three in the morning when everything upstairs finally settled into quiet. Dan, directly above her, had stopped turning over in bed.
At eight minutes past three, she got up to quietly locate something to write with, and on. She padded into the kitchen armed only with Lorie’s phone for light. She found a print-off of the cottage details that Dan had brought for the address and which was blank on the back. Beside it was a pencil and Dan’s bunch of keys. Naomi scribbled Dan a note, which she read back in her head.
It said:
Dan –
Whenever you find this, don’t leave the house or try to follow me. I’m not bailing on you, but let Lorie believe I am and play the role well. If I’d talked the plan over, you wouldn’t have agreed to take any risks. We can’t hide any more.
I have Lorie’s phone. Wait for me to call you. If Nathan rings, stay calm, get out of earshot of Lorie. Tell Nathan she never showed. Deny she’s been here at all.
I can never repay you for saving my life, but I can try to sort out the mess from here without dragging you further in. Trust me OK? I’ll be in touch.
N.
Should she add a kiss? She wanted to, but decided not. Naomi quietly removed a key from Dan’s set. It was the one that was most familiar, the one that filled her head with memories and her eyes with tears. She blinked them away and returned to the small lounge where she sat, back straight, waiting on the sofa for a few more solitary minutes. Nothing happened. The house was as silent as a sepulchre. Almost. The clock spewed its robotic rhythm from the hall. Naomi could see the pendulum swinging in her mind’s eye. In her head, she counted down from five, stood up, then advanced stealthily towards the kitchen again. She’d probably never see this house again. It was seared onto her memory.
The key was in the lock in the back door. She slid Lorie’s phone inside her pocket and clutched the keys to prevent a noise. She crossed the kitchen and paused to listen. With concentration, she could still hear the clock. One click and the key turned in the lock. One gentle slide and the bolt across the top was free.
Naomi let herself into the back garden and took pains to close the door. She picked her way through darkness to the front of the house. She unlocked the car and cringed as the four lights flashed suddenly. Naomi hurried to the car on tiptoes and got inside. She switched on the engine, slid the car into first, and quietly pulled away without looking back. The expected call from Dan never came. Two and a half hours later, Naomi had pulled into Salford Quays and was getting out of the car and looking round at the black windows of Nathan and Dan’s flat.
&nb
sp; The dark water was shimmering with pools of yellow light from a line of lampposts. She went to the boot of the car and found what she expected to find: piles of money zipped up in two plain black bags. Her money. She picked the bags up. They weren’t particularly heavy. On her way up to the flat, she checked the message on Lorie’s phone which she’d hidden from Dan – the one that contained Solomon’s address and warned Lorie that the deadline for payment was up at midday the day after. Even a second late was too late. The ‘or else’ part of the message wasn’t needed. The address was in Gatley, South Manchester. What made her shudder was that it was only about seven miles from home.
There was another message from Nathan with a flight number and time to pick him up discreetly from the airport. It had been five days since the farcical tragedy. It was old news now, and old news had a short life in the public’s memory. Would Nathan fly home to a gathering of interested journalists a week after the event? She doubted it.
Naomi scanned the starless September sky where the west was still black and the east was flushing pink. It wouldn’t be long before the city sprung to life and the mechanics of a hectic day began to hum. She found the door and remembered the code to the building and entered at five forty-six. Relieved to have made it safely, she carried the money to the second floor and let herself into the flat, seeing no one en route. She closed the door and paused to inhale the familiar scent and feeling of the place. Her legs buckled.
She stumbled into the unlit bedroom and crawled into Nathan’s bed in the dark, fully clothed. Aware of the nearby wardrobe containing all her clothes and shoes, she broke down. Her head filled with recent scenes of hauling all her things into the flat with Nathan, until she sunk into sleep.
Her dreams were jumbled and senseless. It was the phone, still in her hand, that alerted her and brought her back to Nathan’s bed and the room that was littered with her stuff and now drenched in daylight. The light was too bright for early morning. She’d missed a message from Dan and there was a message from Nathan. She read Nathan’s message first. ‘Waiting to hear from you. By now you’ll be on your way to Solomon’s. Don’t go inside. Leave the money with whoever answers the door and get away from there. Report back to me the minute it’s done so I can relax. See you tomorrow. X’
Either Side of Midnight (The Midnight Saga Book 1) Page 35
