Either Side of Midnight (The Midnight Saga Book 1)

by Tori de Clare

  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 re
gistration 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: hotter, 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.

  Nathan laughed and carried on. ‘You haven’t buried him already?’

  ‘No, I’ll bring him out. Plus, I have a little surprise for you.’

  ‘Oh?’ Nathan said, half curious, half cautious.

  Naomi wondered if it was her cue to lose the mask. She hesitated because Solomon was looking in the opposite direction. From beyond a distant tree, Carter emerged with Dan and Lorie, whose head was covered with a sack. Naomi found Nathan through the eye slits. In profile, she could see the look of confusion. His eyes were narrowed and fixed on the growing figures in the moonlight. Nathan swallowed hard and said nothing.

  When they were all standing together, Nathan was still staring at Lorie trying to see beyond the cover at the face that lay beneath. He barely even noticed Dan.

  Solomon took the lead again. ‘So, I don’t think we need any introductions.’

  Nathan couldn’t speak.

  ‘It’s rude to stare, Nathan. Courtesy, remember. Eyes off the lady.’

  ‘Who the hell is that?’ Nathan asked, in a voice that implied he barely wanted to know.

  Lorie was whimpering beneath the bag. Dan pulled it free of her head. Nathan’s mouth fell open. Lorie was gagged. Eyes and nose streaming. Dan released the cloth from round her mouth.

  ‘They told me you were dead,’ Lorie sobbed, wiping her face, gasping, eyes blinking, stumbling towards Nathan. Nathan didn’t move. Nobody stopped Lorie’s advance as she tried to hurry into the safety of Nathan’s arms. But he was a statue, stiff and unyielding. She looked into his eyes. ‘Dan told me you were dead,’ she repeated, desperately trying to reach him, failing. ‘She stole my car and the money.’

  Lorie raised her arm in Naomi’s direction.

  ‘Not quite the reception you’d expected,’ Solomon said. ‘Manners, Nathan, she’s relieved to see you.’

  Nathan was winded. He turned to Solomon in slow motion, then to Naomi. Unable to find his voice, he nodded at her vaguely.

  Her moment had come. Naomi pulled the bag from the back of her neck and threw it down and shook her hair.

  Nathan stared, eyes wide. Naomi stared right back. ‘Hey Nathan. Been chasing ghosts all day?’

  There was a silence where nobody moved. ‘You?’

  ‘Me. From the
moment you stepped off that plane, you were always going to land up in this cemetery tonight, right in the spot where you sent me. I brought you here, not the other way around.’

  Nathan turned to Dan. ‘You . . . and her.’

  ‘You didn’t seriously think I could hurt her,’ Dan said.

  ‘I didn’t think you’d get a choice,’ Nathan stammered.

  ‘There’s always a choice, Nathan,’ Dan threw back.

  Solomon broke into applause and a small chuckle. He looked at Naomi. ‘You were absolutely right. This has been very satisfying – so much so, I’d have done it for free. You’ve let an incredible girl go, Nathan. What were you thinking? She’s beautiful. She’s smart. And very soon, she’ll be rich and single. You took out life insurance, isn’t that right? What you don’t know is that it’s difficult to make a claim without a death certificate, so you’d have been struggling to claim. But, if you don’t make it tonight, she’s sure to get one.’

  Naomi had her eye on Dan who looked anxious to step forward and say something. Naomi warned him not to, through her eyes. The only relaxed one was Solomon.

  ‘So, what now?’ Solomon said, rubbing his hands together, looking about him.

  Naomi stepped forward. ‘Now we call the police. I’m leaving with Dan and these two will get what they deserve.’

  ‘Stick around for the show,’ Solomon said, not a request, a new edge in his voice. ‘It’s early, Naomi. I’m just loosening up.’

  Solomon unzipped the bag and littered the contents on the ground. Only a small amount of money fell out along with bundles of cut up newspapers bound with rubber bands.