“Not as out of hand as they will get if you don’t start producing our money,” Kevin said from the corner of the room.
“Look, Charlie,” Toby said quietly. “It is quite simple. You took our money and we want it back. Just transfer it into our accounts and we will leave. No one wants it to get nasty. . . .”
He certainly didn’t. He didn’t really know much about Kevin Scott-Pennington—he’d had him down as educated, sophisticated, cool, but he could almost smell the testosterone coming off him. Toby felt like he was back at school, watching the big boys pulling the trousers off his writhing, sobbing friend, helpless, angry, afraid.
“Come on, Charlie, let’s get this sorted out.”
Charlie shook his head. “My dear boy, I have tried to explain to our friend here that it isn’t that simple. I’ve been let down too. We are all in the same boat. I’m going to lose my house.”
Toby looked over at Kevin.
“It’s bullshit,” Kevin said. “Tell Toby about the other people you’ve conned. Your former business associates in London—”
“I haven’t!” Charlie tried to bluster it out. “There may have been a misunderstanding. An honest mistake. All resolved.”
“Misunderstanding?” Kevin shouted, spit flying out of his mouth. “I’ve been making calls and that’s not what they say. The only mistake here was us getting duped into your dirty scheme.”
“Is there any money left?” Toby croaked.
“A few hundred,” Charlie said quietly. “I made a chancy investment and it didn’t pay off—you both knew there were risks involved.”
Kevin flew across the room at Charlie. “You’ve stolen it, haven’t you? This whole investment company is a fabrication. He’s done nothing but lie to us, Toby, from the moment we met him. We’ve been had.”
“I’m calling the police.”
“No. Not yet,” Kevin hissed. “He’s stashed the money somewhere—I bet he was about to run off with it. He’s got a bag with him. I think we should leave Mr. Perry to think things over for a while. Come to his senses.”
Toby looked at Charlie. He’d stolen their future. “Nice little business you’ve got here,” Charlie had said when he first offered to help Toby find the money for the baby.
Toby could see himself, excitement fizzing up his spine, as Charlie laid it all out. “It’s by invitation only,” he’d murmured, and winked. “But I think I could persuade the syndicate to allow one more in.”
Saul would leave him when it all came out. He’d have nothing.
“We need to make sure he doesn’t escape,” he said now, and Charlie’s head slumped onto his chest.
Toby crept back to his Volvo to find a strap he’d used to tie luggage down but came back with a giant roll of cling film he’d bought at the Cash and Carry instead.
Forty-nine
SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2019
Four days earlier
Charlie
It’d got dark in the basement. And cold. Charlie had struggled against his bindings as soon as they’d left, sure he could loosen them and get away. Bloody amateurs, he’d thought when they’d wound cling film round his body and told him they were leaving him to think it over. Not what he’d have done.
But the plastic film only got tighter as he pushed against it. Too many layers. Charlie was suddenly too tired to try anymore. The confrontation had exhausted him—fear did that. And he’d been afraid when Kevin had stuffed the towel back in his mouth. He struggled, fighting the wet material with his tongue and gagging. He knew he had to control his breaths, counting slowly in his head until the steel bands round his lungs started to give. Like his little girl must have done.
He let his body droop. He’d rest for a bit and then have another go. The light was fading, so he didn’t need to close his eyes but he did anyway. To shut it out. To shut Birdie’s terror out. And his guilt.
But the seed of his nightmare had germinated. Tendrils of dread wound themselves around him like another layer of cling film. The terrible images of that night played on a loop in his head.
He’d seen her in the ambulance and thought she was dead.
But it hadn’t been him who’d done that to her. It was Stuart Bennett. An addict with a volatile temper who’d gone into the house where his daughter was sitting like a sacrificial lamb.
She shouldn’t have been there. She shouldn’t have bloody well been there, screamed in his head. But she had been. She’d let herself in with the key Charlie had given her. Pressed on her when they started seeing each other again. Their little secret.