Blackstone's Pursuits (21 page)

Noosh looked at us, stood there together, in total surprise. And then she smiled. It was raining in the Sahara again. ‘Well goot for you,’ she said, in her funny accent, with its hint of her Eastern European origins. I reckon that was the most sincere thing she’s ever said to me.

‘Jan never said about you,’ she added, as if to explain her surprise. ‘So what brought you to see us. Your good news?’

‘That and a knackered washing machine,’ said Prim.

‘Ah! But you stay to supper?’ We both nodded. ‘Good. Excuse me, I must change. Back in a minute, Jan darling.’ She patted her grey suit, which matched the streaks in her hair, and walked through to their bedroom.

‘Oz,’ she called through. ‘I hope you have that car MOT-d.’

‘Yeah. I’m still waiting for my tax disc, but it’s okay. Why d’you ask?’

She stepped back into the kitchen, wearing a light dress. “Cause when I got home there was a policeman in uniform giving it a funny look. I don’t think that he was looking at the tax disk, more the number. You don’t report it stolen to claim the insurance, no?’

I didn’t say a word. Instead I strode back through to the living room and peered out into Castle Terrace from behind the curtain. The line of parked cars had thinned out as the office building next door had emptied, and there were only three to be seen on the far side of the street, mine and two others, a battered old Mini and a Citroen with French plates. There was no sign of a policeman.

Jan and Prim looked at me anxiously as I came back into the kitchen. I answered them with a quick smile and a shake of the head. ‘Whatever it was, he’s buggered off.’

‘That’s good,’ said Jan, ‘because your rice must be nearly ready!’

We ate in the small back room which Noosh and Jan use as a dining room. The stir fry was one of Jan’s best ever, full of chunky monkfish, mushrooms, yellow peppers and lemon grass, but it was wasted on me. I kept thinking about that copper, and his unhealthy interest in my car. I excused myself as soon as I had finished, and went back through to the living room, back to my stance behind the curtains.

The battered Mini was gone, but the Citroen was still there. Beyond it, there was a third car, a black Vauxhall Cavalier, with a mobile telephone antenna sticking out of its roof. There was a man in the driver’s seat, a big man. It was still raining quite hard, and from that distance I couldn’t quite make out his face, but I was in no doubt who it was.

I went back through to the dining room, where the girls were having coffee. ‘Jan, have you still got that telescope?’ I gave Jan a spyglass one Christmas, basically because I’d run out of ideas.

She looked puzzled for a second, than caught on. ‘Yes. Come on.’

She led me through to the bedroom. The telescope was on her bedside table. In normal circumstances I’d have taken longer to wonder what they used it for, but my mind was on other things. Prim and Noosh were waiting for us in the living room. I motioned them to stay back from the window and slid in behind the curtain, taking care not to disturb it. Carefully I focused the telescope on the Cavalier. Just as I did so, the man in the driver’s seat leaned forward, and I had a clear view of his face.

I swore softly.

‘What is it?’ asked Prim.

‘It’s Ricky Ross. That copper must have called in my number.’

Anoushka stood there looking bewildered. ‘I’ll tell you later,’ Jan said to her.

‘What are you going to do?’ she asked.

‘Good question. Is the washing machine finished drying out gear yet?’

‘Should be.’

‘Okay,’ said Prim. ‘I’ll pack the bag.’

Jan stood in the centre of the room, mulling something over. At last she nodded, decisively. Then she kicked off her shoes, and ran back through to the bedroom, beckoning me to follow. By the time I got there she had stepped out of her skirt and was unbuttoning her blouse. ‘What is this,’ I said. ‘One last time for luck?’ I was comforted by the knowledge that even in times of crisis, the daft side of me could still come to the surface.

She shot me a quick, ‘You should be so lucky!’ and began to step into a pair of jeans which had been lying across the dressing-table stool. ‘Get me your anorak,’ she ordered. I began to see what she had in mind. I did as I was told and fetched the horrible, hooded green garment from the hall. She fastened her jeans and pulled on a sweatshirt, then tried the anorak for size. As I’ve said, she’s a tall girl, so it wasn’t a bad fit. She pulled on a pair of old trainers, looked at herself in a full-length mirror and nodded her satisfaction, then turned and pushed me out of the room, back into the kitchen. There, Prim was packing the final items into our bag, folding them as best she could. Noosh stood with her back to the sink, still looking bewildered.

‘Right,’ said Jan. ‘This is your best chance. I’ll wear this gear. I’ll run out, jump into Oz’s car and drive it away. I’ll tie the hood tight, and with any luck, the guy out there will think it’s Oz and follow.

‘Oz, my Fiesta’s parked in the back yard. Once you see him move off, the pair of you get downstairs and get as far away from here as you can. The car’s not long after a service, so it should get you to Switzerland all right.’

All of a sudden I was emotionally full up. I’d never felt closer to the girl; never in all of our lives had I realised how strong was the bond between us. ‘Hold on a minute, Jan. This is a dangerous guy. He’ll catch up with you.’

‘But he won’t stop me, not even if he lies down in the road. If I have to I’ll just drive to the nearest police station and run in screaming that there’s a man following me. Now no more arguments, unless you’ve got a better idea.’

I hadn’t, and I didn’t know what to ay, so I just kissed her. For a moment I thought Prim might be mad, but she kissed her too. Just to be on the safe side, I kissed Noosh as well. Prim drew the line at that.

Jan and I exchanged car keys, and we all went back through to the living room. We stood there in a circle, smiling nervously at each other. I tied the cords of the anorak hood tight under Jan’s chin, pulling it down to cover her face. We shared a last long look that neither Noosh nor Prim could see, a look that said a hundred things, from ‘Thanks’ to ’Remember that time in the dunes in the East Bay at Elie, when there was no-one else around ...’ Probably, it was as well that neither Noosh nor Prim could see our eyes.

And then Jan was gone. The front door closed and she was off down the stairs. I went back to my spy-hole and looked down into the street. Every Tuesday at Meadowbank, Ali tells me I run like a girl, so she was a pretty good imitation. I didn’t realise she could move that fast ... well, she’s never run away from me. She was across the street in a flash. Unlocking the door, she jumped into the car. Just then I panicked, thinking she’d flood the carburettor, but Jan knows the old Nissan pretty well, and it started first time.

As soon as I heard the engine’s cough, I looked back at the Cavalier. Ross was sitting bolt upright in his seat, fiddling with his key. I heard his ignition snarl, but soon it fired up. Jan had barely swung the Nissan away from the kerb and round into Johnstone Terrace, before he was after her. ‘Clever girl,’ I said. ‘She’ll lead him where there are no traffic lights.

‘Right, let’s do what she says, and make ourselves scarce. Thanks, Noosh, see you soon ... we hope.’

I grabbed the bag with one hand and Prim with the other, and together we legged it down the stairs, past the front door and down to the basement level. Jan’s red Fiesta Sport was next to the exit. It burst throatily into life at the first turn of the key. With barely a backward look we were off, out into Castle Terrace then away down to the Grassmarket, in the opposite direction to that in which Jan had headed.

Ali was waiting in the shop with our passports. Prim stayed in the car as I rushed in. ‘Thanks mate,’ I said. ‘Do one thing more for me, will you. Get my diary and check my faxes and messages. Then call Jimmy and ask him to handle my work till I get back, same as usual.’

My chum nodded his turban. ‘Fair enough. That still leaves one problem, though.’

‘Eh?

‘It means we’ll be one short at the fitba’ tomorrow night!’

In which we begin a circuitous journey South, and have a surprise phone call.

‘So that’s Jan’s secret, is it?’ Prim mused, as we headed down the A1, bypassing Haddington.

‘No secret, except from the good burghers of Enster.’

‘How long have they been ...’

‘I told you, around four years.’

‘You should have said something to warn me, you sod. Mind you, when I saw that living room, I began to get the idea. It’s a couple’s room, but there’s nothing masculine about it.’ She thought about it some more. ‘There’s nothing stereotyped about them, is there?’

‘No, they’re not your average person’s idea of a gay couple. But there’s shades of everything you know.’

‘They look happy enough. Are they, d’you think?’

‘Most of the time. There are tensions, though.’

‘Do you think it’ll last?’

‘I don’t know. Look at the number of heterosexual relationships that break up. Why should gay couples be different? They have another complication too. Jan’s AC/DC. Could be she’ll meet a man who can give her more than Noosh can. I hate to think how Anoushka’d cope with that.’

‘Well, I think they’re nice, and I hope she doesn’t have to.’

‘Okay, love, but just don’t let Auntie Mary hear you say that.’

I drove on down the road towards the darkening South, taking care not to trip any of the speed cameras. I was still worried about Jan, being pursued by Ricky Ross, and I reckoned that the last thing she would want after that would be a fixed penalty speeding ticket, when she hadn’t even been driving.

One of the good things about driving at night is the lack of heavy traffic. With nothing to hold us back, we made Newcastle in Jan’s nippy wee motor in just under two hours.

‘Oz,’ said Prim, as the ring road round the city merged with the AlM, ‘where exactly are we going? And do we have to get there in one go?’

She was right. I was just driving, with no clear game plan. ‘I guess we’re heading for Dover,’ I said. ‘I just want to get out of this country. Ross must have worked out what we’ve done by this time. Even if he didn’t hassle Jan, by this time he’ll know who she is. We’ve got to assume he’s traced her car number through the police computer.’

‘What if he has? What can he do about it? Will he have us stopped at the ferry?’

‘Hardly. He can’t involve anyone else in this or he’s in trouble. I guess he’ll come after us.’

‘And when he finds us?’ I wouldn’t say that she sounded apprehensive, she never does. But the question was tentative, no doubt about it.

‘Remember Willie Kane?’ She nodded, getting my drift.

‘Could he get ahead of us? Could he beat us to Dover?’

I thought about it. We’d wasted some time at Ali’s, and if Ross had been able to do a quick PNC check, then ... My musing was interrupted by the warbling of my mobile on the back seat. Even though I was driving, I jumped. Prim looked at me. I nodded to her. ‘Answer it.’

She reached round, picking up the phone and pressed the receive button. ‘Yes?’ she said gruffly, disguising her voice, rather pointlessly I thought. Then her face lit up with relief. ‘It’s you, Jan! Are you okay?’ She paused, listening. Suddenly she laughed. ‘Serves him right. It was good of you to think of calling.

‘Where are we?’ She looked out of the window. ‘Just passing Durham, I think. On our way to Dover, Oz says.

‘Yes; of course. We’ll try to keep in touch.’ She pressed the cut-off button and put the phone on her lap.

‘She’s okay,’ she said, sounding as relieved as I was. ‘Apparently he didn’t get alongside her until red traffic lights at Meadowbank. When he looked across, she just pulled the hood down and glared at him. She said she thought he would burst.

‘He signalled her to pull over and she did, because there were plenty of people around. He asked her who she was and she told him. Then she asked him what he meant by this. He spun her a story about you being under police observation on suspicion of theft. She said that was rubbish. She said your father was a dentist, as if that would help!

‘She told him that you were out of town and that you’d lent her your car since hers was being repaired. Then she got stroppy with him and asked to see his warrant card. That was enough. He said, “Sorry to have troubled you, Miss,” and buggered off.’

I winced. ‘Thank Christ she’s okay. I doubt if Ross’ll give her any more trouble. Still, he has her name. That means he’ll have all the rest of it by now.’

I looked at the clock on the dashboard. If it was accurate, it was twenty to ten.

‘Tell you what,’ I said. ‘Why don’t we stop for the night? Ross might not be able to catch us before we reach Dover, but he could get there before the ferry sailed.’

‘Couldn’t we take the Chunnel?’

I made a face. ‘I hate Chunnels. Anyway, the same thing could happen there. No, here’s my suggestion. We stop now for the night. Tomorrow we drive to Portsmouth and take a ferry to Brittany. Then we head across France and surprise my big sister. She and her man live near the Swiss border.

‘If Ross is following us, he’s bound to head for Dover, then for Geneva and Berners Bank, just as fast as he can. Let him. If we don’t go there ourselves until next Thursday, maybe, by that time, he’ll have decided we’re not coming.’

‘Some chance of that!’
I thought.

‘Some chance of that!’ Prim said. ‘But yes, I’ll buy that idea. We might as well travel in comfort. Let Ross do the chasing!’

We turned off at Darlington, but as an added precaution, we decided not to stop in one of the hotels in town. Instead we headed for the outskirts, until we came upon a place not big enough to call itself a village, appropriately named Middleton-One-Row. It was big enough to have a nice roadside inn, the kind that’s always popular with reps. There was one room left, twin-bedded. I looked at Prim, questioningly. She nodded, so I booked us in. The owner was a cheerful chap, and his chef did a remarkably good salmon en
croûte,
even at that time of night. Afterwards, we had a couple of pints with our host. His name was Peter and he seemed glad of the company, but at a quarter to midnight, we said goodnight and left him to close up.