‘Don’tmateme,’ Conrad bit back. ‘Piss off.’
‘You’re paranoid,’ Maya told him. ‘The only person against you is yourself. You’re your own worst enemy. And you’ve been blackmailing me for long enough.’
‘What, so now you’re going to tell everyone your little secret? You’ll tell everyone in there…’ He jabbed a finger towards the air ambulance base. ‘You’ll tell them what you did. Little Maya, so innocent… or not, as it happens.’
Noah’s voice, low and with a degree of toughness, warned, ‘Leave her alone.’
‘Don’t threaten me.’
Conrad stepped so close to Maya, she could smell the foul scent of alcohol on his breath. ‘You two think you’re detectives but you should leave it up to the professionals so you don’t mess this up.’ He pulled up slightly taller, hands on hips. ‘You’re impeding an investigation, you know.’
Maya had to do something to salvage this. ‘I’m betting your work doesn’t think that’s the sort of paperwork you’re in possession of right now.’
She could tell by his reaction, the way his eyes lost more of their threat, that she was spot on. So she continued. ‘And as for letting a member of the public get hold of confidential information? Well, that’s a no-no. That could get you in a lot of trouble.’
Conrad took a moment to digest what she was saying. ‘Well played, Maya. But it’ll be my word against yours. I can’t help who breaks into my house and goes rummaging?—’
‘That’s where you’re wrong.’ Noah stepped closer to Maya’s side. ‘The day you came to my house and tried to blackmail me, offering me the information in that file in exchange for me leaving Maya alone, I recorded it all.’
‘Bullshit.’
Noah shrugged, took out his phone, found the appropriate segment and played it out loud for Conrad to hear.
‘That’s enough,’ Conrad snapped halfway through the recorded exchange. Evidently, he didn’t want to hear it again either. ‘What’s he gonna do with the information?’ Conrad directed the question to Maya.
But Noah stepped in again. ‘I haven’t contacted the police yet. We are the only people who’ve heard the recording.’
‘You going to send it to them?’ Conrad was doing his best to look as though he was in control, but he was rattled and it gave Maya a modicum of pleasure to watch him squirm.
‘Not sure,’ Noah shrugged.
Conrad’s left eyebrow went up slightly more on the right side, a sign his interest was piqued. ‘Why not?’
‘I tell you what…’ Noah stood a lot taller than his opponent, who staggered again thanks to the vodka and little time to soberup. ‘I won’t go to the police as long as whatever hold you have over Maya, you let it go.’
Conrad roared with laughter. ‘Piss off! You don’t get to tell me what to do!’
‘Okay then.’ And Noah turned and stepped back towards his car. He’d left the door open so he could hear Eva from a couple of metres away where they stood. ‘I’ll go home and make the call, let the police know about our little conversation. I’ll sort everything out for myself and you’ll be dealing with the consequences.’ He climbed into the car and started up the engine.
Before he could drive away, Conrad stepped in front of the vehicle and slammed his hands onto the bonnet.
Noah wound down his window and warned, ‘Get out of my way.’
But Conrad stood his ground.
Noah got out of the car and met him face on. ‘I said out of my way.’
Conrad held up a hand and whined, ‘Hold on a minute.’
‘Why should I?’
‘Because…’ he said as though they were both stupid. ‘Because as I’ve told you both, this isn’t a game for amateur detectives. It’s police business.’
‘And whatever you’re shooting your mouth off about when it comes to Maya isherbusiness.’
Conrad’s jaw clenched.
‘Am I right?’ Noah demanded.
