35
Noah helped Geraldine put Eva’s seat into her car for the trip to the children’s farm but all the while, he was paranoid that Paul would spring up, way too early, and he couldn’t even look up and down the street. He had no idea when Conrad and any other officers involved would be nearby. They could even be here right now.
He closed the front door behind him after Geraldine and Eva left. One hour to go.
When Conrad had shown up to see him, Noah had expected him to be a total dick, to be laying down the rules and talking to Noah as if he was stupid, an irritation. But he hadn’t. Maya was right; the guy had done this before, was good at his job and he’d want a good outcome too. He still had his arm in a cast but Noah had no doubt he’d be taking part as best he could in all of this so he would be the one in control and to gain credit.
Conrad had filled Noah in on some of the other women who’d been duped by Paul or whatever name he went by when he was with them. The guy had covered his tracks to a certain extent, but had begun to get sloppy.
‘He never returns to an area more than once,’ Conrad had told him. ‘So he isn’t often recognised. His hair changes in length, facial hair added or taken away, but he slipped up as a lot of criminals do as time goes on. We got word he was around this area and unfortunately for him, he picked a target who resides in the same town as I live in.’ He said it as though it was him and him only who’d cast a net and captured his prey.
Noah let him have his moment of pride, of boasting or whatever it was. Because even though he couldn’t stand this guy and the way he was to Maya, if Conrad could get Paul out of his life and, more importantly, Eva’s, then that was enough for him.
‘What should I say to him when he turns up at the door?’ Noah asked.
Conrad looked at him like it was the most ridiculous question in the world. ‘You say nothing.’
‘Nothing? Seriously. I don’t think that will work.’
‘This isn’t a television cop show in which you’re an extra; there are no acting roles here, this is proper police work.’ He adjusted his belt, tugged at his shirt to straighten it up. ‘Tell him you have the money, hand it over, leave the rest to the professionals.’
As the time crept on, Noah imagined the officers taking their positions outside, wherever they might be, on foot or in vehicles.
The remaining minutes felt like the longest minutes of Noah’s life.
At last, when 2p.m. came around and there was a knock at the door, he rose from his position on the sofa, hands clammy, heart pounding. He took a deep breath. This was it.
There were no pleasantries when he opened the door.
‘Got it?’ Paul demanded. Overconfident, superior, a horrid excuse for a man.
From behind the door, Noah picked up the bag for life, scrunched over at the top, and handed it to Paul.
Paul looked inside, had a quick flick through some of the cash. ‘Assume it’s all there.’
Noah wanted to keep him talking for a minute, be sure Conrad and his team had a chance to get into position, get ready – he wasn’t even sure that was what they were doing, perhaps he really was channelling TV shows for his thought process, but this had to work. There was twenty thousand pounds in that bag, twenty thousand he and Eva could use to live their lives.
‘Count it if you like.’ Noah nodded to the bag.
‘I will, and I’ll be back if it’s not all there. You mark my words.’ He turned on his heel.
Noah called after him. ‘And this is it, you’ll piss off out of our lives?’
Paul turned and gave a mock salute and Noah, as he’d been instructed, closed the door. And when he leaned against it, his legs folded beneath him until he sunk to the floor.
He was starting to think Conrad had set him up to fail when he heard nothing.
But then, a commotion, voices, shouting out in the street.
Was the nightmare really over?
36
Maya was a bundle of nerves. The summer breeze lifted strands of her hair out of place and she hooked them behind her ear again. Ever the professional, she wore pressed trousers, a crisp, ironed, navy-blue shirt with their logo, The Skylarks written beneath the silhouetted bird in flight, across the back.
Things were well underway at the airfield for the Whistlestop River Air Ambulance. Most of the town were here – the pub’s owners, the man who ran the pharmacy, a few faces from the town hall, families she recognised from the neighbouring streets to her own. There was no opportunity to sneak off and try to call Noah. She had no idea how things had gone for him with Conrad and Paul. She’d been checking her phone whenever she could to find out and the fact she hadn’t heard a thing had to be a good sign, surely? Or was it the other way round, with no word an indication that things hadn’t gone to plan?
Maya had already done a talk to the general public today about Hilda, their trusty helicopter. The real Hilda was sitting out on the helipad, ready to go. With both crews here, they were all participating in the open day with the blue team on standby to go out should they get a job. Inside the hangar was anotherhelicopter, one Frank and the team he worked with had brought here so that visitors to the open day would be able to climb inside, have a good look around and ask questions of Maya or Vik, whoever was on their helicopter stint at the time.
