‘You want money? You want me to pay for what’s mine?’
‘Possession is nine-tenths of the law, and yes, I want money. You lost me money, a lot of money. I want some of that back.’
‘How did I lose you money?’
‘If you hadn’t been so quick to get Bastian’s thesis to the judges for the prize, I’d have won it, no question.’
‘You left the island before I did. Why didn’t you get your own book off so quickly?’
‘I hadn’t finished writing it!’
He seemed annoyed and Cass thought she’d better not risk him getting angry. ‘So how much do you want for the camera?’
‘Less than what I’d have got for it if I’d sold it, which I think is more than fair.’
‘How much?’
‘A thousand pounds.’
Cass felt sick. She’d got out as much money from her bank account as she could, but it wasn’t that much. ‘That’s ridiculous!’
‘It’s a bargain. The going rate for a Leica M3 is higher than that.’
Cass found her lips had gone dry. She had no idea if this was true; he could easily be lying. In the forest he’d said it wasn’t very valuable. She knew her father’s camera was a Leica, but she didn’t know the number. It was just her dad’s camera, although she knew he’d added a lens he had to adapt himself to fit.
Sweat pricked along her hairline and, without thinking, she undid a few buttons of her cardigan and unhooked her little crossbody handbag. ‘Can you prove that?’
‘I’ll show you on eBay.’ Austin went to the small desk where his laptop lay. It took him a few moments to find what he wanted and Cass realised two things: firstly, there would be such a range of prices on an auction site he could find the number he wanted, and secondly, she could escape while his attention wasn’t on her. But she needed the camera first.
‘There,’ he said.
Cass took a couple of steps nearer. Sure enough, there was a camera going for a huge amount of money. But was it her dad’s camera? Would Austin realise she didn’t know the model number?
‘OK, but do you actually have my father’s camera? Showing me pictures on the internet is all very well but it’s not proof that you’ve got it.’
‘I knew you’d be difficult about this. You always were annoying.’ He went to a corner of the room, rummaged through a bag and produced a camera. ‘Here!’
‘That could be any old snapper you’ve found somewhere.’
His horror at this suggestion encouraged her to believe it was the right camera. ‘Here! See for yourself.’
Holding the camera was a wonderful feeling. And yes, it was the right camera; it was familiar in her hand. But whether it really was worth a thousand pounds, she couldn’t say. ‘OK. That’s the camera you stole from me. I’ll take it now. Thank you very much.’
She was across the room in seconds, but he got to the door first. ‘Oh no you don’t. You can’t just take it after I’ve gone to all this trouble to get it to you.’ He pulled the camera out of her hand but she’d wrapped the strap round her wrist so he couldn’t get it free.
‘Give me back the camera,’ demanded Cass, although the strap was cutting in painfully. ‘You know you stole it.’ By now she was angry as well as frightened.
But he had hold of the camera so Cass was pulled up against him. She was suddenly aware of how vulnerable she was, her body pressed against his.
‘Nothing is free in this world, sweetheart. I want something in return.’
‘I’ll get the money out of the nearest cashpoint—’
‘I’ve rather lost interest in the money. I could let you go and get it and you could just run off. No, I’d rather have what’s right in front of me. The bird in the hand, so to speak.’ He seemed to find his joke very amusing. His mouth came down on hers so she couldn’t even scream.
Then, just as Austin had pulled her dress off her shoulder, there was a banging on the door, followed by a loud scraping noise and another crash as the door was forced open.
Ranulph burst in and pulled Cass away from Austin, unaware that her wrist was connected to the camera. Then he punched Austin in the jaw, sending him, the camera and Cass crashing to the ground. Cass ended up on top of Austin.
