‘The camera!’ she gasped. ‘It’s under him! We have to get it out!’
Austin was fighting back. Cass couldn’t get up until she’d managed to release the strap of the camera which was really hurting now. Once Austin realised he had Cass where he wanted her, unable to escape with the camera, he stayed down.
Ranulph pulled him to his feet and Cass released her wrist. She tried to grab the camera, but Austin was keeping a firm hold on it.
There was a struggle as Cass, still furious and made braver by Ranulph’s presence, grabbed the camera and ran out of the room on to the landing and down to the street.
Ranulph followed soon after her.
‘I’ve got the camera,’ she said, panting. ‘But he’s got my basket and handbag.’
Without speaking, Ranulph turned and went back into the hotel. Cass was leaning against the railings when he came out again, holding her straw basket and her bag. ‘Here.’
Cass was feeling dreadfully faint. Suddenly she was aware of Ranulph’s arm around her, holding her up. ‘Have you eaten today?’ he asked softly.
‘I can’t remember,’ she said, her head still spinning.
Ranulph half carried her to a little café that had an outside table. He set her down on a chair and disappeared inside. He came out again soon afterwards with a tall glass of orange juice.
‘Drink this. It’ll give you some sugar and make you feel better quickly. I’ve ordered some food.’ He gave a rueful smile. ‘I hope you like it.’
A few sips of orange juice and Cass’s brain began working. ‘You don’t think Austin will see us here?’
Ranulph shook his head. ‘No, I don’t. He was calling a cab when I went back to the room and looked pretty fed up. I think he knows he might as well just go back to America. He’s probably on the way to the airport by now.’
‘He surely didn’t come to England just to try and blackmail me over the camera? That would hardly have been cost effective, even if I’d paid up!’
Ranulph laughed. ‘He had other reasons for being here. Remember he’d been to see Bastian’s publishers and was trying to discredit what Bastian wrote aboutthe petroglyph. He was after that prize, and for that he’d have to disprove Bastian’s theories about Dominica’s earliest inhabitants.’
‘Oh my God! I’d forgotten all about that! You were supposed to give evidence—’
‘I didn’t have a lot to say. Yours was the important evidence and I got the recording of how you found the petroglyph to the publishers a few minutes after you left.’
At that moment a plate of waffles, a jug of maple syrup and a bowl of whipped cream arrived, along with a bowl of strawberries and blueberries.
‘Would you guys like tea or coffee with that?’ The waiter was young and tattooed, with a hipster beard and a warm smile. ‘We have a large range we can offer you and an equally large range of the white stuff. Cow’s milk, goat’s milk, any variety of plant milk—’
Cass opted for builder’s tea with cow’s milk. Ranulph went for the sort of coffee that made Cass’s heart rate increase just to think about drinking it.
She took a breath and from somewhere found her social skills and a need to confess. ‘Thank you for rescuing me. I should have known Austin would never have just given me the camera in the lobby of a hotel, however hard I tried to make that happen.’ She paused, feeling awkward. ‘I knew I was taking a risk going to his room, but I’d been through so much for that wretched camera. I felt I just couldn’t walk away from it at the last minute.’
Ranulph put his hands on hers. ‘Oh, Cass! I can’t bear to think what might have happened. Thankgoodness you texted me the address of the hotel. I’d swing for that man, honestly, I would.’
From somewhere deep inside Cass came a chuckle. It was lovely feeling the warmth of his big hands round her own small ones. ‘You did take a good swing at him.’
He was rueful now. ‘That’s not something I do often – if ever – but I was prepared to make an exception for you.’
Just for a moment, Cass caught a look in his eyes that made her heart flip. Suddenly shy, she looked away.
The waiter came with their drinks, Ranulph let go of her hands and the moment passed.
Cass finished her orange juice and poured her tea. To fill the silence, she said, ‘So, what are you up to now, Ranulph? Generally, I mean. Have you a glamorous assignment in a far-off city to go to?’
He laughed, taking a sip of his coffee.
‘Not glamorous, no. But I do have an assignment which should be interesting. And it is quite far away – in Africa, actually. What about you? What are you doing when you’re not eating pancakes in the sunshine?’
‘Oh, I’m just pottering along in my home town in the Cotswolds. Nothing exciting. I think my exciting days are over, left behind in Dominica.’ She frowned. ‘At least I thought I had until just now!’ She shook her head, still a bit embarrassed by what had happened.
