‘Shit!’ said Benicio sharply, making Jay jump. ‘You have no idea what you’ve done, do you? This was a hugely delicate job. Some really serious criminals at the top of this food chain. And now arghhh!’
Jay took a step back and Bruce barked.
Benicio continued his rant. ‘Eight months I’ve been working on this and for what? For you two clowns to bumble in here and balls it all up.’
Nora waved her arms. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wanted to help you, that’s why I came.’
Jay leaned forward and held up a finger. ‘And I was worried about her so I followed her.’
‘I don’t think we deserve to be called clowns,’ said Nora, feeling put out.
Benicio ran his hands through his unwashed hair. ‘The other houses on this row are marijuana grow houses with a street value of about a million quid.’
‘Bloody hell, Benicio. What have you got yourself mixed up in?’ Nora’s mind was racing. This was serious stuff.
He sighed heavily. ‘I’m an undercover cop and you’ve just singlehandedly—’ Jay cleared his throat and pointed at himself, making Benicio’s eyes open wider. ‘Youtwohave wrecked the whole operation. The aim was to bring the people at the top of this to account.’
‘Oh,’ said Nora, unsure what else to say. ‘How long have you been a policeman?’
‘Eight years on the force. Three on the serious and organized crime team.’
To say this was a shock to Nora was an understatement. All the time they had dated he’d been in the police and she’d had no idea. She didn’t know what to say.
‘That’s impressive,’ said Jay. ‘I thought about going into the police but—’
Nora gave Jay a nudge to shut him up. Now was not the time for small talk.
‘But, Benicio, you’re OK?’ She just wanted to check.
Benicio shook his head. ‘Yeah, great. Thanks for tracking me down like a stalker to ask me.’
‘I think maybe we should go,’ said Nora. Benicio didn’t seem bothered either way.
‘Sorry if we inadvertently messed things—’ But Jay didn’t get to finish his sentence because Bruce was already pulling him down the stairs.
13
Dixie had a dilemma. She could call a garage and get the van towed. But given the apartment was now rented out, where would she ask them to take her? It was a sad reality that she had very few options and Nora was really the only viable one. And while Nora was lovely, she couldn’t stay with her indefinitely. She sighed as it dawned on her that the only sensible thing to do was to call her parents. Dixie looked at her phone. Her dad would say it was all right but she’d hear the disappointment in his voice. And her mum would be a flurry of activity as she sorted everything out for her. But that wasn’t what she wanted. For once she had hoped she could stand on her own two feet.
Outside, the blue of the day was being rubbed out by the gentle lilacs and pinks of a cloudy sunset. The van was at least watertight, thanks to Renee’s expert welding. She had all she needed, for a while at least. Maybe she didn’t have to decide right now. She could give herself some time to think. Perhaps there was another option.
Dixie locked up the van and went for a wander. Byluck she had parked in a truly beautiful spot and now the smoke had stopped pouring from the van she could see all the different colours. Granted, they were basically multiple shades of green, but they were pretty all the same. She was glad she was wearing her trainers because her flip-flops would not have coped well with the undulations and debris of the woodland floor. There was a large stump nearby that she had to inelegantly climb over. She caught her toe and tripped, banging her shin on the stump.
‘Bastard stump,’ she snapped. She sounded like Renee. On closer inspection the stump was teeming with bugs and creepy crawlies, making her recoil and frantically brush all manner of mini creatures and dirt off her hands. There was no obvious path to follow and it didn’t look like anyone had been through this way in quite a while. Excitement rushed through her. She was like an epic explorer discovering this tranquil place for the very first time.
She did a little filming for her followers and made out that it was a planned stop to enjoy the wilds of the countryside and maximize her experience of being at one with the natural world. Zooming in on the biggest mushrooms she’d ever seen growing on the side of a tree, she advised her followers not to eat such things in case they were poisonous. It was nice to think she was providing them with something informative as well as fun, plus she didn’t want anyone suing her.
Slightly side-tracked by some pretty pink flowers,Dixie found herself in an area where the trees weren’t as dense and she could see fields stretching out beyond. Something else struck her. Dixie spun around to face the woodland. In the growing dark there was no sign of Elsie. She’d been walking for over thirty minutes and now she wasn’t entirely sure which direction she’d come from.
Dixie gave herself a mental shake. She wasn’t lost exactly, she just didn’t know how to get back. The worst thing she could do now was panic, although at the thought of it her pulse unhelpfully picked up its pace. She had visions of Elsie coming to life, her headlights blazing as she made her way through the trees to find Dixie like the car in Harry Potter. But that wasn’t going to happen. No one was coming to her rescue and that was good because for once she had to sort things out for herself. That, or they would find her emaciated body in a few months’ time.
She knew it was the flowers that had brought her on this last section of her journey so she followed them in reverse, taking her deep into the wood, which was much darker than before. She was about to put her phone torch on when it flashed up it only had 10 per cent battery left. A few deep breaths were meant to calm her but they weren’t really doing the trick.
‘Don’t be a wimp,’ she said out loud. ‘What would someone else do?’ She thought of her friends. Renee wouldn’t be fazed and seemed to have limitless skills so she would likely set up a shelter from bracken and fernsand sleep there after a gin nightcap. What would Nora do? She would have calculated the odds of getting lost and not ventured out in the first place, or laid a trail to follow back. The gift of hindsight was a wonderfully useless thing. The real question was: what was Dixie going to do?
She turned to the internet for counsel. Her happy followers liked a poll and they seemed keen for her to sleep under the stars. Lots of suggestions to switch on Google maps but there was no Wi-Fi and patchy network coverage. Someone else seemed to think she was Lara Croft because they suggested she machete her way out. But most commented on the pretty colours of the flowers. It was nice that she had these supporters in her phone. Even if their comments weren’t that helpful, it made her feel less alone.
If she closed her eyes and listened…
