He ended the call, silence filling the car.
“I hope it was okay to bring our strategy forward. We have time to get ye in and out long before they arrive.”
“They were close.”
“They were. Ye don’t like how that feels.”
“Not even a little.”
Even if Kane wasn’t the Big Bad I’d thought he was, coming face to face with him would take away my ability to hide. I’d have to answer so many questions, and I couldn’t deny Lovelyn. Not my friend who’d done a lot to help me. Under her gaze, I’d crumple. I’d be forced back into the light when I wanted to stay in the dark.
Tyler drove on. Soon, we entered the familiar streets of Inverness, grey-brown stone buildings rising above busy shops. I’d grown up south of the border in England, but my mother had moved us north when my Marchant grandparents first took interest in me. Just like everyone else, she followed the money.
When we neared the drop-off point we’d agreed on this morning, Tyler had tensed up, his jaw hardened. “You’re clear on what ye want to do?”
“Crystal. I’ll walk in, have at least two conversations, drop the clue, then get on the Edinburgh bus and leave. You’ll be waiting at the first stop.”
From my bag, I slid on the broad hairband that I’d sometimes worn in work when I was a day or two away from the hairdressing appointments that kept my yellow-gold locks a more commercial platinum blonde. It hid my roots and was a pretty accessory in purple and black with tiny skulls. Lovelyn had admired it. She’d know it when she saw it.
With greater regret, I removed Tyler’s cosy jumper and snagged my jacket from the back seat. Then with my bag over my shoulder, I was ready to go. I had the route in mind and the will to make this work. I just had to get out of the car and walk.
At traffic lights, we stopped, and Tyler swallowed then reached to lightly touch my arm. Not a hold, and only for the barest second. But so much like he didn’t want me to go.
“Stick to the plan,” he said quietly. “I’ll be where I said I’d be.”
I ducked my head, checked the road, then climbed out.Stick to the plan.I could do that.
Along Academy Street, I cut through a lane, the cold spring weather throwing a splatter of rain at me that cooled my too-hot head. At the end, it opened out to a concrete expanse of bus stops and covered shelters, busy with people, the public library ahead and a big café to one side.
A sense of intense vulnerability hit hard. It felt like every single person turned to me. In my twisted mind, each face belonged to a Marchant. All had reporters on their message list.
I made a beeline for the ticket office. Inside, I rushed to the first uniformed person I could see, babbling about needing to get a bus. The woman directed me to the desk to buy my ticket.
To the teller, lies fell from my tongue. Of how I needed to get to Edinburgh as soon as possible. Of how I needed a cheap ticket. Enough of a fuss to make me memorable. Dropping my phone when it came to pay. Fumbling my bag. Not all that acted either, as panic was my new bestie.
With the transaction finally complete, I faced into the room, taking a second for any cameras to pick me up. I mopped my brow, slipped the hairband from my head, and took my bag to a vacant seat, rooting through it, dropping the band to the floor.
The first woman I’d spoken to appeared next to me, and I froze.
I was so busted. She knew everything.
She eyed me curiously but pointed outside. “Ye wanted Edinburgh, aye? Bay three. About to leave.”
I blurted thanks and darted away.
Once more, the fresh air fritzed my brain. Worse again, not better. Tyler would be gone already, down to the other side of the centre where the bus made its first stop to pick up more passengers. Or to drop off wayward runaways.
I wanted him right back here where he could scoop me up and I could bury my head in his chest. I’d never done that, and I’d always wanted to. I hated that thought even as it bloomed. He’d been so kind. Driving for hours without complaint to enable what I’d asked him to do. No lunch. No breaks. He coped with whatever the world threw at him.
And he’d kidnapped me.
I checked the clock on the departures board.
Two minutes until the bus left.
I turned on my heel and ran the other way.
Chapter 7
