Fractured(82)

‘I see,’ Jimmy replied. He looked over to me with a question in his eyes. Have you seen enough? I looked around the room that was mine, and not mine at all. I was everywhere and nowhere. I gave a small nod.

Jimmy got to his feet and I followed suit.

‘Well, thank you very much, Mr MacRae. I apologise again for disturbing you.’

‘Please: just Max.’

‘Thank you, Max,’ corrected Jimmy already heading towards the hallway. ‘You’ve been extremely helpful.’

Max smiled doubtfully at Jimmy’s words.

‘I do hope you find this missing girl. And please, if you have any more questions, anything at all, just pop in anytime. I’m always here.’

The invitation was directed totally at Jimmy: I was so completely excluded from that one, I might as well have been invisible. I turned away and pretended to be examining my shoes, afraid it wasn’t going to take much more before I was actually laughing out loud. I glanced briefly at Jimmy and saw the hint of a tremor to his shoulders.

Max followed us both all the way to the hallway and stood lingering by his open door as we began to walk away.

‘By the way…’ began Jimmy, turning back towards Max when we had taken only a few steps, ‘that key you have hidden under the window sill: it’s really not such a good idea.’

It was highly amusing to see the change in Max’s expression from coy flirtatiousness to absolute astonishment.

‘How did you know… No one else… How…?’

‘First place a burglar looks,’ assured Jimmy, taking my arm to guide us towards the stairs. ‘Good day to you, sir.’

We held it together until we were safely out of earshot, then the laughter came, a blissful and welcome temporary escape from the tension. I actually had tears rolling down my cheeks when we opened the main door and tumbled out of the house into the cold December day.

‘Boy, you’re on fire today, aren’t you?’ I said at last, when my ability to speak had returned.

Jimmy gave a self-effacing shrug. ‘What can I say? When you’re hot, you’re hot.’

Back inside his car once again, his mood sobered a little.

‘Do you know exactly how many laws I broke just then?’

I bit my lip guiltily. ‘Quite a few?’ I hazarded.

‘Yeah.’

‘Sorry,’ I murmured.

He reached over to pick up my hand, sliding it comfortingly within his own. I looked down at his fingers laced so easily around mine, knowing I shouldn’t keep misinterpreting his intentions, but it was so hard not to. Perhaps it was time for a reality check.

‘Come on then. Let me have it. Give me your explanation for what just happened in there.’

‘Ah well, Maximilian naturally fell under the spell of my not inconsiderable charms and—’

I gave a very unladylike response, before steering him away from humour.

‘You know what I’m talking about. Explain to me how I knew everything that I did: how to get here; the names of the landlady, the tenants, past and present – not to mention the hidden key.’

He was silent for so long I almost thought he wasn’t going to answer. When he did, his words came out on a long sigh.

‘I can’t.’

I swivelled in my seat then, to study his expression more clearly. I wasn’t used to him sounding so uncertain. I almost felt sorry for the dilemma I was putting him in, knowing how his logical policeman’s mind must be struggling with something that made no sense at all.

He turned the engine on then, finally releasing my hand from his.

‘Can you try directing me a little less aggressively this time?’

‘Directing you where?’

He looked at me as though I was being deliberately dumb.

‘Andersons Engineering. That was the name of the place you worked, wasn’t it?’

I nodded, unable to help a smile of pure gratitude being my response. Not only had he remembered the name, but more importantly he knew and understood that I needed his help in this impossible quest, without my having to ask for it. And suddenly the journey to seek out the answers didn’t seem nearly so daunting and scary, not now I realised I wasn’t facing it alone.


Forty-five minutes later we were back in central London.

‘There’s a small car park tucked away down this side street,’ I indicated.

Jimmy followed my directions and no longer looked surprised when the small compound was exactly where I had said it would be.

I scoured the faces of passers-by as we walked the short distance to the engineering company, looking out for any of my colleagues, but I saw no one I recognised; nor, more importantly, did anyone recognise me.

The building’s access was at the top of a broad flight of concrete steps, and I hesitated for a moment on the pavement before turning to Jimmy.