The Last Enemy(14)

‘I was surprised that Bex seemed to get you released so quickly,’ admitted Lauren. ‘I mean, Bex knows quite a bit about the law, but she’s not the sort of lawyer who’s going to scare the police. Maybe they felt that if they were letting Guy de Courcey go, they had to let you go as well.’

‘It doesn’t work that way, though, does it.’ Jake shook his head. ‘I think there’s more going on here than the police said.’

‘Gareth pulling the strings behind the scenes?’

‘Maybe. Or someone else is.’

They reached their block of flats, and Lauren parked. They caught the lift up, and unlocked the door of their flat. Jake was about to walk in, but Lauren stopped him and peered round the partly open door. Then she told him, ‘Someone’s been in here.’

‘What?!’ said Jake. ‘How can you tell?’

‘After what happened with your bag being taken from the British Library, and then you being arrested, I got a bit scared. Say there really is someone after you. Or after whatever they think you had in that case. So I left a small box just behind the door. If anyone opened the door, the box would be pushed back. But the intruder wouldn’t notice it, because the box was light.’ She stepped in and pointed at a small cardboard box behind the door. ‘There,’ she said. ‘It’s moved back from where I left it.’

‘Wow,’ said Jake admiringly. ‘You are so cool! You could be a secret agent.’

‘Be serious!’ said Lauren impatiently. ‘Someone’s been in our flat!’ A sudden alarming thought struck her, and she whispered, ‘Maybe they’re still here!’

Jake shook his head.

‘No,’ he said. ‘These people are professionals. You can tell by the fact that the lock and the door haven’t been damaged. Professionals like that would have someone outside watching for us to come home, and they’d alert whoever was in here and get them out.’

‘Unless they’re deliberately waiting for us in there,’ whispered Lauren.

‘Good point,’ admitted Jake. ‘OK, you go and stand outside. Dial 999 on your mobile and keep your thumb ready poised to press “call” if I yell out.’

‘Say they don’t give you a chance to yell out?’ asked Lauren. ‘Do you think we ought to call the police?’

‘And tell them what?’

‘That we think someone’s in our flat.’

Jake weighed it up. It made sense. If there really was someone in their flat, waiting for them, it would be foolish to just walk in.

But, if someone was after them, surely they’d have snatched them before they actually got into the flat. Unless they didn’t want to risk attracting witnesses. Inside their flat, there’d be no one to see.

‘Well?’ demanded Lauren.

‘I’ll take a chance,’ said Jake.

He stepped inside. This is crazy, he admitted to himself. If there is anyone in here, all they have to do is wait until I step into the room where they’re hiding, and knock me out, or tazer me, or whatever they plan to do. And do it before I can shout out to Lauren to warn her.

‘I’m going to keep talking all the time!’ Jake called to Lauren. ‘If I stop talking, run and call the police.’

With that he moved slowly along the short hallway. He could feel his heart beating faster. Calm, he told himself. Keep calm.

‘The kitchen first,’ he called. The door was open, and he could see at a glance there was no one in the tiny kitchen.

‘Kitchen clear!’ he called. ‘Moving on to the bathroom next.’

The bathroom door was shut.

‘OK, I’m at the bathroom door,’ he announced. He wondered if Lauren could hear the fear in his voice.

Keep it cool, he told himself urgently.

He pushed the door handle down, and then shoved the door open hard, at the same time leaping to one side in case anyone had a gun aimed at the doorway.

There was no movement or sound at all from the bathroom.

He was sweating now, trying to hold himself together, expecting at any moment someone to appear, armed with a gun or a knife.

‘Going into the bathroom!’ he called. ‘And counting, one, two, three . . .’

There was no one in the bathroom. He let out a sigh of relief.

‘Bathroom clear!’ he called.

He moved on to the bedroom. The door was closed.

‘OK, I’m about to go into the bedroom!’ he said. ‘I’ll keep counting!’

He opened the door and stepped carefully in, all the time counting out loud so that Lauren could hear him, ‘One, two, three, four, five . . .’

No one was in the room. He went to the wardrobe, still counting out loud the whole time, pulled the door open and stepped back sharply, just in case anyone was hiding inside.