The man smiled to himself. It was working perfectly. Jake and Lauren were running around like headless chickens, getting themselves into all sorts of trouble. And all the time their credibility was being destroyed. As far as the police were concerned, the finger of suspicion was pointing even more firmly at Jake. Excellent. Now all he had to do was draw them in, like a spider pulling a fly into its web.
The problem was, they seemed no nearer to finding The Index, and his plan depended on them being pushed by desperation on to its trail, with him following in the shadows, ready to pounce.
Perhaps they needed a bit more of a push.
In the meantime, there was another trail to follow, one he should have thought of before, and he kicked himself mentally for not having thought of it sooner. He had to make a move on that.
He pulled the knife from the secret pocket in the back of his coat and clicked it open. No guns for this one. A blade. Quieter. It would draw less attention in a public place. And a blade was always terrifyingly effective.
Jake and Lauren left the police station in angry silence.
‘Pierce Randall are making us look like idiots,’ said Jake. ‘They’ve got hold of Guy and they’re keeping him prisoner until they get what they want out of him.’
‘The kid with the gun didn’t look like the usual Pierce Randall type.’
‘There is no usual Pierce Randall type,’ said Jake sourly. ‘Businessmen, thieves, gangsters, politicians, skinheads, celebrities. They’ll get in with anyone.’
‘True,’ agreed Lauren. ‘But they were taking a chance bringing him along to a police station. Say he suddenly asked for help while he was there?’
‘Pierce Randall know what they’re doing,’ said Jake. ‘I expect they convinced Guy that if he tried anything, he’d be killed. Not there and then, but later. And Guy has had enough involvement with criminals to know when they mean business.’
Lauren was silent for a moment, then she asked, her tone thoughtful, ‘You don’t think he’s involved in this himself, do you? Part of it?’
‘Guy?’
‘He admitted to you he’s not the most honest of people. If there’s a scam of some sort, he could well be part of it. Maybe even running it.’
Jake shook his head.
‘That teenager we saw was holding a gun on him.’
Lauren let out another sigh and nodded.
‘Yes, you’re right,’ she said.
‘One thing’s for sure, we can’t involve the police again,’ said Jake. ‘Whatever we say, Pierce Randall will just claim we’re inventing it, they’ll force Guy to back them up, and we’ll both end up charged with wasting police time.’
‘At least we know that Guy is safe,’ said Lauren.
‘Safe?’ queried Jake with a sarcastic laugh. ‘Being driven around at gunpoint?’
‘Pierce Randall need to keep him alive,’ continued Lauren. ‘They may be keeping him hostage, but they’re not going to kill him. They want The Index, and they see him as the key to getting their hands on it.’
‘Perhaps,’ said Jake doubtfully. ‘Maybe they’ve already got it?’
Lauren frowned.
‘I suppose it’s possible,’ she mused.
‘Nah.’ Jake shook his head, dismissing that thought. ‘If The Index had still been at the hall, Guy possibly could have got hold of it, but when we saw him, Guy didn’t look like a man who’d just got his hands on a billion pounds.’
‘Maybe that’s because he had a gun on him,’ said Lauren.
‘Yes, but if they’d found The Index at de Courcey Hall, Pierce Randall wouldn’t have any more use for Guy. So they’d either turn him loose, or bump him off. Yet, instead, they turned up with him at the police station; still keeping a tight hold on him.’
‘So you don’t think they’ve got The Index yet?’
‘Call it a gut feeling.’
‘In which case, if it isn’t at the hall, where is it?’ asked Lauren.
Jake fell silent, thinking hard. There was something nudging at the back of his mind, a memory, something Guy had said when they were in the cell together. Suddenly he remembered what it was, and he burst out excitedly, ‘Hapgood, Ainsworth and Ainsworth!’
Lauren looked at him, baffled.
‘Who?’ she asked. ‘That sounds like a firm of solicitors.’
‘That’s exactly who they are!’ cried Jake. ‘They’re Guy’s solicitors. Or, at least, his solicitors before Pierce Randall. They’re the de Courcey family solicitors!’
‘I still don’t get it,’ said Lauren, frowning.