“So you told them?”
“What else could I do?” Rose pleaded. “You weren’t there. You don’t know what it was like!”
A couple of the regulars were giving them curious looks. “Okay,” said Winsome. “Stay calm. It’s all right. I’m not blaming you.”
Rose sipped her drink. “I’m sorry.”
“Was the gun Jaff’s?”
“I don’t know. How would I know? I never even knew it existed. Erin certainly never mentioned anything like that.”
“What do you think?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. I never did trust him. Too flash for my liking.”
“Why would Erin take it, do you think?”
“I don’t know. To make him mad, maybe? She was pissed off at him. Something was going on between the three of them-Erin, Jaff and Francesca. I don’t know what it was, they didn’t tell me anything, but something wasn’t quite right.”
Winsome made a note, then asked, “What did they do next?”
“I can’t remember. Nothing. They wanted to know where Francesca was, where Jaff was, but I kept telling them I didn’t know. I was so scared they were going to hurt me anyway, but they just left.”
“You’re one lucky young woman,” said Winsome. “They must have believed that you didn’t know anything else and thought there was no percentage in harming you. They also weren’t worried about you being able to identify them. They were pros, by the sound of it.”
“Pros?”
“Yes. Professionals. Amateurs often hurt people. They’re careless, impulsive. Professionals are more careful. They know that can only bring trouble and attention, and that’s not what they want.”
“Yes, but professionals in what?”
Winsome paused. “That I don’t know,” she said. “But I’m going to have a very good crack at finding out. Now tell me more about this Jaff.”
“MY GOD! What have you done?” Tracy could only stand there staring down at Annie’s body lying across the broken table among the smashed glass and pottery. Annie’s face was ashen, covered in a sheen of sweat. There wasn’t much blood, just little smears around the two small holes in her yellow top. But that didn’t mean much. There would be internal bleeding. “You’ve killed her.”
“What choice did I have?” Jaff said from the doorway, the gun still in his hand. “She wasn’t going to just go away, you know. She knew.”
“But…” Tracy continued to stare down at Annie’s immobile form. For a moment she thought she could see her chest heave and make a gurgling sound with the effort of trying to breathe, but it could have been an illusion. “We have to call an ambulance.”
“Like hell we do. Besides, it’s too late. What we’ve got to do is get out of here fast.”
Jaff grabbed Tracy firmly by her upper arm and dragged her out of the conservatory into the kitchen. He tossed his gun back into the hold-all and hefted the bag onto his shoulder, while still holding her with his free hand. Tracy squirmed and tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but she couldn’t. He was wiry but strong. Her arm was starting to go numb. Finally he put the hold-all down and gave her a sharp, stinging slap across the face. “Stop it,” he said. “Pull yourself together. We’re leaving. Now.” Tracy grabbed her shoulder bag from the bench before he pushed her through the door into the living room. She stumbled and banged the side of her thigh against the sofa. It felt as if someone had kneed her hard right on the muscle. Jaff pushed her again and she tripped into the front door face first. Blood trickled from her nose. She thought it might be broken. He grabbed her jacket and thrust it toward her. “You might need this. The nights are getting cold.”
Tracy felt dazed as she stumbled outside. She wiped the back of her hand across her face. “Jaff, please let me call an ambulance. Nobody could have heard those shots. If she’s not dead already, she’ll die for sure if we just leave her here.”
“That’s her lookout.” Jaff fumbled for his car keys, letting go of Tracy for a moment. She walked around to the passenger side. Perhaps if she took off into the woods, made a dash for it? But no. He would give chase and find her, then he would kill her. Besides, if she did that, she would never even get a chance to try to save Annie, if that was even possible.
There was one thing she could do with her moment of freedom, while Jaff was at the driver’s side opening the door, and she was at the passenger side. She took out her mobile, keeping it low, hidden by the car and her body, and pressed 999. There was no way she could do it without Jaff hearing, so she had to be really quick. There was an ambulance station in Helmthorpe, she knew, so it shouldn’t take them too long. When she heard the answering voice, she put the phone to her mouth and said, “Ambulance. Newhope Cottage, Beckside Lane, Gratly. Come quickly. Please. Someone’s been shot-”
Before she could say any more, Jaff had dashed around the car and snatched the phone from her hand. In his anger he threw it to the ground and crushed it with his heel again and again until the pieces were scattered over the gravel. That was it, Tracy thought, her heart sinking even lower. Her lifeline. Gone. She was alone now. Alone with a killer. He shoved her into the passenger seat and started the car.
Tracy began to shake. She couldn’t get the image of Annie out of her mind: just lying there, pale, still and bleeding on the broken glass table. But at least she had made the 999 call, however dearly it had cost her. If there was any hope at all, that was it. Now she had to turn her mind to her own predicament, which it didn’t take a genius to work out was a lot worse than it had been only half an hour ago.
She had thought Jaff was going to kill her after he had discovered that her father was a policeman, but he had come up with another option: to keep her as a hostage until he had got to safety. He had told her he could use her as a bargaining tool in negotiations. She being a DCI’s daughter was a double-edged sword, he went on, and he intended to be the one who was wielding it.
But Annie’s shooting changed everything. He’d be far less concerned about killing a second person now, and far more worried about his own escape and safety. She could still be a bargaining tool, but she had just become more expendable than before, especially after making the phone call.
“What are you doing?” she said, snapping out of it when she saw Jaff was about to turn right at the end of the drive.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” Jaff said. “Since your little act of rebellion with the mobile, that main road down there is going to be full of police cars and ambulances. I’m going the other way.”
Jaff turned right and headed for the open moors. The sun was still up, but the shadows were lengthening, and the light was turning softer, streaks of faint pastel coloring the pale blue sky. Soon it would dip below the hills and the sky would darken. Tracy thought she could hear a siren in the distance. God, she hoped she was right, hoped they were in time. “Don’t you realize how what you’ve done changes everything?” she said. “One of their own? They’ll pull out all the stops on this.”
“What the hell else was I supposed to do?” Jaff snapped. “Hold out my hands for the cuffs? Anyway, you should know,” he went on, giving her a sidelong glance. “Copper’s daughter. Traitorous bitch. But they don’t know what’s happening yet. They don’t know about me. She’d never have come by herself if she’d known the truth.”
“Maybe she had no reason to suspect you’d got hold of another gun, or that you’d shoot her,” Tracy said. “Maybe she did come to water the plants. But it didn’t take her long to suss out the situation. She knew more than you think. And that means others will probably know, too.”
“You can’t be certain of that.”
“I know how they work. Would you rather take the risk?” Jaff didn’t reply.