The battered Mini was gone, but the Citroen was still there. Beyond it, there was a third car, a black Vauxhall Cavalier, with a mobile telephone antenna sticking out of its roof. There was a man in the driver’s seat, a big man. It was still raining quite hard, and from that distance I couldn’t quite make out his face, but I was in no doubt who it was.
I went back through to the dining room, where the girls were having coffee. ‘Jan, have you still got that telescope?’ I gave Jan a spyglass one Christmas, basically because I’d run out of ideas.
She looked puzzled for a second, than caught on. ‘Yes. Come on.’
She led me through to the bedroom. The telescope was on her bedside table. In normal circumstances I’d have taken longer to wonder what they used it for, but my mind was on other things. Prim and Noosh were waiting for us in the living room. I motioned them to stay back from the window and slid in behind the curtain, taking care not to disturb it. Carefully I focused the telescope on the Cavalier. Just as I did so, the man in the driver’s seat leaned forward, and I had a clear view of his face.
I swore softly.
‘What is it?’ asked Prim.
‘It’s Ricky Ross. That copper must have called in my number.’
Anoushka stood there looking bewildered. ‘I’ll tell you later,’ Jan said to her.
‘What are you going to do?’ she asked.
‘Good question. Is the washing machine finished drying out gear yet?’
‘Should be.’
‘Okay,’ said Prim. ‘I’ll pack the bag.’
Jan stood in the centre of the room, mulling something over. At last she nodded, decisively. Then she kicked off her shoes, and ran back through to the bedroom, beckoning me to follow. By the time I got there she had stepped out of her skirt and was unbuttoning her blouse. ‘What is this,’ I said. ‘One last time for luck?’ I was comforted by the knowledge that even in times of crisis, the daft side of me could still come to the surface.
She shot me a quick, ‘You should be so lucky!’ and began to step into a pair of jeans which had been lying across the dressing-table stool. ‘Get me your anorak,’ she ordered. I began to see what she had in mind. I did as I was told and fetched the horrible, hooded green garment from the hall. She fastened her jeans and pulled on a sweatshirt, then tried the anorak for size. As I’ve said, she’s a tall girl, so it wasn’t a bad fit. She pulled on a pair of old trainers, looked at herself in a full-length mirror and nodded her satisfaction, then turned and pushed me out of the room, back into the kitchen. There, Prim was packing the final items into our bag, folding them as best she could. Noosh stood with her back to the sink, still looking bewildered.
‘Right,’ said Jan. ‘This is your best chance. I’ll wear this gear. I’ll run out, jump into Oz’s car and drive it away. I’ll tie the hood tight, and with any luck, the guy out there will think it’s Oz and follow.
‘Oz, my Fiesta’s parked in the back yard. Once you see him move off, the pair of you get downstairs and get as far away from here as you can. The car’s not long after a service, so it should get you to Switzerland all right.’
All of a sudden I was emotionally full up. I’d never felt closer to the girl; never in all of our lives had I realised how strong was the bond between us. ‘Hold on a minute, Jan. This is a dangerous guy. He’ll catch up with you.’
‘But he won’t stop me, not even if he lies down in the road. If I have to I’ll just drive to the nearest police station and run in screaming that there’s a man following me. Now no more arguments, unless you’ve got a better idea.’
I hadn’t, and I didn’t know what to ay, so I just kissed her. For a moment I thought Prim might be mad, but she kissed her too. Just to be on the safe side, I kissed Noosh as well. Prim drew the line at that.
Jan and I exchanged car keys, and we all went back through to the living room. We stood there in a circle, smiling nervously at each other. I tied the cords of the anorak hood tight under Jan’s chin, pulling it down to cover her face. We shared a last long look that neither Noosh nor Prim could see, a look that said a hundred things, from ‘Thanks’ to ’Remember that time in the dunes in the East Bay at Elie, when there was no-one else around …’ Probably, it was as well that neither Noosh nor Prim could see our eyes.
And then Jan was gone. The front door closed and she was off down the stairs. I went back to my spy-hole and looked down into the street. Every Tuesday at Meadowbank, Ali tells me I run like a girl, so she was a pretty good imitation. I didn’t realise she could move that fast … well, she’s never run away from me. She was across the street in a flash. Unlocking the door, she jumped into the car. Just then I panicked, thinking she’d flood the carburettor, but Jan knows the old Nissan pretty well, and it started first time.
As soon as I heard the engine’s cough, I looked back at the Cavalier. Ross was sitting bolt upright in his seat, fiddling with his key. I heard his ignition snarl, but soon it fired up. Jan had barely swung the Nissan away from the kerb and round into Johnstone Terrace, before he was after her. ‘Clever girl,’ I said. ‘She’ll lead him where there are no traffic lights.
‘Right, let’s do what she says, and make ourselves scarce. Thanks, Noosh, see you soon … we hope.’
I grabbed the bag with one hand and Prim with the other, and together we legged it down the stairs, past the front door and down to the basement level. Jan’s red Fiesta Sport was next to the exit. It burst throatily into life at the first turn of the key. With barely a backward look we were off, out into Castle Terrace then away down to the Grassmarket, in the opposite direction to that in which Jan had headed.
Ali was waiting in the shop with our passports. Prim stayed in the car as I rushed in. ‘Thanks mate,’ I said. ‘Do one thing more for me, will you. Get my diary and check my faxes and messages. Then call Jimmy and ask him to handle my work till I get back, same as usual.’
My chum nodded his turban. ‘Fair enough. That still leaves one problem, though.’
‘Eh?
‘It means we’ll be one short at the fitba’ tomorrow night!’
In which we begin a circuitous journey South, and have a surprise phone call
‘So that’s Jan’s secret, is it?’ Prim mused, as we headed down the A1, bypassing Haddington.
‘No secret, except from the good burghers of Enster.’
‘How long have they been …’
‘I told you, around four years.’
‘You should have said something to warn me, you sod. Mind you, when I saw that living room, I began to get the idea. It’s a couple’s room, but there’s nothing masculine about it.’ She thought about it some more. ‘There’s nothing stereotyped about them, is there?’
‘No, they’re not your average person’s idea of a gay couple. But there’s shades of everything you know.’
‘They look happy enough. Are they, d’you think?’
‘Most of the time. There are tensions, though.’
‘Do you think it’ll last?’
‘I don’t know. Look at the number of heterosexual relationships that break up. Why should gay couples be different? They have another complication too. Jan’s AC/DC. Could be she’ll meet a man who can give her more than Noosh can. I hate to think how Anoushka’d cope with that.’
‘Well, I think they’re nice, and I hope she doesn’t have to.’
‘Okay, love, but just don’t let Auntie Mary hear you say that.’
I drove on down the road towards the darkening South, taking care not to trip any of the speed cameras. I was still worried about Jan, being pursued by Ricky Ross, and I reckoned that the last thing she would want after that would be a fixed penalty speeding ticket, when she hadn’t even been driving.
One of the good things about driving at night is the lack of heavy traffic. With nothing to hold us back, we made Newcastle in Jan’s nippy wee motor in just under two hours.