Private London (Private 4)

Hannah shook her head.

‘They’re not good, Hannah. Your father took the national line: you don’t deal with terrorists.’

‘They weren’t terrorists.’

‘They held a gun to yours and your mother’s heads and threatened to kill you if he didn’t pay the ransom. You got a better word for what they did?’

She looked down at the floor again. Taking it all in. Annabelle Weston had been like a second mother to her. Except that she had been betrayed all over again. She looked up, her face wet with tears once more.

‘I believed her.’

‘I know, Hannah. And she’s going to pay for it, I promise you.’

‘And you always keep your promises!’

‘I try.’

‘You promised to look after me.’

‘And it’s what I’m doing. You have the truth, Hannah. You have that, at least. What you do with it is up to you now.’

Hannah nodded, straightened herself and looked at me with something like determination in her eyes.

‘Okay,’ she said.

Chapter 98

‘THE FIRST TAPE you made you were play-acting, the second time you weren’t. What happened?’

‘Annabelle …’ Hannah caught herself, the name seemingly tasting like ash in her mouth. ‘She kept me at her flat. She came back excited with the news that my father was flying over.’

I nodded. It was pretty much as I had deduced.

‘She made some calls. Soon after that some people came.’

‘Who?’

‘I don’t know. A woman in a burka and two men with her. But they were deferential to the burka woman. They were like bodyguards.’

‘And what did they say?’

‘I don’t know. They all spoke in Arabic. At least, the women did. The men said nothing. Then they tied me up, properly this time, and left me in Annabelle’s study. She didn’t talk to me again.’

‘And there was nothing else you can remember?’

‘When they arrived the women hugged. It was a long hug, not as though they had just met. It seemed more than just a greeting.’

‘Like lovers, you mean?’

Hannah shrugged, pink spots of colour brightening her cheeks. ‘Maybe,’ she said quietly.

‘And did she say a name?’

‘They both said the same thing.’

‘Which was?’

‘It sounded like “cut min holby”.’