Private London (Private 4)

She folded her arms and gave me the kind of look my beloved ex had given me earlier. You know the kind – the sort a judge might give you before slamming down the gavel and sending you off to the colonies for fifteen years’ hard labour.

‘Just tell me what’s going on,’ she said.

‘Alison,’ I said. ‘I honestly don’t know.’

And I honestly didn’t.

Chapter 43

I TOOK A sip of tea.

It was awful. Too much sugar, too much milk. I made a tutting sound and got a reproachful look from Alison Chambers.

She was now sitting next to me on the bed. A businesslike notebook open on her lap, on the pages of which she was writing businesslike notes, I assumed. The nib of her Mont Blanc fountain pen appeared to scratch into the paper a tad deeper than was probably necessary.

‘The tea not to your satisfaction?’ she asked coolly.

‘It’s not PG Tips, I can tell you that much,’ I said.

‘And this isn’t the Ritz either, if you hadn’t noticed. It’s the Paddington Green nick.’

‘Yeah, I did notice that. The last time Kirsty took my trouser belt off on our wedding anniversary she didn’t take the shoelaces as well!’

I looked down at my brogues. Without the laces the tongues of both shoes flopped out like those of overheated dogs.

‘You don’t seem to be taking this seriously, Dan. So I am not sure I can help you.’

‘Oh, I’m taking this deadly seriously, I can assure you.’

‘You bring a woman into this country under a false passport. You enter your so-called god-daughter into the same college as her, also under a false name, but at least that’s not a crime so far as I know.’

‘Nor me,’ I agreed.

‘But you had Chloe working for you, didn’t you?’ Alison pressed angrily.

I didn’t respond.

‘And now the girl you smuggled in illegally,’ she continued, ‘has been kidnapped and you refuse to tell the police a damn thing.’

‘I’m taking the Fifth.’

She sighed, exasperated. ‘This is Paddington Green, Carter! Not Prairie Fart, Idaho. You don’t have the option to take the Fifth. There is no Fifth!’

‘You know, your eyes really do go green when you’re angry.’

‘For God’s sake! Are you even listening to me?’

‘Like they said when I was arrested, Alison, I don’t have to say anything.’

‘Well, you bloody do to me! And stop with the flip bloody act, Dan. I know you’re beating yourself up about what happened to those girls. I know you’re angry and want to get out there and do something about it.’

Alison knew me pretty well. ‘I do.’

‘And I am trying to help you do that. So why don’t you throw me a bone here?’

I sighed and shook my head. ‘If you don’t know then you can’t be compromised.’

‘Then what am I supposed to do?’