Page 53 of Savage Obsession

“How did you know where I was?” Lily wants to know. She’s still rooted to the spot and seemingly going nowhere just yet.

“I’ll explain later.” I pull the cabin door open. “Quick. We have to go.”

“But, I?—”

“Let’s get on board, then we can talk properly.” Julia reaches to take the backpack from the ground at their feet. “Your father is right, we don’t have a lot of time.”

Lily allows herself to be manoeuvred towards to aircraft. “Where are we going? Back to Warsaw?”

I leave the explanations to Julia. “Yes, eventually. But first we need to go to an island off Scotland, to pick up Henry.”

Lily visibly brightens at the mention of that dog. “Henry? He’s here?”

“On the island,” Julia repeats. She shepherds Lily up the helicopter steps. “It’ll take us a couple of hours to get there.”

The lure of Henry is enough to get Lily on board and belted in. I follow her and Julia and settle down with my back to the pilot.

“Back to Caraksay?” Magda queries.

“Yes.” Further conversation is lost in the din as we ascend into the air.

I hand out the earphones to make normal speech possible. No point trying to evade the inevitable. We need to talk.

Lily appears to agree. “You said you’d tell me how you knew where I was. And, how come he’s here?” She jerks her thumb at me, directing her questions to Julia.

“I was so worried about you…” her mother starts, looking to me for inspiration.

“I told you where I was going,” Lily returns, belligerence writ across her features. “To my dad, on Tenerife.”

“That’s a long way from Warsaw,” I put in. “You were on your own. Your mother was right to be concerned. She rang me to ask if I knew where you were, and of course, once I knew you were missing, I came to help find you.”

“I wasn’t missing,” she protests. “I was just?—”

“In transit? Yeah, right.” I put a stop to that line of argument. “You’re only twelve. Anything could have happened to you.” I stifle a sudden unwelcome thought. “It didn’t, did it? Anything?” Please tell me I don’t have to track down and kill some randy lorry driver?

“I’m fine. I can take care of myself,” she scoffs. “How did you know I’d be in Lyon? And who was that man? The one who picked me up?”

Fair enough questions. I try to provide answers. “We were able to track you through the cameras at the various stations you passed through. And when you left the railway system, we hacked into your bank records and discovered you bought a bus ticket to Lyon.”

“You did that?” Her eyebrows shoot to the top of her forehead. She’s clearly impressed.

“I had some help,” I confess. “Gabriel is… an acquaintance. He happened to be in the area.”

“He didn’t say much,” she grumbles. “He bought me sandwiches, though. And some pop. I suppose he was okay.”

High praise indeed. “Are you sure you’re okay? There’s a doctor on Caraksay…”

“I don’t need a doctor. I just want…” Her breath hitches.

Julia wraps her arms around our daughter’s thin shoulders. “She just needs to get home. Isn’t that right?”

“Is… is that man still there?” Lily whispers.

“No! No, he… left.” Julia seems disinclined offer more detail.

“And he won’t be back,” I complete the tale. “You’ll be safe now.”

“You didn’t believe me,” she accuses her mother. “I told you what he was like. Slimy, and creepy. I hated him, but you wouldn’t listen.”

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