Page 128 of She Saw What He Did

‘It’s a long story.’

At that moment the door is flung open and a man enters with a scarf over his nose and mouth.

‘What the hell, Herman?’ says the Prime Minister. ‘What the buggery are those sirens about?’

Chapter Seventy-Eight

Weis grabbed his ringing phone.

‘We’ve had a tip-off. There’s an armed man parked about half a mile from Asquith Hall. Also …’

‘Yes?’ asked Weis.

Had they found Ellen? He was almost afraid to ask.

‘The anonymous caller said he had nerve gas on him.’

Weis whistled.

‘Meet us there.’

‘Yes. Have you heard anything …?’

‘Nothing about Ellen Burden. I promise if we do, you’ll be the first person to know.’

Weis thought about knocking on Peter’s hotel door but thought better of it. After all, what did he have to tell him?

He grabbed his jacket and left the hotel for Asquith Hall.

*

Ellen felt sure Jared took the long way back home. She was desperate to call for help.

‘Jared, you must tell me where Abby is. Is she at Asquith Hall?’

His shoulders tightened.

‘I don’t know. She’s supposed to deliver the box. I told her not to go. I said I would text her as soon as we had Sam …’

‘How did you know where we were?’

He swallowed.

‘We had an anonymous phone call.’

From the tremor in his voice, Ellen knew he was lying.

He sighed.

‘Lester was blackmailing us. We found a box on the island. We thought it was geocache. He came looking for it. We didn’t realise the box was suspicious. Not at first. He had to deliver it to Asquith Hall and assassinate the Prime Minister. He decided Abby was going to do that. It was like it was our punishment because we took the box.’

‘You must let me phone the police.’

He shook his head.

‘I don’t know where she is. She might still be with him. She would have left her phone. I said I would try to text her before she left. She wouldn’t want him to see her texts and …’

‘But the Prime Minister,’ Ellen interrupted. ‘You can’t let her …’

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