Page 82 of The Black Trilogy

I drew a blank on the phone and set out on foot again. A more thorough check wouldn’t hurt, although I had a sinking feeling I knew what had happened. I’d been involved in plenty of child abduction cases, although never from such an early stage. And never somebody I was close to.

I tramped down the road and checked each footpath leading off it. As I rooted around in the undergrowth, I thought over the scenarios.

If Tia had been taken, why? Was it because of Luke, me, or Tia herself?

Luke was the obvious answer. Because of his money, Tia would make a great target for a hefty ransom. Then there was the business angle—had Luke had problems with any competitors lately? Revenge was so often a motivator.

Then there was the possibility Tia had been abducted by a whack job who simply wanted a pretty young girl. Perhaps they had a long-running infatuation or saw an easy opportunity? I was inclined to discount the first option because if she’d been receiving unwanted attention, surely she’d have told me? The latter was a very real possibility, though.

The plus point of those scenarios was that Tia would still be alive, most likely, and she’d remain that way until the kidnapper achieved their goal.

What worried me most was the slim chance she’d been taken because of me. What if one of my associates had started looking into my husband’s murder and trodden on someone’s toes? Had I been traced here? I thought I’d taken enough precautions to stay hidden, but what if I’d screwed up? The people who took out my husband had access to heavy weapons and didn’t hesitate to kill. If they had Tia and she was still alive, she wouldn’t have long.

That thought was at the forefront of my mind as I walked back to the house. Luke was pacing the hallway as I came through the door.

“Anything?” he asked.

“No. You?”

“Nothing.”

I hadn’t truly been expecting any other answer.

“Luke, I need to talk to you,” I started, but the ping of an incoming text message interrupted me.

Luke snatched his phone out of his pocket. “Thank goodness, it’s from Tia. She probably wants me to pick her up from somewhere.”

“Where is she?”

Time slowed as the colour drained out of his face.

“Luke, what does it say?”

His hand shook as he passed the phone over. Tia filled the screen, bound and gagged, lying on a grubby floor. Her eyes were closed, and the words underneath left no room for interpretation.

Unknown: You and the girlfriend keep your mouths shut. No police or she dies. We’re watching. Further instructions will follow.

The strong man I knew disintegrated in front of me, tearing at his hair.

“Someone’s taken her! What on earth do we do?”

I didn’t share Luke’s surprise. For the last hour, I’d kind of been expecting the news. And in fact, there were plus points to the message—it confirmed she’d been abducted, and it wasn’t a random sex crime. They also said she was alive, although I couldn’t be certain from the photo.

The bit that bothered me was the reference to Luke’s girlfriend. Whoever took Tia knew of my existence, so there was still a possibility I was connected.

And now I was about to make Luke’s evening worse with the most uncomfortable conversation of my life.

“We wait,” I said.

“That’s it? That’s your answer?”

He paced up and down the hallway, and I itched to join him. Pacing was a bad habit of mine.

“The other options are going to the police or looking for her ourselves.”

“We’re not going to the police. Oh no, do you think they know I called Graham? What if he stirs something up?”

“He won’t. If you don’t call him back, he’ll forget all about it.”

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