Page 130 of The Impossible Fortune
‘Morning of the wedding, believe it or not,’ says Paul.
‘You kept that quiet,’ smiles Joanna. ‘What did you do? Talk to Nick?’
Paul shakes his head. ‘I waited for the guests to arrive, and I talked to Ibrahim.’
‘That sounds like a good person to talk to,’ says Joanna. ‘That’s what I would have done. He reassured you?’
‘He did,’ says Paul.
‘Let me guess,’ says Joanna. ‘He told you that you already knew the answer? That you had come to him specifically because you knew he’d say yes?’
‘No,’ says Paul. ‘Is that what he told you?’
‘I didn’t speak to h–’
‘No lies,’ says Paul. ‘Big or small.’
‘Yes,’ says Joanna. ‘That’s what he told me. What did he tell you?’
‘He told me not to be such an idiot,’ says Paul. ‘And then he told me I was punching a very long way above my weight.’
‘Ibrahim’s got range,’ says Joanna. ‘I’ll give him that.’
‘And then he said there was a key thing to understand about you,’ says Paul.
‘Oh, God,’ says Joanna. ‘What’s the key thing to understand about me?’
‘That you have good genes,’ says Paul.
Joanna laughs, and finds that she can’t stop. The love she has let into her life overcomes her. Paul. Her mum. The safety, the honesty, the sheer bliss of truth. No more lies. Big or small.
‘On a more exciting note,’ says Paul, looking pleasedwith himself, ‘and talking of surprises, guess who bought us two tickets to see Mumford & Sons on the 17th?’
‘The 17th?’ lies Joanna. ‘You’re kidding me? I can’t go.’
‘Your PA said it was free,’ says Paul.
‘My work diary is free,’ says Joanna, thinking fast. ‘But that’s the day of Mum’s glaucoma operation.’
And that’s not lying, that’s just good genes.
76
Nick Silver is aware that he must have broken the previous record by some distance. Surely no one had stayed in this roadside Travelodge for more than two or three days before, let alone eight and a half weeks. But what was he to do?
Surely Nick had chosen wisely when he chose Elizabeth Best? Made his appointment and smashed up his own office before she arrived. She wouldn’t be able to resist trying to find him and find who planted the bomb. Although it was fairly obvious it must have been Davey Noakes. If not him, then who? Lord Townes? Nick doubts that very much.
He is sure that the messages he sent to Paul will have their intended effect. Elizabeth will read them and know he’s alive, and will track him down before Davey can.
So why hasn’t Elizabeth found him? With her skill set? It must be because the coast is not yet clear. That stands to reason. So here he stays.
Although what if Davey has killed Elizabeth too? What if that’s why Elizabeth hasn’t come to find him? He unwraps yet another KitKat and switches on the hotel radio. Friday night isPete Tong’s Club Classicsnight. That’s something to cheer him up at least.
He takes a sip of the Lucozade, which was the only drink left in the vending machine. The first thing he’ll do when he is found is to eat some broccoli. Unless Davey Noakes finds him first and kills him.
Death or broccoli. Those seem to be his options.
He knows, however tempting it is, that he must not log back on to any of his devices, must not show his face on any surveillance cameras, must not give Davey the slightest lead as to where he is. Every night he watches the local news on his tiny hotel television; you never know what they might report. ‘Local woman slain, ex-spy found dead in retirement village’, ‘Sussex entrepreneur Davey Noakes buys Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club’, anything to give him a clue as to what’s happening. But there has been nothing.
