‘She’ll love that,’ said Nina. ‘Thanks a million, Cassie. Tell Naomi I’ll call her later, and I’ll phone you tomorrow morning.’

Was she being too casual with her daughter, leaving her with Sam’s folks for such a long time? But it would be impossible to have Naomi here in the middle of all this, and the Harrisons were lovely people. As was their son, who was next on her list to call, and something was telling her Sam might not be quite as cool about what was going on as his mother was. And rats, his phone was taking messages.

‘Sam, it’s me. I’ll catch you later,’ she said. It was horrible having all this going on and Sam unaware of it. They’d parted on bad terms after yesterday’s call, and she didn’t want to be on bad terms with Sam. Either as a friend or her lawyer.

When the doorbell rang David Mallony gave her a little push.

‘On you go. It’s going to be fine. Remember this is your old friend, now – shrieks of joy, big hugs,’ he said.

Nina had never felt less like shrieking joyfully, but Sabine had obviously missed her vocation in the police force. She threw herself into her role with such enthusiasm that Nina responded almost as if she was meeting an old friend for the first time in years. They hugged fondly on the doorstep, then Sabine stepped back and pointed up to the top of the house, walking up and down the gravel, asking about the rooms. They remained outside, pointing and talking, for several minutes.

‘Okay. Shall we go in?’ said Sabine at last, grinning at Nina.

Inside, Nina watched as the young woman pulled a package from her bag and placed it on the living room table beside the photographs.

‘My wire,’ she said. ‘You’re doing really well here, you know. Let’s make coffee and then we’ll get off to the bank. The boss’ll have the fake money there by that time.’

Nina breathed out shakily. How normal it all sounded. Coffee and then the bank. There must be hundreds of people doing something very similar right this minute.

If only she was one of them.

Chapter Twenty-One

Nina’s feeling of unreality persisted throughout the afternoon. It was difficult to drive the short distance into town and park behind the library, impossible to walk into the bank as if this was any old shopping trip, her and her old friend and everything hunky dory. She felt conspicuous with the empty sports bag – not something she usually carried for an afternoon in town – but at least they wouldn’t meet anyone she knew; she didn’t have to pretend this was normal. At the bank she and Sabine were shown into a small room with ‘Manager’ on a blue sign on the door. Nina’s sports bag was taken away and returned considerably heavier.

‘What’s to stop the blackmailer accosting us and stealing it?’ said Nina, hugging the bag to her chest as they left the bank. She should try to act normally here – but how impossible was that when her gut was performing somersaults like something from the Moscow State Circus.

‘He won’t,’ said Sabine cheerfully. ‘He’s made his arrangements for his own good reasons, and he’ll stick to them.’

Her heart in her mouth, Nina cradled the bag in both arms till they were back in the safety of the hired car. Stupid, she thought. It wasn’t as if it was real money, and even if it had been, money didn’t matter. Naomi was the only important thing and it was unbearable that circumstances had split them up like this. The lump in her throat, never far away since she’d left Naomi with the Harrisons, swelled painfully.

Back at the house, Nina shut herself into the study to try Sam’s number again. This probably wasn’t the best time to phone him, bang in the middle of the afternoon, but she could try. She listened as the tone pinged out then broke off immediately as he took the call.

‘Nina? How weird, I had the phone in my hand to call you!’

‘Sam, hi. I’m not disturbing you, then?’

‘Nope. We’re having a short break before the final settlement. Nina, I’m sorry about yesterday. Is everything all right?’

‘I’m afraid not.’ It was a struggle not to break down and howl as she told him about Paul’s visit and what she now knew about her father’s treatment of her, and about the latest blackmail letter and the police in the house. Like Bethany, he was silent while she spoke.

‘That’s all,’ she said at last.

‘All! Dear God, Nina – are you coping with this – should I get Dad to come and be with you – I’ll come straight back now, I – shit, this is awful.’

Nina closed her eyes. His concern was like Beth’s – warming. ‘Sam, it’s okay. The police are being great; Sabine Jameson’s here with me all the time,’ she said, realising as she spoke how very alone she felt in spite of Sabine’s presence. This assignment was simply another job to the young detective, who was whistling cheerfully as she washed coffee mugs in the kitchen. Sabine would do her work here and at the end of her shift she would go home and take up her own life.

Sam’s voice sounded miserable too. ‘It’s not okay. I’m sure they’ll do their best to keep you safe and catch this person, but shit, Nina, I wish I was there to help.’

Nina forced herself to sound upbeat. ‘You’ll be home soon. I’m absolutely fine.’

‘You are not. And I know you don’t want to be involved with me but as your friend, Nina, I want to be involved with you. If that’s okay.’

It was a struggle to keep her voice steady. He was her friend, in spite of her telling him to get lost, basically. This horrible situation would be so much more bearable if Sam was there with her.

‘You know that’s okay. And you’re right, I’m not fine, but I’m holding it together.’

‘My business here needs another hour, tops. I’ll go and chivvy them all into this last meeting, and as soon as it’s over I’ll start back. I’ll be in Bedford about nine.’

At five o’clock the doorbell shrilled into silence in the house, and Nina, huddled in a corner of the sofa texting Beth, jumped in fright. Hell, her nerves were all over the place. And she’d forgotten all about Paul’s promise to come by that afternoon.

‘It’ll be Paul Wright, my cousin,’ she said to Sabine, who was in the armchair leafing through a magazine.

‘Don’t forget I’m your old college friend,’ she said, and misery flooded through Nina. It felt all wrong that she couldn’t tell Paul what was going on. He was much more of a victim than she was.

She introduced her cousin to Sabine, feeling more and more awkward as they all sat down and looked at each other. She was going to have to lie to Paul almost every time she opened her mouth now, and how horrible was that?

‘Is your plan still on for tonight?’ said Paul. His eyes were dark-rimmed and his face even paler than that morning. Nina tried to sound reassuring.

‘Yes. It’s scary, but if the police catch this guy it’ll get things over with. I’m glad Sabine’s here to keep me company. Paul, are you okay?’

His hands were picking restlessly at the hem of his pullover as he sat slumped in the armchair. Nina found it impossible to imagine what he might be thinking. After all, the blackmailer could well turn out to be Paul’s father.

His expression was bleak. ‘I’ll be fine. I’d like to stay for a bit though, if I may. I don’t want to be alone today. And maybe you could do with family around.’

‘Good idea,’ said Nina, exchanging glances with Sabine. The younger woman’s face was pleasantly neutral and Nina could take no comfort from it. It was kind of Paul to come; it showed he cared, and she wanted to help him too if he needed support, but… it did make things awkward.

He was visibly nervous, giving very short answers to everything that was said to him, and Nina began to wonder if involving the police had been the right thing to do. Maybe if she’d ignored the anonymous letter thing from the start it would all have died down and disappeared by itself. Paul had spent all his life avoiding what happened to him as a child, and then she arrived and within five minutes she had raked everything up and was rubbing his nose in it. What kind of a cousin did that make her? But there was no way she could start a heart to heart with him when Sabine was here. Nina searched around for something to say.