Dangerous Promises (5 page)

She and Joel would be spending Christmas together, and maybe – if everything went according to plan – it would be their last Christmas before they became Mr and Mrs Hunter.
Sadie Hunter
. She repeated the name to herself, liking the sound of it, liking the way it made her feel.

The market had a temporary cover stretched over the top, providing much-needed shelter from the elements. She walked up and down the aisles, feeling the warmth of the crowd as she drank in the atmosphere. There were plenty of clothes stalls and she rummaged through the goods on offer, checking out the prices.

After an hour of looking at skirts and shirts and dresses, she eventually settled on a pair of black trousers and a silky, rose-coloured, scoop-necked sweater. She suspected they’d both fall to bits after a few washes, but they’d do for tonight. The trousers were smart enough and the sweater was pretty without being too revealing. She paid over the money, took the carrier bag and pondered on what to do next.

It was as she was making her way back towards the high street that she first felt it, a hot prickling sensation on the back of her neck. Someone was watching her. She stopped, quickly turned her head and stared, but the crowd was thick and dense and constantly shifting. She scanned the faces, searching for the one. Maybe it was her imagination. Maybe she was just jumpy about tonight, her nerves playing tricks on her. And yet… She automatically rubbed her neck, still unable to escape the feeling that someone’s eyes were on her.

For a while she stood there, rooted to the spot. She felt assailed by something cold and menacing. A shiver ran down her spine. She wanted to get away but it took an effort to force her legs to move again. With her mood abruptly altered, she hurried out of the market, crossed the road and took sanctuary in a café called Connolly’s.

The place was packed, full of Saturday shoppers, and it smelled of fried bacon, cigarette smoke and wet coats. But at least it was warm and dry. A few seconds passed before she finally spotted a free table. She glanced towards the door, checking that no one had followed her in. Of course they hadn’t. She was stressing over nothing. What was wrong with her? But she knew what was wrong. In her desperation to free herself from Eddie, she had made a deal with a total stranger and now that decision was starting to scare her.

When the waitress came, she ordered a coffee and tried to relax. Her worries, however, refused to go away. Instead they tumbled in on her, making her pulse race and her hands go clammy. What if Nathan Stone was some kind of psychopath? Maybe there wasn’t any business meeting tonight. Maybe it was all a set-up so he could lure her to some lonely place and…

Sadie took a deep breath, willing herself to calm down. She was overreacting. Velma would never have sent her to see him if he was that much of a danger. Her heart skipped a beat. Unless Velma was in on it too. It wasn’t as if she really knew the woman. Maybe she worked with Stone, procuring girls for him. Maybe she —

Sadie’s thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of coffee. She thanked the waitress, lifted the mug to her lips and took a grateful gulp. The caffeine seemed to restore some sense of balance to her mind. No, she didn’t really believe that her neighbour was involved in anything sinister. Sometimes you had to trust your instincts and hers were saying that Velma was sound.

Her gaze roamed around the room, settling on this person or that before quickly moving on. There was no one she recognised. Why should there be? She was a stranger here. And hopefully, before too long, she’d be back on that train and heading for home. If Stone came up with the goods tonight, she might even be able to see Eddie tomorrow. She could imagine the expression on his face when he opened the door to find her standing there.

The rain was lashing against the steamy windows. Sadie took her time over the coffee, not wanting to leave before she had to. She felt safe in the café now that her anxiety had started to recede. Everything would be okay if she kept her head and didn’t panic. She could handle Nathan Stone. He was just a bloke like any other. If she’d tolerated Eddie for all those years she could manage one evening with a lousy jumped-up gangster. Couldn’t she?

The rain had eased a little by the time she left. As she sloshed through the puddles, she tried to maintain her restored sense of calm. For some reason she couldn’t fathom, she still felt the urge to keep glancing over her shoulder. It was like a nervous tic she couldn’t quite shake off.

‘Stop it,’ she murmured. ‘There’s no one there.’

Still, she was glad when she turned the corner on to Station Road and the guest house was in sight. She broke into a trot, eager to get inside. Oaklands was unlocked and she stepped into the empty hallway, closed the door firmly behind her, jogged up the two flights of stairs, opened her room, dropped her bags on the bed, leaned her wet umbrella against the wall and went over to the window.

Sadie folded her arms as she gazed down on the street, watching the people pass by. It was still hours before she was due to meet Nathan Stone. She decided that the sensible thing to do was to let Velma know about the arrangement. That way there would be at least one other person in the world aware of who she was with tonight.

She was about to do just that when her gaze suddenly fixed on a girl going into the station. She couldn’t see her face, only the back of her head, but the short spiky hair was familiar and so was the black suede jacket. She gave a start. Was it? Could it be? She leaned forward, pressing her nose against the glass, but already the figure had passed through the entrance and disappeared from view.

Sadie continued to stare, a frown gathering on her forehead. It had been Mona Farrell, she was sure of it, except… no, she couldn’t be certain. Lots of girls had that punk hairstyle these days. Lots of girls had black jackets with fur around the collar. And what would Mona be doing in Kellston? Other than the market – and she couldn’t really see Mona shopping there – the area didn’t hold much in the way of attractions.

Sadie’s hand instinctively rose to the back of her neck again. She felt a stirring in her guts, a twisting. Was it possible that… But quickly she pushed the thought aside. The girl couldn’t have followed her here. Why would she? That was just crazy. And yet she had seemed a bit crazy, unbalanced at the very least. All that talk of her father and how she wanted to…

With a small shake of her head, Sadie turned away from the window. She was on edge, that was all, nervous and jumpy. A passing resemblance was what it had been. Nothing else. She had enough real-life problems without inventing new and imaginary ones.

6

By a quarter to seven, Sadie was dressed, her hair combed and her make-up done. Now all that was left was to wait for Nathan Stone to put in an appearance. She’d already turned off the fire and a thin chill was starting to creep over the room. She rubbed her arms, impatient for him to arrive. The sooner he got here, the sooner it would be over. Butterflies had invaded her stomach again, making her feel almost queasy.

She was back by the window, watching out for the car. According to Velma, it was a black Daimler, and there couldn’t be many of those around Kellston. The only place he could pull in was at the bus stop and she kept her eyes firmly fixed on the spot. She intended to get downstairs the minute he showed. She didn’t want him coming to the door like he was picking her up on some kind of date.

Velma had thrown back her head and laughed like a drain when she’d told her about Nathan coercing her into going to the dogs. ‘And you agreed? You actually said yes?’

‘What else was I supposed to do? I need to find out where Eddie’s living.’

‘Er, how about just bunging him a tenner for his trouble? That’s the normal routine, love. Money talks round here.’

This option hadn’t even occurred to Sadie. ‘So why didn’t you tell me?
Flutter your eyelashes
, you said.
Be nice to him
. You didn’t say anything about giving him money.’

‘Sorry, hon. I just presumed you’d realise.’

‘And now I’m stuck with him for the whole damn evening.’

Velma had laughed again. ‘Oh, come on, it could be worse. Look on the bright side. You get a free night out with supper and drinks thrown in. It’s hardly the end of the world. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind a bit of that myself.’

‘Good. You can go instead of me.’

‘If I was twenty years younger.’

Sadie had let out a groan. ‘I don’t even know anything about this guy. Is he… I mean, is he okay when it comes to women?’

‘As okay as any of them are, hon. No better or worse than most of the other blokes I’ve come across. I can’t say I’ve ever seen him with the same girl more than a couple of times, but then you’re hardly looking for love and romance.’

‘So he’s a bit of a player?’

Velma had given a shrug. ‘More of a loner, I’d say.’

Sadie hadn’t been especially reassured by this piece of information. Weren’t loners usually the ones with troubled pasts and dark secrets? Or maybe she’d just been reading too many crime novels. She was still dwelling on this when she saw a shiny black motor cruise past Oaklands and then pull in. Quickly, she grabbed her bag and headed for the stairs.

By the time she was on the street, Nathan Stone was just getting out of the car. He was taller than she’d realised, an inch or so over six foot, and was dressed in a stylish grey suit, white shirt, no tie. He leaned his elbows on the roof of the car and grinned at her.

‘Didn’t change your mind, then?’

‘Why should I? We made a deal, didn’t we?’

Stone smirked as he got back in the Daimler. ‘People don’t always stick to them.’

Sadie climbed in too and pulled across her seatbelt. The interior, with its soft leather seats and generous leg room, was probably the most luxurious car she had ever been in. She made an effort not to look impressed. ‘And you?’

He raised his eyebrows in a quizzical fashion. ‘Me?’

‘Do you always stick to your side of the bargain?’

‘Sure.’ He paused. ‘Nearly always.’

There was a short silence while he manoeuvred the car into the line of traffic and set off along Station Road. Sadie could smell his aftershave, something subtle and expensive. She had meant to play it cool, but couldn’t stop herself from asking, ‘So have you found out where Eddie’s living?’

‘Yes.’

Sadie’s heart gave a leap as she turned to stare at him. ‘You’re kidding?’

‘No one’s that hard to find if you know where to look.’

She waited, but he didn’t say anything more. ‘Aren’t you going to tell me?’

‘Not until the end of the evening.’

‘You don’t trust me?’

Stone grinned again. ‘I figure this way you won’t do anything to spoil the night.’

‘I wouldn’t.’

‘Well, who’s to say? Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn’t. I prefer to keep things simple – that way there can’t be any misunderstandings.’

‘I gave you my word, didn’t I?’

His lips twitched as he glanced at her. ‘You haven’t met Cheryl Moss yet.’

‘Oh,’ Sadie said. ‘Is she the wife?’

‘Yeah, she’s Barry’s missus.’

‘So what’s wrong with her?’

‘Nothing, babe, nothing much. She can be a little… loud, that’s all.’

Sadie frowned. ‘In what way?’

‘In a loud kind of way.’

Sadie shrugged. In all honesty, she didn’t much care about Cheryl Moss. In a few hours, she’d have Eddie’s address and tomorrow she could go and see him. That meant – if she could persuade him to sign the papers – she could be on her way home before Sunday was through. Anything was worth putting up with for that. ‘And Barry? What’s he like?’

‘Oh, Barry’s sound. He’s a builder, got a big construction firm over Shoreditch way. We’re trying to put a deal together, a new development in Kellston.’

‘Houses, you mean?’

‘Yeah, houses and flats. Where the old asylum is. Do you know it?’

Sadie shook her head. ‘No.’

‘It’s round the corner from where you’re staying. Silverstone Road. The place used to be the local Bedlam. It’s been derelict for years. There’s a lot of land there just going to waste.’

‘Sounds like a project.’

‘It is. Or it could be.’

‘And if Barry’s not interested?’

‘Barry is interested. If there’s money to be made, he’ll have his snout in the trough.’

Sadie gazed out of the window as they passed through the streets of Kellston. The area, with its litter-strewn pavements and graffiti-covered walls, had that air of desolation that comes from high unemployment and long-term poverty. ‘It’s a risky time for that sort of investment.’

‘People need places to live. That’s never going to change.’

Sadie wondered how dodgy the deal was. Very, she imagined, seeing as Nathan Stone worked for Terry Street and Terry was, apparently, the top-dog villain round here. ‘But interest rates are high at the moment. What if people can’t afford to buy the houses you build?’

‘You giving me business advice now?’

‘Just making conversation.’

‘I didn’t realise you were an expert.’

‘You don’t need to be an expert to offer an opinion.

‘Well,’ he said dismissively, ‘maybe you should stick to commenting on things you actually know something about.’

Sadie gave a snort of derision. ‘What, like shoes and handbags? Or what to make for dinner?’

Stone lifted and dropped his shoulders. ‘You said it, darling, not me.’

Sadie suspected he was deliberately goading her. She gave him a long hard stare. ‘You do realise that it’s 1985?’

‘Meaning?’

‘Meaning that we’re not living in the dark ages any more.’

‘No need to get snippy,’ he said. ‘What are you, some kind of feminist?’

‘Depends what you mean by feminism. But I reckon women are as smart as men – given the opportunities.’

‘You won’t be saying that after five minutes with Cheryl.’

Sadie huffed out a sigh. ‘And that doesn’t help.’

‘I’m not trying to help. Just warning you, babe. It’s always best to be prepared, don’t you think? That way you don’t get any nasty surprises.’