The Girls Who Disappeared(47)

John-Paul plonked himself down next to Stace and rubbed her bare knee. He flashed her a smile, which she supposed was meant to be reassuring but it didn’t reach his eyes.

‘Derreck took us on a bit of a journey,’ sniggered Griff, slinging an arm around Leonie’s shoulders. She shrugged him off, proclaiming it was too hot to be touched. He had large circles of sweat under the armpits of his Pink Floyd T-shirt.

‘I’d say he did,’ said Trevor, still wearing his ridiculous hat. He exchanged a look with Griff, who let out a dirty laugh. ‘Who’s getting in the pool?’ He started stripping off his T-shirt and Trev followed suit. They jumped into the cool blue water, causing Leonie to shout in mock-horror when she got splashed.

‘We need to talk,’ whispered Stace to John-Paul.

‘I can’t …’

‘Now,’ she mouthed.

Without speaking he got to his feet and followed her wordlessly to the bottom of the garden.

‘What’s going on?’ she demanded, as soon as they were far enough away not to be heard. Every now and again Leonie’s cackle drifted over to them.

‘What do you –’

She noticed John-Paul’s top lip was sweating. ‘Don’t lie to me. I heard you and Derreck last night.’ John-Paul paled. ‘What does he mean by you owe him? Owe him for what?’

John-Paul’s large brown eyes widened like a panicked animal’s. ‘It was … something stupid. I got into a spot of bother back in our travelling days. Derreck helped me out.’

‘A spot of bother? Like what?’

‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘I thought we knew everything about each other.’ She grabbed his hand. ‘But I’m seeing a different side to you. A secretive side. Why can’t you tell me?’

He pulled his hand away and ran it through his dark hair instead. ‘It doesn’t matter. You have to trust me, Stace.’

‘Okay, then. What does he want you to do? Why did he really invite us here?’

John-Paul cast his eyes over to their group of friends. Maggie and Martin were now in the pool too. Derreck stood on the edge, fully clothed, his body angled in their direction, a hand shielding his face.

John-Paul sighed heavily. ‘It’s nothing, really. Derreck has a mate who specializes in foreign artefacts back home. He wants me and the lads to smuggle some out of the country.’

‘What? Why would you need to smuggle them out?’

‘Because Thailand is very strict about not taking certain things out of the country. Like Buddhas, for example. And Derreck’s friend back home wants to sell them in his shop.’

A sweat had broken out over her body yet she felt cold, despite the 40-degree heat. ‘Are these Buddhas filled with … drugs?’

‘What?’ John-Paul laughed. ‘Bloody hell, Stace. Of course not. It’s just a load of antique ornaments.’

She frowned. ‘Do you get paid to do this?’

‘Well, yeah. Sure. But it’s still technically illegal. The Thai government are very hot on it. I think you can take them out for religious purposes but you have to get paperwork and a licence and it’s all a bit of a faff, according to Derreck. And he wants us to export a couple each.’

‘Us?’

‘Well, yeah. Like two Buddhas per couple. That way if one of us is caught it will look like we’re just stupid tourists who didn’t know the rules.’

‘And you’ve said you’ll do this?’

He shrugged. ‘At first I said no. But the pay … We could do with the money.’

‘How much?’

‘He hasn’t said yet.’ He glanced across at Derreck, then back at Stace. He rubbed the nape of his neck. ‘Derreck took us to see the guy this morning. That’s where we went. The lads are thinking about it, said they’ll ask their other halves. This is just a sideline for Derreck.’ He gave a hollow laugh. ‘I think he has a lot of sidelines, judging by how much money he seems to have.’

‘Could we go to prison if we’re caught?’

John-Paul shook his head emphatically. ‘God, no. No … we’d be fined, probably. But no … I don’t think a prison sentence would be …’

Stace is appalled. ‘You don’t think? I’m not doing anything that could land us in a Thai prison, for fuck’s sake. I don’t care how broke we are.’

Just then Derreck strode across the grass to join them. He clapped John-Paul on the back and winked at Stace. ‘What are you two doing over here being all anti-social?’

Stace held his gaze. ‘John-Paul was just telling me about the Buddhas.’

‘And what do you think?’

‘I think it seems like a strange request.’

Something she couldn’t read passed between the two men. And then Derreck laughed. ‘Got yourself a suspicious one here, JP.’ He winked again at her. ‘Come on, let’s grab some lunch.’

As they followed Derreck back to the others John-Paul tried to take her hand but she snatched it away. ‘You’d better not be lying to me,’ she hissed. ‘And I want to see these Buddhas for myself before I agree to anything, all right? And I want assurances that if one of us is caught the most we’ll get is a small fine.’