The Guilty Couple(53)

‘Where?’ Ayesha asks, watching as Smithy wanders around the room, picking up ornaments and turning them over in her hands.

‘Elephant and Castle, above the junk shop antique shop,’ Smithy mumbles.

‘So if the police try to arrest me,’ I tell Ayesha, ‘they won’t come here.’

She sighs heavily and rubs her hands over her face but says nothing.

‘No one’s going to get arrested,’ Smithy interjects. ‘Liv’s a cleaner so she’s allowed to be there.’

She’s half right at least. I’m allowed into the building if I’m there to clean it. Officially I won’t be on shift. I’ll have to sign in, use Jakub’s card on the gates, and hope that no one confronts me. There’s that word again. Hope.

‘And there’s no reason why the rest of you can’t be in the foyer. They don’t know if you’re visitors or not.’ Smithy’s got hold of Ayesha’s water spray now and there’s so much water on the fronds of the fern that it’s dripping onto the floor. I mouth, ‘Sorry,’ to Ayesha, get up and take the water spray out of Smithy’s hands.

‘What are we doing in the foyer?’ Nancy asks from the floor.

‘Creating a diversion so she can slip in unnoticed,’ Smithy says as Ayesha says, ‘Olivia, this is ridiculous.’

‘Okay, okay.’ I hold out my hands. ‘Nance, Ayesha, I get it. It is ridiculous but I haven’t got any other option. Dominic’s backed me into a corner. He’s booked tickets for him and Grace to go to Dubai in two days’ time. He’s told her it’s a holiday but I know he’s lying. His parents are letting his house.’

‘Is there nothing you can do to stop him?’ Ayesha asks. ‘Nothing legally?’

‘No. Nothing. I saw a family solicitor earlier and Dominic can take Grace on holiday without my permission. But it’s not a holiday. I know him and how his mind works. He hates Dubai. I used to suggest going there for a bit of winter sun when Grace was little and he shot me down every time. He thinks it’s full of reality TV stars and footballers’ wives. Something’s spooked him into deciding to leave the country. I don’t know if it was me, getting out of prison and then breaking into his house, or the fact Grace and I are in touch but—’

‘You could go back to prison if you get caught,’ Ayesha says softly. ‘You know that, don’t you?’

‘Yes.’ I set the water spray back on the side. ‘I do. But if Dom takes Grace to Dubai I’ll never see her again. The UAE didn’t sign the Hague Convention on Child Abduction and that means there’s nothing anyone would be able to do to get her back. Not the police, not the courts, not even the Home Office.’

‘I know you don’t want to hear this,’ Nancy says, ‘but I think you’re making a lot of assumptions and you’ve jumped to the worst possible conclusion. Just because Dominic’s going to Dubai with Grace doesn’t mean—’

‘Maybe she is making assumptions.’ Lee puts an arm around me and gives me a squeeze. ‘But I trust her gut instinct and this is Dominic we’re talking about. He framed her, we all know that, and I wouldn’t put it past him to pull this kind of shit. If Liv needs our help then I’m in and the rest of you should be too.’

Smithy, who’s peering outside through a gap in the blinds, raises a hand. ‘I’m in.’

Nancy is deep in thought so I look at Ayesha.

She grimaces. ‘I love you, Liv, but I’m not doing anything illegal.’

‘You don’t have to. You just have to send a text and meet me for lunch.’

‘Okay then.’ She sighs heavily. ‘I’m in.’

‘Nance?’

She looks up and smiles. ‘Just tell me what you want me to do.’

‘Um … Liv …’ Smithy says from the window where she’s staring outside. ‘Before you get started, there’s something I need to talk to you about. Can we go somewhere quiet?’

I have never seen Smithy look more shifty than she does right now. She’s pacing around Ayesha’s bedroom picking up her hair scarfs, combs, body creams and books, examining each item before she sets it back down.

‘Smithy, could you sit down, you’re doing my head in.’

She perches on the edge of the double bed, as far away from me as possible, then stands back up.

‘Sorry, no, can’t, sorry.’ She sways on the spot, her hands dancing around at her sides. I hear a chorus of laughter from the living room, with Nancy’s maniacal cackle cutting through Lee and Ayesha’s lower-toned chortles. If I don’t get back in there soon Smithy won’t be the only one so drunk she can barely stand.

‘What’s going on, Smithy? What’s this about?’

‘That cop’s outside. Dani Anderson.’

‘What?’ I run towards the window but Smithy stops me.

‘She’s out the front, parked up in her BMW. When we were in the living room I spotted the car from the window. She was on her phone and I saw her face.’

Fear shivers through me. I’ve been waiting for something to go wrong and it finally has. ‘Do you think she’s come to arrest us?’

‘Nah.’ She shakes her head. ‘She’s been there ages.’