The Guilty Couple(58)

‘By whom?’

‘My boss.’

‘And who called her?’

‘I don’t know.’ I look at him imploringly, willing him to leave me alone and just go away. I can’t risk a glance at my watch but I can feel the seconds ticking away. If Ayesha rings Dominic before I text him he’ll leave his office with the safe still locked. ‘I was just told to come in.’

‘First I’ve heard of it,’ he arches a dark eyebrow, ‘and I’m the office manager.’

‘Rob,’ a woman with greying curly hair leans around her monitor. I didn’t even notice her as I walked past. ‘Just leave her alone to get on with her job.’

I risk a glance at my watch. 10.59 a.m. I’ve got one minute to send Dom a text.

‘Where is Tim anyway?’ shirt and tie asks. ‘And when the hell did he puke on the floor?’

I spot the jacket on the back of the chair and my chest constricts. Someone’s been using this desk. When he comes back there will be a big discussion about whose vomit it is and I haven’t got time for that crap.

‘No idea. Some of us have got work to do.’ The curly-haired woman gives Rob a pointed look.

His lips part, as though he’s about to bite back, then he looks back down at me. ‘Get it sorted, but I’m going to follow this up. If cleaning staff are required it’s supposed to go via me.’

‘I’ll be very quick.’ I reach for my antibac spray and squirt it onto the vomity mess.

I watch from beneath the desk until his shiny black shoes recede into the distance then I dig into my pocket for Smithy’s phone and frantically tap out a message. I hit send at exactly 11 a.m. From this angle I can’t see into Dom’s office so I rise up onto my knees and rub over the surface of the desk with the dry cloth.

He’s got the text. I can see him looking at his phone.

‘Sorry about that,’ the curly-headed woman leans around her monitor again. ‘He wouldn’t have done that if you were a bloke.’

‘I appreciated you speaking up.’ Dom’s out of his chair and he’s lowering the blinds in his window. He’s about to open the safe.

Curly hair twists round in her chair. ‘He won’t come back,’ she says, misinterpreting where I’m looking. ‘I think he’s scared of me.’

I fake a laugh and glance at my watch. 11.02 a.m. Ayesha should be ringing him any second now. I duck back under the desk and start putting everything back into the bucket, readying myself for the next stage of the heist. I reach for the vomit-sodden cloth and freeze. When Dom leaves his office how am I going to get in without being seen? Mr Jobsworth Office Manager isn’t going to let me merrily stroll straight in there and I can’t think of a single legitimate reason that he’d buy.

Can I get rid of him somehow? Ideally I need to get rid of everyone in the room. There’s a ‘Fire Door’ sign above the door directly opposite me. I’m pretty certain it leads to the stairs. A fire alarm would get everyone out of the office, including Dom. There has to be a red box somewhere – one where you break the glass to set off the alarm. There isn’t one in here that I can see so it’s got to be out there, at the top of the stairs. I scramble to my feet, bucket in hand.

‘Have a nice day!’ Curly hair calls after me as I head for the door.

I push it open and find myself in a stairwell. If I walk straight ahead and turn left I’ll reach the toilet block. To the right are the stairs. And on the wall beside me is a small red box. Without pausing to think I lift the mop out of the bucket and jam the handle against the glass. As the fire alarm wails I take a left towards the toilet block and wait, out of sight, with my back to the wall.

Any second now staff will come pouring out of the stairwell door. Will Dominic come with them or will he lock the safe door first? If he does everything I’ve done today will be for nothing. Panic grips my chest as the sound of footsteps and voices fill the stairwell. I can’t let him close that safe. I need to get there first. If I burst into his office he’ll be so shocked I might buy myself enough time to grab what I can and make a run for it. It’s the only chance I’ve got.

I set off before I can change my mind, past the toilets and the lift and back to the glass door entrance of Magna Lake Chartered Surveyors. The office manager has abandoned his desk and, from the looks of it, so has everyone else. I tap my pass against the sensor and poke my head around the door. The last few stragglers are filing out of the fire door at the far end. Am I too late? Has Dom already gone? As I step inside the office voices send me scurrying back to the door. I press my back against the glass, praying no one turns and looks in my direction as Rob shepherds Dom out of his office and towards the fire door.

My heart hammers against my ribs as the fire door closes behind them and I sprint across the room. The blinds are still down in Dom’s office. If he didn’t have time to open them maybe he didn’t have time to lock the safe either.

My heart sinks as I burst into the room. The door to the safe is shut. He’s locked it. It’s over. He’s going to take Grace to Dubai and I’m never going to see her again. I reach for the handle and twist it, just to make sure, and almost fall backwards as the door swings open.

Oh my god.

Grace’s phone. A white iPhone. Two SIMs or SSD cards in a clear plastic bag. And a piece of paper. The same piece of paper I found wedged into a book at home. I shove everything into my pockets and head for the fire door. I’ve got everything I need but I’m not safe yet.