Page 67 of We Chase Shadows

The woman pushes herself up from her crouch and turns. Blonde, late forties perhaps, not unattractive if they were to meet under different circumstances.

Ernesto moves to position himself between the woman and the door. ‘Did Jakob Eriksson send you?’

‘No,’ says the woman. ‘I’m looking for him.’

‘We’re all looking for him,’ says Ernesto. ‘I’m Ernesto from Interpol. What’s your name?’

‘Georgie,’ says the woman. ‘Georgie Glazier. Vern’s ex-wife.’

Ernesto nods. Well, that’s interesting. ‘Does Vern know you’re here?’

Georgie nods towards a broken paving slab next to the tiny shards of a broken window. ‘I just scaled a fence and used a big rock to break in. Take a wild guess as to whether Vern knows I’m here.’

What’s the exact situation here? Is Georgie Glazier friend or foe? ‘What do you know about Jakob Eriksson?’

‘Plenty,’ says Georgie. ‘Put your gun down and I’ll tell you everything about him.’

‘How about I keep my gun up and you tell me everything about him?’ suggests Ernesto.

Georgie thinks about this. ‘Okay. If it makes you feel tough, then keep your gun up.’

‘It does,’ says Ernesto. ‘And I will. What are you looking for?’

‘Money,’ says Georgie. ‘Documents. Bank statements.’

Well, Ernesto knows where she can find money.

‘And who else knows you are here?’ Ernesto asks.

‘No one,’ says Georgie. ‘Are you going to arrest me?’

‘Depends what you tell me,’ says Ernesto.

Georgie looks him up and down. ‘Is it just me, or is there a spark here? Are you feeling this?’

‘I’m not going to put this gun down,’ says Ernesto. ‘But, yes, I feel maybe there’s some chemistry. I get that quite a lot.’

Georgie nods. ‘Me too. Let’s park that for now.’

‘Agreed,’ says Ernesto. ‘Let’s get to know each other.’

Ernesto sees the clock on the wall. It has been twenty minutes since he spoke to Amy and Steve. He should tell them the good news that he is still alive.

‘I need to make a call,’ says Ernesto, taking out his phone in his spare hand.

‘Wife?’ asks Georgie. ‘Girlfriend?’

‘It would be a weird time to ring my wife,’ says Ernesto.

‘So you do have a wife?’ asks Georgie.

‘No,’ says Ernesto. ‘I’m just saying that if I did have a wife, this isn’t when I would ring her. I’d ring her on the way home.’

‘Make your call, lover,’ says Georgie.

Ernesto presses Amy’s number once again. She picks up immediately.

‘That was twenty-one minutes,’ says Amy. ‘You’d better be bleeding to death in a stairwell.’