Sweet Peas in April (12 page)

“Now, can I trust you not to run, or do I have to tie you up again?”

“You can trust me,” she said. She slowly sat up and, taking the hand he offered, walked with Peter downstairs and into the kitchen.

“Your phone has done nothing but beep and ring,” he told her. “That bloke just doesn't know when to give up.”

“Then let me answer it.”

“And tell him what?”

Sam sat down and looked at him. “That I'm with you now. He'll do what I want, back off and leave us alone.”

“You mean that?” He knelt beside her. “You want to be with me?”

Sam nodded. It was best, for now, to just go along with whatever he said and wanted.

Peter beamed and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her.

Nausea flooded Sam at his touch, but she kissed him back. Now that really was like kissing her brother. There was nothing there, no spark, no desire, not like there had been with Adam.

She had to be with him—he was her soul mate, but how did she get away from Peter or get a message to Adam?

“Maybe I should just go and kill him.” Peter whispered.

Sam pulled back. “Don't do that, because then the police will be after you. Just let me text him.”

“Fine, but I read it before you send it.”

“OK.”

Peter took her phone from his pocket and gave it to her.

Sam read all the messages, trying to work out what to say. “Did you do what you needed to when you were out?”

“I did. We're rich. We can go anywhere we want and start a new life. So, I've booked us seats on a plane to Switzerland.”

The last piece of the puzzle dropped into place. All the missing money had ended up in Swiss bank accounts. Sam looked up. “Switzerland? I don't have my passport.”

“I got your passport and the flights are booked for tomorrow. We fly from the local airport and change planes in Paris.”

“Sounds good.” She looked at the phone. So where did he get her passport from? It was in her bedroom at home.

He leaned over and kissed her. “So, it's just you and me from now on.”

Sam nodded.

He went back to chopping. “Hurry up with that text.”

Inspiration struck and she typed quickly. “Done.” She handed him the phone.

Peter read it and looked at her. “That doesn't make any sense at all.”

Sam grinned. “He'll get the message and will reply to say he's got it, and then he'll leave us alone.”

“He'd better.”

“He will.” At least she prayed he would. She shivered as Peter hit send, then slid the phone back into his pocket.

****

Adam stood in Sam's flat, with David and his partner Sara, as they searched and took notes.

The feeling in the pit of his stomach that something bad had happened to Sam had grown and grown until it was now as big as the proverbial elephant in the room and threatening to overwhelm him. He'd prayed over and over that Sam would be kept safe and found, and knew no matter what it felt like, that his prayers weren't falling on deaf ears.

“Are you sure she had a passport?” David asked.

“She had all her papers,” Adam said. “Her birth certificate, passport, and so on. I left them all with her because I had no need of them. I only took my own. And her passport wasn't with the rest of them. Besides she told me she worked for a charity up until a couple of years ago and was in Africa on and off. She'd have had to renew her passport five years ago in order to do that.”

His phone beeped and he pulled it out of his pocket. “It's from Sam.”

“Read it aloud,” David said.

“
Pointless text
,” Adam read. “
With Peter, so please leave me alone. He can give me the moon and all the chocolate I want. So long and ty for all the wolves and honey
.”

David raised an eyebrow. “Is she drunk?”

“She doesn't drink,” Adam said. He rubbed the back of his neck. “It's like she's trying to tell me something, but I have no idea what.”

David's phone rang and he left the room to answer it.

Adam turned his attention back to his phone.

“We're still assuming she isn't with him voluntarily?” Sara said.

Adam nodded. “The bloke's a creep. According to the HR woman, Esther Parks, Sam doesn't even like the guy. Though Miss Parks could be jealous, since Peter Carter, or whatever his real name is, dumped her in favor of pursuing Sam. Why would Sam go with him if she knew he was involved? Besides the fact he'd gotten her arrested.”

David came back in. “That was DI Chandler. First, someone matching Sam's description was seen at the train station on Friday. She bought two train tickets, both for sleeper trains. One to Scotland and one to Devon. He's trying to track her there now. And secondly, there's been another transfer at Wyatt Finance. All the money's gone. Every single account has been drained. They are trying to trace it.”

“All of it?”

David nodded.

Adam slid his hand into his pocket, running his fingers over Sam's wedding ring. What was he missing here? She didn't know anyone in either Scotland or Devon, so why run to either of those places?

Sara tapped her fingers on the table. “OK, let's look at this logically.” She looked at David. “So, we both work for the same company, only I get a huge promotion instead of you. You're more than slightly peeved at this and want revenge. On top of which you have a massive crush on me and I won't even give you the time of day. Never mind the job as my right hand man.”

“Don't let Eden hear about your crush on me,” David laughed. “She'll have my guts for garters.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “Thanks, I really needed that image.”

Sara laughed. “Anyway, I have a huge fight at work with the bloke I used to be married to. You think this is great and take advantage of how down and rotten I feel. You want me to yourself. What would you do?”

David furrowed his brow. “I'd play on your emotions,” he said. “I'd point out that the company only got into trouble—real trouble—after this bloke you were married to came on the scene. And that all the evidence now points to you, and he probably framed you.”

“Makes sense,” Adam said. “She didn't know about the third account syphoning off the money until I showed her.”

“So he tells her it's you to get her to go with him. Says she'll be safer with him and they can start a new life together.”

“While all the time it's him implicating her,” Adam said. “He'll hand her over to the cops. He's got his revenge and all the money because none of it can be traced back to him.”

David grinned. “You should be a cop.”

“But we still don't know where she is. And if she got the train by herself, and he and his car are missing, he must have tracked her some other way.” He looked down at the phone, praying for help. There had to be a clue here somewhere.

Pointless text
.
With Peter, so please leave me alone. He can give me the moon and all the chocolate I want. So long and ty for all the wolves and honey
.

The penny dropped. “Wolf Point.”

“What?”

“The text is in code. Pointless text and wolves are Wolf Point. Moon and honey refer to our honeymoon—we spent it in her aunt's cottage, in the Wolf Point in Cornwall.”

“So where does the chocolate come into it?”

“She only eats Swiss choc—” He looked up. “Switzerland. One of the accounts, the only one I managed to trace the misappropriated funds to, was a Swiss one.”

“OK,” David said. “Then this is what we'll do. Sara, I need you to ring all the ports and airports and issue photos of Sam West and Peter Carter, along with all his aliases and both Sam's names.”

“He won't be that stupid,” Adam protested. “To leave the country under his own name.”

“That may be, but I still want the port authority and customs to have the photos. Adam, you and I are going to Wolf Point in your car. Sara will stay here and work with DI Chandler to trace the money, but first you're going to have to trust me.”

Adam looked at him. “Oh?”

David nodded. “I'm going to arrest you for your part in this case.”

“What?” Adam exploded, uncontrolled rage and concern filling him and spilling out. “We don't have time for this…”

David held up a hand. “We will all go back to the nick. Sara will stay there, and then along with DI Chandler issue a press release disclosing details of your arrest and Sam's involvement.”

“OK, I think.”

David nodded. “Give me ten minutes to bring the DI up to speed and contact the local cops at Wolf Point. While I'm doing that, I want you to text Sam back. Let her know we're coming, but word it carefully, in case she's not the only one reading them. Then we go back to the nick and get you charged. Now if that's not acceptable, then I throw you in a cell and go down to the coast alone. It's up to you.”

Adam nodded. He wasn't happy, but if it was the only way he was going to be able to go, then fine. “OK—but it's a five hour drive and even if we leave now we won't be there until after dark. Every moment we waste...”

“Just trust me,” David replied. “And pray.”

“I already am.” Adam looked at his phone. He knew exactly what to send. And he'd do it in two messages. One for Peter and one aimed directly at Sam.

11

Sam sat by the window in the lounge. She'd promised Peter she wouldn't try to escape, so he'd allowed her to sit untied. The lighthouse in the distance flashed its beam of light across the rocks into the approaching fog. Moonlight shone a hazy path across the sea towards her, and she fancied it was like the Christmas star that led the magi to Bethlehem to find Jesus.

Only this was leading Adam to find her. Had he got her message? Was he as clever as she hoped he was? Or had time away from her dulled that quick thinking brain of his and turned it to mush?

Either way, Peter now had custody of her mobile, and he'd hidden the landline phone so she had no way of contacting anyone. He'd also locked all the doors and had the keys on his person somewhere.

The doorbell rang.

Peter put a finger to his lips and went to answer it. After a moment, he came back in. “Present for you.”

“What is it?”

“Open it and see.”

Sam opened the envelope, her hands trembling. Two passports fell out. She looked at them and then up at Peter. “Passports in the names of Mr. and Mrs. Brown?”

Peter grinned. “So we can leave and start over. Your company is in trouble.”

“Tell me something I don't know,” she muttered.

Peter nodded to the TV. “There is no way that Sam Reece or Sam West could leave the country. But you're now SuAnne Brown, housewife, and I'm your husband William. And if you give the game away at customs and try to make a run for it, they'll arrest you.”

Sam shook her head. “They won't.”

Peter turned up the volume on the TV. “Yes, they will.”

Sam turned her head. Her picture was on the screen.

“
Police are tonight searching for Samantha Reece, also known as Samantha West, in connection with the sudden closure and massive theft from Wyatt Finance Inc. Several accounts run by Ms. Reece have been drained of money over the past few months. Police have also arrested her lawyer and estranged husband, Adam West, in connection with the missing funds.
”

“What?” she whispered. Her stomach turned and bile rose in her throat. How was any of this possible? Adam had nothing to do with any of this.

Peter moved over to her, a pair of scissors in his hand. “See, baby, I told you he was no good. But I'll protect you. We'll be safe in Switzerland.” He kissed the back of her neck. “So, let's cut your hair and make you look like your photo.”

“Peter, wait—”

He ignored her. The scissors were cold on the back of her neck, the snip loud in her ear, as Peter cut off the first length.

Tears burned her eyes. She hadn't had her hair cut since Immy died. Didn't Peter realize by cutting it, he was putting her right back in the hole she'd crawled into on that dark night. It had taken her so long to find the light again. “Please, don't…”

“I need to finish here. Make it nice and short. You could do those plait things.”

“It isn't easy to do them on yourself.”

“Do your best.” He finished cutting and set a mirror in front of her. “Beautiful.”

Tears ran down Sam's face. Every single horrible thing she'd said to Adam that night and the succeeding nights flooded her mind. He hadn't deserved any of them. It wasn't his fault, and, she realized, wasn't hers either. So many wasted years, when they should have been comforting each other.

Peter rubbed her arm. “It'll be OK, you'll see.” He sat next to her, his foot rubbing against her leg. “I was thinking.”

Sam began plaiting her hair, needing to keep occupied and her mind working. Perhaps she could get away from him at the airport or before. Maybe when he slept tonight. “About what?”

“We could start up another business in Berne. I'll be the CEO this time and you can stay at home with the kids.”

“What kids?” She kept her eyes on her reflection.

“Our kids, of course.” Peter kissed her cheek. “The girls will be as pretty as you. I'll teach the boys rugby and cricket. I'll be a great dad.”

Images of Adam and Immy unfolded in her mind like a movie. Him singing to her, feeding her, sitting on a swing in the park with her on his lap. Carrying her on his shoulders on the beach, Immy's first paddle in the sea. Adam was a great dad.

She kept plaiting her hair. She was the one who'd ruined things. She'd failed him and Immy. And now she'd never see him again because he'd been arrested. His career was over because of her.

Sam glanced at Peter. “Did Adam ever reply to my text?”