‘That would explain the first guy going for his gun.’

‘And when Freddie reaches for his weapon, the first porter used Harry as a shield.’

‘But …?’ Jameson said in a tone that implied she was missing something.

‘The accented porter needed Harry alive.’

‘He pushed Harry away because he thought Freddie might shoot them both.’

‘That’s not a bad hypothesis.’ Bloom heard her phone alert. She had a text message. ‘And on the upside it means both parties just want control of Harry. Neither of them wants him dead.’

‘Yet,’ Jameson said with a frown. ‘And there’s more.’

Bloom held up her hand. The message wasn’t from Karene, but from a blocked number. She read it to Jameson.

Today 21:05

I’m not one to brag, but this is a unique

situation. The blind leading the blind was

never going to work.

Leave it to one who can see.

Harry says Hi.

‘I told you,’ Jameson said. ‘She got to him.’

Bloom replied to the text. The reference to Seraphine’s earlier taunt about the blind leading the blind made it clear Jameson was right about who the sender was.

Today 21:07

Harry’s children are missing. Is that you?

A couple of minutes later her phone rang. Caroline Peterson sounded livid rather than distressed.

‘What are you meddlers doing to find my children? If your friend Karene thinks this is funny, she’ll have a shock coming.’

‘Nobody thinks this is funny, Caroline. Karene wouldn’t go off without telling us. She’s not answering my calls or texts so we’re as concerned as you.’

‘As concerned as me?’

‘That was perhaps the wrong—’

‘Are you with Harry? Let me speak to him. Does he know? He’s not answering his phone.’

‘Harry’s not here. I’m at the house with Marcus but Harry left on his own a short while ago and he doesn’t have his phone. We didn’t want people to track him so we took it when he arrived here.’

Caroline was quiet for a moment. ‘A short while ago when?’

‘Around an hour.’

‘Has he gone to meet Karene? They can’t leave the country without my permission. I’ve got custody.’

‘I don’t think Harry’s meeting them.’

Jameson raised his eyebrows.

‘Then what is going on? Where are my children? What have Harry and his bit of stuff got them into?’

Bloom did her best to appease Caroline and promised to let her know if they heard anything. Eventually, Caroline hung up and Bloom exhaled.

‘That key I found today,’ said Jameson. ‘That’s not normal, you know? Maybe he is meeting them. Maybe we are blind to what’s going on. It wouldn’t be the first time.’

She was tempted to say, For you maybe, but fought the urge. ‘Would he really have it on his keyring if he had something to hide?’

‘Perhaps. If he didn’t remember he was supposed to hide it.’